Making a Sale vs Making it Safe: Prospects for ASEAN-Australia Nuclear Energy Cooperation

On her visit to India in 2012, former prime minister Julia Gillard noted that Australia was experienced in negotiating agreements on uranium: “We’ve done it in the past, and we’ve done it on the basis that Australian uranium is only used for peaceful purposes.” 1 Her visit to India was a milestone in overturning the Labor Party’s longstanding policy that banned uranium exports to nuclear-armed India. Little has changed since then even with Australia’s new federal government taking office in September 2013. In fact, given the rising prices of Australia’s natural resources, uranium exports are likely to be further catalyzed under Tony Abbott’s prime ministership given the emphasis on economic growth in Liberal Party policy. Gillard’s reversal of the ban on uranium exports also sets the stage for potentially expanding ASEAN-Australia economic ties. This is particularly so given the increasing energy demands of Southeast Asian countries, coupled with proposed civil nuclear energy projects to meet the demand, despite the initial shocks and aversion to nuclear energy following the Fukushima nuclear crisis in March 2011.