I am sure that Dr. Williams means well but statements such as "Even if China abides by the bilateral safeguards agreements, our uranium will conveniently free-up domestic supplies for weapons production" do indicate an almost incredible naivety on his part.

I doubt that China would worry too much if Australia heroically decided to ban uranium exports. I am sure it could get all it needs from client states in Africa such as Namibia and Niger which also have very large uranium reserves and are undoubtedly less worried about "bilateral safeguards agreements"

This reminds me of the idea that was seriously put forward by the Greens some years ago that Australia should phase out its coal exports because China was burning it and producing greenhouse gas. What the purveyors of this particular idea apparently didn't know (or perhaps chose to ignore) was that China has larger coal reserves than Australia and would import a negligible amount from us.

Well put Bill. Nuclear weapons threaten all humanity - they are a 'defence' only in so far as their use threatens annihilation, the M.A.D. principle. Advocates really need a reality check if they feel this arrangement provides security. The US military hawk and Defence Secretary, Robert McNamara who saw many military mistakes in his time claim thousands of lives, argued nuclear weapons did not allow similar mistakes when the same human fallibilities would claim entire nations and perhaps humanity. We came close to nuclear war during the Cuban missiles crisis, and again in 1983 - both averted due to luck, not human cleverness. The link with nuclear power is clear - the same technology that enriches uranium to fuel these reactors can enrich it to construct bombs - that's how India achieved its nuclear capability (civilian nuclear technology was given to it by the USA as part of the 'Atoms for Peace' program) and in turn spurred Pakistan's program (stolen from a Dutch civilian nuclear program by their nuclear father and nuclear criminal A. Q. Khan who then onsold it to North Korea, Iran and Libya and others. Increasing reliance on nuclear power increases nuclear weapons proliferation. Are we still feeling secure?