Dig and Drill, Baby, Dig and Drill

Banned in every state and every territory in Australia. Late-term abortion? Euthanasia? Advising those confused about their sexual identity to give it some thought? Well, yes, the latter is banned in every state or soon will be. But I’m really talking about nuclear energy. Apart from individual state prohibitions, nuclear energy is not permitted under two federal Acts. The Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Act 1998 and the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. Incidentally, I wonder, who was prime minister in 1998 and 1999?

These two Acts “expressly prohibit the approval, licensing, construction, or operation of a nuclear fuel fabrication plant; a nuclear power plant; an enrichment plant; or a reprocessing facility.” Passing strange, you might think, when Australia holds almost one-third of the world’s proven uranium reserves and exports around 7,000 tonnes per year, representing about 10 per cent of the global supply. Stranger…