APEC 2007: Australia and USA To Push Nuke Solution

Australia and the United States have today unveiled a plan to have nuclear power generation as the cornerstone of its climate change proposal to be discussed by APEC leaders in Sydney this week.

This announcement presents a cross-road opportunity that will test New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark's resolve.

US President George Bush and Australia's prime minister John Howard today held a joint press conference outlining detail of the two-nation's alternative to the Kyoto protocol on how to reduce carbon and gas emissions. Unlike New Zealand, Australia and the USA have refused to sign the agreement.

Climate change and sustainable energy discussions have become the major focus here in Sydney since John Howard announced earlier this week that the 21 APEC economy leaders had agreed to discuss the proposal during the annual APEC leaders summit later this week.

John Howard told reporters here in Sydney that he and George Bush "agreed on joint statements regarding climate change and energy, a joint nuclear energy action plan which involves cooperation on civil nuclear energy, including R&D, skills and technical training, and regulatory issues. Australia intends to participate in the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership, and there will be great benefits in terms of access to nuclear technology and nonproliferation. And the United States will support Australian membership in the Generation IV International Forum, which involves R&D to develop safer and better nuclear reactors," John Howard said.

The plan has been bolstered by the US and Australia signing a non-binding agreement that will according to Bush and Howard's joint statement "enhance civilian nuclear energy cooperation between our countries with the goal of expanding peaceful uses of nuclear energy worldwide in a safe, secure, and more proliferation-resistant manner."

The nuke-card does seem at odds with the United States' pre-emptive defense strategy approach regarding developing nations' wish to meet industrialisation goals by means of nuclear power – the "axis of evil" nations Iran and North Korea are cases in point.

Certainly Bush and Howard are determined to kick into touch the lame duck labels befalling them both in recent times. This APEC is John Howard's swansong, but he's obviously not going to go without a Harrah!

The announcement intensifies a conundrum for New Zealand's Prime Minister Helen Clark. For example, how can New Zealand's Labour-led Government engage on progressive worthwhile diplomacy with Australia and the United States on this key APEC issue while the regional and global powers' foreign and energy policies are clearly so alien to those of New Zealand's national interest.

For Clark, even a third-way approach will likely attract ill favour with New Zealanders who will be sensitive to observing their prime minister cosying up to Howard and Bush while they front-foot the irony of a nuke-climate-environment-sustainability plan.

The conundrum is not limited to the Clark Government, but also places the National Party firmly in a 'how do we proceed from here' situation. National's policy too is to support a nuclear free New Zealand and it would be highly hypocritical for its leader John Key to support the Howard/Bush global climate plan while excluding New Zealand from implementing it.

Portions of National's natural constituencies will have sympathies for the nuke energy-climate change plan. That will only create further unease for Key, particularly as he has never been a proponent of the Kyoto protocol.

New Zealand's trade minister Phil Goff was quick to react. He told journalists based in Sydney for APEC that while nuclear power may reduce emissions, it creates a raft of serious global security concerns including safety protocols, waste disposal, and the real threat of nuclear power generation stations becoming terrorist targets: "These are concerns that should be addressed," Mr Goff said.

Certainly, at APEC 2007, Clark has an opportunity to front-foot New Zealand's anti-nuclear brand. To do so will gain favour with those at home who wish New Zealand to again stand for something on the world stage. The question is, (considering the third-way approach that is the Labour-led Government's lot…) does Clark have the energy to square off against two lame-ducks?

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