On 5 January 2007, Australia and China ratified nuclear co-operation agreements.

Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said the Australia-China Nuclear Transfer Agreement and the Nuclear Co-operation Agreement would come into effect in 30 days.

Mr Downer said, “The legal framework for Australian uranium producers to commence exports to China is expected to be in place early in 2007″.

Since this signing, there has also been quite a stir in the west. The West Australian Labor Government made a commitment at the last election that there would be no uranium mining during its 2005-09 term in government.

So, at the Federal level, we have support from both sides of parliament for uranium mining, but at the (WA) state level, there is strong opposition.

It will be interesting to see how this pans out.