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Uranium ban silly: Ferguson Katharine Murphy 07 September 2005 LABOR resources spokesman Martin Ferguson has urged Peter Beattie to scrap restrictions on uranium mining after the Queensland Resources Council called yesterday for new mines for the state. Mr Ferguson told The Australian yesterday there were known deposits of uranium in Queensland that could be developed following the recent trebling in the world price. "In the minds of the resources industry, they cannot see why uranium mining is acceptable in South Australia but not in Queensland," Mr Ferguson said. It was "hard to accept that in a resources state" coal stocks could be exploited to take advantage of the resources boom, but uranium deposits had to be left undeveloped. Mr Ferguson's move increased political pressure on the Premier following a decision by the Queensland Resources Council yesterday to enter the national debate on uranium mining and nuclear power for the first time, advocating that new mines should be allowed in the state. "The QRC believes there is no justification for excluding Queensland uranium from the global energy mix," the resource council said. QRC chief executive Michael Roche told The Australian that given the global energy outlook, Queensland resources companies had given unanimous endorsement to an increase in uranium mining. The ALP has adopted a policy against new uranium mines, but there is growing pressure from within Labor ranks for a change that would allow the industry to take advantage of the growing export demand. Uranium mining is proceeding in the Northern Territory and in South Australia, but bans in Queensland and Western Australia prevent deposits from being developed. Mr Beattie has argued that increasing uranium mining would detract from the performance of the coal industry in Queensland. Uranium mining is strongly opposed by many of Mr Ferguson's colleagues in the federal Labor caucus, as well as by environmentalists, many health groups and indigenous landholders. But federal Resources Minister Ian Macfarlane, who has been making the case for a dramatic expansion in uranium mining, seized on the state council's endorsement and called on Mr Beattie to open up the state to mining. "A potential $3 billion and hundreds in new Queensland jobs is not an opportunity I thought Mr Beattie could afford to turn his back on," Mr Macfarlane said. "He should drop the political pretence and make the effort to learn something about this industry before dismissing it because of some ideological objection." Mr Macfarlane said there was no justification for Mr Beattie's view that uranium mining would hurt Queensland coal exports, which have been booming because of intense Chinese demand for Australian commodities. "To say greater uranium exports would encroach on Australian coal export markets is the usual cocktail of Beattie spin and ill-informed comment," he said. "He's dismissing job and export opportunities on the basis of a completely false view that uranium exports will hurt our coal exports. It's absurd."