Rockhampton mayor says nuclear "over my dead body"
"Over my dead body".
These are the words of Rockhampton Regional Council mayor Margaret Strelow in response to the possibility of building a nuclear plant in the region.
Media reports on the weekend revealed secret plans from the Bjelke-Petersen era to construct a nuclear enrichment plant in the Rockhampton region are being revisited by the Federal Opposition.
"It's not even a discussion I want to have," Cr Strelow says.
"I'm a Mum and a grandma."
Broadmount, 30 kms south-east of Rockhampton, and Boolburra, 95km west of Rockhampton, were among three preferred options put forward 40 years ago for a $1 billion uranium enrichment plant.
North Queensland MP Warren Entsch says it makes sense to reconsider the plan, and Senator Barnaby Joyce is also showing his support.
But Member for Keppel Bruce Young says any claim the Newman government is revisiting the plans is wild speculation.
"I've spoken to Campbell Newman and he knows nothing about it," he says.
However, member for the federal seat of Flynn Ken O'Dowd says he was at a lunch with the premier in Brisbane last Tuesday where Mr Newman spoke on the subject.
"He (Mr Newman) said now the prime minister had given the go ahead to sell uranium to India, Queensland would be left behind if it didn't get in the market.
"He thought a processing plant was a good money spinner for Queensland," Mr O'Dowd says.
"I think it makes more sense to process in the Northern Territory where it's closer to markets and to the mines."
The claims come in the wake of the Newman Government overturning Queensland's 23-year ban on uranium mining.
A spokesman for Member for Capricornia Kirsten Livermore, says the media reports are obviously some kind of joke.
"We'd be very interested to hear if the LNP is serious about this," he says.
UPDATE: 5.20PM
Member for Flynn, Ken O'Dowd today clarified comments he made in this story.
"In clarification on my comments in yesterday's report on this issue, the Premier was referring to the mining and export of Uranium, at a recent GAPDL luncheon in Gladstone as being a positive for Queensland's economic future, and that logistically, the Northern Territory may be a logical point of export due to its proximity to tenements in the North Western region of the State."
