Strange bedfellows
By Bernie Brian
DARWIN — The Country-Liberal Party government of the Northern Territory has lent ALP leader Brian Ede the use of one of its most senior public servants to try to convince the Labor Party National Conference that more uranium mines should be opened in Kakadu National Park.
This follows a unanimous vote in the Territory Legislative Assembly calling for Labor's three-mines policy to be dropped.
This has resulted in some Territorians branding Ede the CLP delegate to the ALP conference. Some ALP sources have told Green Left Weekly that the vote in the Legislative Assembly may be in breach of ALP rules, which bind the Territory party to federal policy.
Posters declaring "Export Ede, not uranium" have appeared around the city.
The public servant, uranium "expert" Roger Watters, told the September 8 Northern Territory News, "Most people seem to think that the three named mines policy is illogical".