Oz oppn criticises govt for not selling uranium to India

Australia's Labor government was criticised today by the opposition for not selling uranium to India which the Asian country needs to generate clean energy for its growing economy.

Coalition foreign affairs spokeswoman Julie Bishop attacked the Labor's continued refusal to sell uranium to India, a policy Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd reaffirmed this week during a visit by External Affairs Minister S M Krishna.

"Labor once declared climate change to be the greatest moral, environmental and economic challenge of our age, yet it refuses to provide India with the uranium it needs to power its growing nuclear energy sector," Bishop was quoted as saying by the Australian news agency AAP.

During his meetings with the two ministers, Krishna raised the issue of India's standing request to Australia to sell uranium to it to generate clean energy.

But Australian government refused to reverse its policy as India is a non signatory of Non-Proliferation Treaty.