TONY EASTLEY: A Liberal Senator is warning the Howard Government that the North Korean nuclear test is a sign that the nuclear non-proliferation regime is starting to crumble, and it's now more important than ever that Australia not sell its uranium to India.
Queensland Liberal Russell Trood says the non-proliferation regime needs support like never before, and selling uranium to India shouldn't be on the cards.
The Prime Minister says Australia is considering exporting uranium to India, even though it refuses to sign the non-proliferation treaty.
Louise Yaxley reports.
LOUISE YAXLEY: Queensland Liberal Senator Russell Trood says the non-proliferation regime is beginning to fail.
RUSSELL TROOD: The behaviour of the North Koreans prior to the actual explosion of their nuclear device, and the behaviour of Iran, for example, are indications that we need to do more to prop up the non-proliferation regime.
One could see the tests by the North Koreans as confirmation that the fears we've had about the regime are in fact... are being realised.
LOUISE YAXLEY: Senator Trood raised the problem in the Coalition party room yesterday, to argue against Australia selling its uranium to India.
RUSSELL TROOD: I'm very uneasy about that particular proposal, because India of course, is not a member of the non-proliferation treaty.
Although it's behaved reasonably well over the last few years in relation to nuclear activities, we have never sold uranium to a country which is outside the non-proliferation regime, and I think precisely at the moment, when we have further evidence of the regime beginning to fail, it would send absolutely the wrong signal to the international community.
LOUISE YAXLEY: Greens Senator Christine Milne says selling uranium to India now would undermine the non-proliferation treaty.
CHRISTINE MILNE: What's really interesting about the noises out of India, post the explosion in North Korea, is the suggestion that Australia has an even greater pressure on it to provide India with uranium. That makes a complete mockery of the Prime Minister's suggestion that Australian uranium would only be used for peaceful purposes.
The fact that the Indians now want it, after a nuclear explosion in North Korea, suggests absolutely to the contrary.
LOUISE YAXLEY: Liberal MP Steve Ciobo takes a different lesson from the North Korean nuclear test.
STEVE CIOBO: This is a rogue totalitarian regime that has been allowed to achieve this status by countries seemingly unwilling to take necessary action against North Korea earlier on, and I would certainly not like to see the same latitude provided to a country with nuclear aspirations, such as Iran.
LOUISE YAXLEY: So how do you stop a country like Iran developing that capability?
STEVE CIOBO: Well, I believe that all options would need to be assessed.
What has occurred with North Korea highlights the very dangerous path that appeasement and too much dialogue can take.
Certainly, let's always exhaust those avenues first and foremost. But let's also not lose sight of the fact that all liberal democracies do stand separate and aside to totalitarian regimes.
And we simply cannot allow totalitarian regimes to reach a state where they are nuclear armed. And that should mean that there is decisive action taken if, and only if, dialogue, constructive dialogue, fails.
LOUISE YAXLEY: You mean a military strike?
STEVE CIOBO: Well, I believe a military strike is something that would certainly need to be assessed. But, as I said, that should always be a last resort. But it can certainly never be discounted, especially when we've seen that North Korea has reached the states they've reached, and Iran clearly has aspirations to join the nuclear club as well.
TONY EASTLEY: Liberal backbencher Steve Ciobo ending that report from Louise Yaxley.