History Trust of South Australia and the State Electoral Office
Abstract
This manuscript is made available with permission from the State Electoral Office.On the 27 September 1977 Opposition leader, Dr David Tonkin, moved:
That this House believes it is safe to mine and treat uranium in South Australia, rescinds its decision
taken on 30 March 1977, and urges the Government to proceed with plans for the development and
treatment of the State’s uranium sources as soon as possible (SAPD 1978, p.1,204).
Enriching uranium was included in his vision for the treatment of the State’s uranium
resources and, in this regard, he shared bipartisan ground with Rex Conner who, some
years earlier as Minister for Minerals and Energy in the Whitlam Government, argued for
constructing an enrichment plant in South Australia. Initially, Premier Don Dunstan
supported uranium mining and enrichment but his change of tack presented Tonkin with
an opportunity to unsettle an otherwise dominant Premier. The Advertiser and The News
were solidly behind mining, while on the other side of the divide a public campaign
joined with Labor’s left-wing to demand a moratorium on mining and enrichment
activities. Debates over the virtues or otherwise of mining and enriching uranium are at
the forefront of public debate today and thus enticing us to revisit the passionate debates
that took place in both Houses between 1977 together with Norm Foster’s decision in
1982 to cross the floor to pass the Roxby Downs Indenture Bill. Foster’s move left a
legacy of good fortune in train for Labor on the nuclear front. Had he remained ‘loyal’ to
the party platform Tonkin would have campaigned at the 1982 State election with his
trump card intact, namely attacking Labor’s uranium moratorium. Given the shift in
community support in favour of Roxby going ahead, it is highly likely that Labor
Opposition Leader, John Bannon, would have struggled to win the poll. The ignominy for
Tonkin lies with his losing office after one only term. For Labor, the luck Foster’s move
generated remains, oddly, a lasting legacy. The Rann Government enjoys the buoyancy
offered by the creation of the largest uranium mine in the world and the jobs Tonkin so
often argued to be the mine’s great virtue
