Senator SANDY MACDONALD (4:31 PM) —I also wish to take note of this report of the Senate Select Committee for an Inquiry into the Contract for a New Reactor at Lucas Heights entitled A New Research Reactor? I support the minority report of the government senators. The evidence supplied to the select committee and all the exhaustive previous nuclear inquiries, including the Senate Select Committee on Uranium Mining and Milling, on which I served, and the other four inquiries that Senator Chapman referred to today, reinforces the importance of a replacement research reactor for Australia's scientific research and nuclear medicine needs. The evidence also reinforces the strength of the tendering, contractual, safety and waste provisions that apply to this new research reactor. The evidence was overwhelming.

The government senators are very aware of those ideologically opposed to nuclear power. The community will make up its own mind in the future—as it has done in the past—about this group and the view that they push. But there is a small minority who appear at any forum available and will do anything to seek the oxygen of publicity to push their views opposing nuclear development or nuclear research. They remind me of bouncing balls: despite the fact that their arguments are weak and their professional qualifications are exposed to be inadequate, they still continue to push their views. I guess they are entitled to do that. This inquiry, as proposed by the opposition, gave these opponents of nuclear power yet another opportunity to put their case, and they failed.

As has been pointed out by Senator Chapman, all the evidence in this report justifies a new research reactor and the process by which it will be built and operated. It is interesting that the recommendations of the majority—where Senator Forshaw was obliged to use his casting vote as chairman—are completely disingenuous to the evidence as it was submitted and received by the committee. I always think that humbug seems to get a pretty fair run in debates on nuclear energy, and this inquiry certainly was no exception. I recommend that those who are interested in this inquiry read the conclusions of the minority report. They are a fair analysis of the evidence presented to this select committee.

I thank all concerned, particularly Dr Kathleen Dermody for her scholarship of this work and that of her team. I consider it was outstanding. I do thank Senator Forshaw for his chairmanship. I suspect that some of his sentiments with regard to a new research reactor at Lucas Heights might be a little different if, by some unfortunate event for Australia, we were to have a Labor government elected some time in the future—an event I hope will be a little time off.