Australian politicians have become accustomed to toadying. On his visit to Naarm/Melbourne last week, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was greeted by an evangelical atmosphere unseen and — it should be said — needless for other political leaders.

Indian Australians mean votes for Australian Labor MPs. A growing Indian economy, means returns: Education, services and, as became so clear on this Modi trip, uranium.

The Australian and Indian governments on July 9 minted an administrative arrangement permitting the sale of uranium to an ever energy hungry India. The Australia-India Joint Statement on Energy Security confirmed arrangements “necessary to enable the export of Australian uranium to India for exclusively peaceful purposes and under International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards, as provided for under the Australia-Indian Nuclear Cooperation Agreement (2015)”.

In Modi’s words this will “give our clean energy objectives [sic] fresh momentum”.

Australian uranium, which accounts for almost 28% of global sources, is seen as essential for India to reach its goal of 100 gigawatts of nuclear energy capacity by 2047.

There was much in the way of ignominious foot washing by Anthony Albanese’s government and the largely starry-eyed media corps. The Australian Financial Review celebrated the “landmark agreement that will pave the way for a flood of exports to India, finally making good on a nuclear co-operation pact between the nations signed more than a decade ago”.

Mining corporation publicists also featured the deal. “The uranium industry is just one of the things that can help make sure we continue to enjoy the world’s highest standards of living in Western Australia,” stated Jonathan Fisher, Chief Executive Officer of Cauldron Energy.

The Minerals Council of Australia (MCA) reiterated its call to overturn the uranium mining........

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