Putin's ultimatum to Rudd over uranium deal

Bad to sell uranium to India but good to sell it to Russia?

RUSSIA delivered Australia a stern warning last night not to pull out of its deal to sell the former superpower uranium worth an estimated $1 billion a year. Russia's intervention came after Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said Australia would take into account Russia's aggression in Georgia before signing off on the deal, and a Labor MP warned that Russian strongman Vladimir Putin could not be trusted with Australian uranium.

"If you've looked on the TV into Vladimir Putin's eyes - he is one tough son of a gun and I don't think that he cares about what we think," said Kelvin Thomson, who chairs Federal Parliament's treaties committee. "I think that we could supply uranium to him and if he changed his mind about the uses to which he was going to put it, I don't think we'd have any effective comeback at all."

Last night, Russian ambassador Alexander Blokhin hit back, warning the Rudd Government not to renege on the deal, signed by former prime minister John Howard and Mr Putin during APEC last September. "If this agreement is not ratified, in that case we could regard it as an obviously politically biased decision, which could harm the economic interest of Australia as well," Mr Blokhin said through an interpreter. "We do not see any connection between the events in the Caucasus region and the uranium deal. These are completely separate things."

The nuclear safeguards agreement allows the export of Australian uranium to Russia for use in its rapidly expanding civilian nuclear power program. Opponents fear Australian yellowcake could be used in Russia weapons or resold to close Russian allies Iran and Syria.

Mr Smith said when the Government was considering ratifying the agreement it would take into account not just the merits of the agreement, but events in Georgia. During the Olympics, Russian troops crossed into the disputed Georgian territories of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, drawing condemnation from the West, and prompting fears of rising Russian influence in former Soviet states.
Mr Smith said he had already passed on Australia's concerns about Russia's events in Georgia to the ambassador.

Mr Thomson said the Government should consider delaying ratification of the deal until after the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty was reviewed in 2010. The treaties committee examines agreements before they are ratified to ensure they are fair and in Australia's interests.

Mr Smith said the Government would be interested in the committee's views and would take its report into account. But he emphasised that he considered the safeguards built into the agreement more than adequate. "The Government believes that the agreement meets Australia's longstanding safeguards requirements and promotes the highest international standards in this area, including involvement and oversight by the international regulator, the International Atomic Energy Agency," Mr Smith said.

Mr Putin said in Canberra last year that the Australian uranium would not be used in nuclear weapons or sold to other countries for use in bombs.

Despite the war of words, experts said it was extremely unlikely Russia would use Australian uranium in nuclear weapons. The head of the Australian Safeguards and Non-Proliferation Office, John Carlson, said: "Australian uranium won't be used for weapons because Russia has such an enormous surplus there's no reason why it would even think of doing so."

The Bulletin of American Scientists said that last year Russia had 5670 operational nuclear warheads and 9300 warheads in reserve or awaiting dismantlement.

Strategic analyst Rory Medcalf of the Lowy Institute said that, if Australia wanted to stick its neck out, it could use the uranium deal to put pressure on the Kremlin to change its behaviour in areas such as Georgia. Mr Medcalf said that if Australia pulled out of the deal it could damage its reputation as a reliable supplier and send a signal to countries such as China that could damage Australia's interests. "If we are going to show ourselves as an unreliable uranium supplier are we also going to show ourselves as an unreliable gas supplier. Where do you stop?"

Australia's trade relationship with Russia has jumped sharply in recent years, to almost $800 million in 2007.
The Rudd Government has resisted selling to uranium to India because, unlike Russia, it is not a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

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Elective surgery stopped indefinitely at major Tasmanian public hospital

Elective surgery has been stopped indefinitely at the Royal Hobart Hospital. And an explosion in the number of emergency patient numbers has put a greater strain on the hospital, where 29 staff were off sick yesterday, including seven in the Emergency Department. This meant only lifesaving surgery could be done until staff numbers improved.

RHH spokeswoman Pene Snashall said no reports of influenza had been made by either staff or patients, but winter sickness was blamed. "We had huge numbers in the Emergency Department on Sunday," she said. "A normal day is 110, and we had 143." Ms Snashall said yesterday's elective operations were postponed, as were today's, but it was hoped normal operations would resume tomorrow.

Tony Bell is acting chief executive, with chief executive Craig White on sick and annual leave.

Flu has hit Tasmanian schools hard, but the sickness must be registered with health authorities because it is classified as a notifiable disease.

The latest crisis comes as doctors speak out about the lack of a plan to fix Tasmania's health system. And ambulance "ramping" -- when vehicles have to wait until paramedics' patients are handed to the hospital -- has been highlighted with an industrial campaign.

Last week, retiring Australian Medical Association Tasmanian president Haydn Walters said he was dismayed because nothing had changed in the way the system was being run. "The system is about to fall over. It needs re-engineering. It cannot go on working like this in many strategic areas," Professor Walters said.

And James Freeman, who trained and worked at the hospital before moving to the private sector, said most of the problems could be fixed. "While a new hospital at some stage in the future is an excellent dream, what is required is substantive action right now," Dr Freeman said. "This crisis can be addressed, but it does require money. "More importantly, it requires motivation."

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Victorian paramedics falling asleep from overwork, says union

VICTORIAN paramedics have fallen asleep at the wheel they are so heavily overworked, the ambulance union says. The state’s ambulance officers are “dangerously fatigued'' from being worked so hard, and are putting their own and other peoples' lives at risk, the Ambulance Employees Australia (AEA) said today.

The union released new overtime and sick leave figures today, showing country ambulance officers were doing an average of eight hours overtime a week and taking an average 16 days sick leave a year. The latest figures follow a March report in the Herald Sun showing 90 per cent of ambulance workers think fatigue is leading to mistakes and delays. The figures also show Melbourne paramedics doing an average of almost five hours overtime a week and taking an average 13.5 days sick leave a year.

The AEA says the figures, obtained under freedom of information laws from the Metropolitan Ambulance Service and Rural Ambulance Victoria are proof paramedics are dangerously fatigued and need longer breaks between shifts.

AEA Victorian secretary Steve McGhie called on Premier John Brumby to act, with ambulance officers were working so long and sleeping so little, they were sometimes falling asleep at the wheel. “Premier Brumby needs to fix this problem before someone is killed,'' Mr McGhie said in a statement. “After working such long hours and not getting enough sleep, many ambulance officers have told us they've fallen asleep driving and made mistakes at work. “Some have told us they've even drawn up the wrong drugs and nearly administered them.''

The union is battling the ambulance employers, now merged as Ambulance Victoria, for minimum 10-hour rest breaks, compared to the eight-hour breaks they are entitled to now.

Mr McGhie said the data showed the “massive amounts'' of overtime paramedics were working. “It explains why so many say they feel dangerously fatigued,'' Mr McGhie said. “Ten-hour rest breaks will mean ambulance officers can at least get a proper sleep before they go to work again.''

But an Ambulance Victoria (AV) spokesperson said the union's claim is not reflected in its incident reporting data. “AV treats paramedic and patient safety as an absolute priority and has been working to address fatigue since late last year.''

The spokesman said the state government announced a $187.5 million ambulance services funding package earlier this year, which will deliver 258 extra paramedics, more ambulances and other facilities to regional and rural Victoria. All extra paramedics will be placed in areas of greatest need, and are in addition to more than 170 paramedics recruited last year. New roster lines are also being introduced by Ambulance Victoria to address fatigue, reducing the number of nightshifts paramedics work and increasing breaks between shifts.

The union calculates 291 extra paramedics could be employed with the money spent on overtime wages each year. It said the high levels of sick leave being taken showed paramedics' workload was affecting their health.

Ambulance Victoria, formed when the Metropolitan Ambulance Service and Rural Ambulance Victoria merged this year, and the Victorian government are currently in negotiations over an Enterprise Bargaining Agreement (EBA).

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More on the Cairns hospital mismanagement

ONE of Queensland's most senior surgeons is threatening to sue the State Government after a booze-fuelled staff meeting where doctors joked about a patient who bled to death on the operating table. Director of Surgery at Cairns Base Hospital for 10 years, Dr Christina Steffen, yesterday broke her silence to reveal the death of the critically ill patient, 78, was "the final straw".

Dr Steffen said she felt victimised and harassed after a bitter fallout with staff over the party culture within the far north Queensland hospital. She has been on stress leave since the June incident - along with a junior surgeon under investigation for alleged incompetence - which has left the Cairns hospital barely able to cope with emergency inpatients. "I think it is unethical to be drinking alcohol in a hospital staff meeting and making jokes at the expense of patients and surgeons," Dr Steffen told The Courier Mail. "It is typical of the culture within the hospital."

Queensland Health last night denied they officially sanctioned the booze session. CBH staff were invited by email to a discussion in a tutorial room on July 2 with refreshments including beer and wine. They discussed the death of a 78-year-old man from Atherton who was admitted with a ruptured main artery and bled to death on the operating table. Dr Steffen said the forum was "unethical" and a form of "macabre entertainment".

Dr Steffen's feud with management started after she stood in defence of a junior surgeon who, she said, had been "unfairly" accused of botched surgery and incompetence.

Last night Health Minister Stephen Robertson announced eight new beds at the Townsville Hospital to relieve pressure on overworked medical staff and facilities. "We recognise the stress the hospital and its staff are under, and that is why we are fast-tracking opening more beds," Mr Robertson said.

As the state's health system reels from crisis to crisis, it also emerged yesterday that a paramedic had to catch a taxi to a patient suffering a cardiac arrest on the Sunshine Coast on Saturday night. The officer was travelling in a taxi to pick up an ambulance he had left while attending an emergency call with another crew, when he had to divert to a patient during an extremely busy period.

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