Calamity or commodity? Conceptualising security in the nuclear debate in Fraser’s Australia

Abstract

This article examines conceptualisations of security in the debate over uranium mining and export in Fraser’s Australia. Drawing together archives from the Fraser government, the Movement Against Uranium Mining, and newspaper coverage, the article demonstrates that pro- and anti-uranium groups held conflicting visions of (in)security: Fraser saw the exploitation of natural resources as an opportunity to strengthen Australia’s geopolitical influence, while anti-uranium activists feared the risks that mining and export posed to the environment, Indigenous communities, public health and the survival of the planet. Tracing these competing visions of security through key developments in the nuclear debate in Australia, the article demonstrates that Fraser maintained his uranium policy by avoiding the security concerns of the anti-uranium movement. Nonetheless, the debate marked an early shift in the broader reformulation of narrow ideas of ‘national security’ to more expansive understandings of the term.