The Greens have welcomed a report from the Joint Standing Committee On Treaties (JSCOT) that has just been tabled in the House of Representatives, recommending Tony Abbott's intention to sell Australian uranium to India should not go ahead at this time.

JSCOT member Senator Peter Whish-Wilson said:

Australian Greens nuclear spokesperson Senator Scott Ludlam says the Abbott government has bizarrely linked its India uranium deal to the uranium trade with the Russian Federation, which it abruptly suspended this week in light of tensions in the Ukraine.

"Australia will now be directly complicit in a nuclear arms race in South Asia, with India moving to lock in foreign uranium supplies for power generation so it can preserve its domestic uranium for weapons production," said Senator Ludlam.

The Australian Greens say Tony Abbott is dealing the entire world a bad hand by sending Australian uranium to India.

"Uranium is not like copper and iron ore. It is a strategic mineral and a trade that Australia should be getting out of," said Greens nuclear spokesperson Senator Scott Ludlam.

"It's extraordinary that Tony Abbott is signing a nuclear deal with India in the same week Australia has suspended future uranium exports to Russia due to security concerns.

Negotiations to sell uranium to India that commenced this week must be abandoned immediately, said Australian Greens nuclear policy spokesperson Senator Scott Ludlam.

Foreign Minister Bob Carr's defence of India's non-proliferation record defies belief as well as history the Australian Greens said today.

"It is ridiculous for Bob Carr to defend India's non-proliferation record when India produced plutonium for weapons in 1974 from a Canadian-supplied reactor it pledged to use only for ‘peaceful purposes', said Greens spokesperson for nuclear policy Senator Scott Ludlam.

"The Foreign Minister has forgotten that Australia played a leading in role in establishing the Nuclear Supplies Group in direct response to this duplicity.

The Federal Government’s decision to pursue uranium sales to India is a disaster in the making, the Australian Greens said today.

Greens spokesperson for nuclear policy Senator Scott Ludlam said the Labor Party has proven it cannot be trusted on the environment.

“We will be working with the anti-nuclear movement in India – which has faced brutal repression in recent times – to ensure this does not go ahead.

Revelations of two major radioactive leaks endangering workers at an Indian nuclear power station strengthens the case against selling uranium to India, the Australian Greens said today.

Indian press outlets are reporting that an IAEA team has arrived in India to assess the scale of the leaks at the Rawatbhata nuclear complex in Rajasthan. Greens nuclear policy spokesperson Senator Scott Ludlam said the mass radiation exposures of plant workers showed the human side of the Indian Auditor General's damning assessment of the state of the industry.

Australian documentary maker David Bradbury was detained by police late yesterday in Tamil Nadu while investigating the Indian nuclear industry.

Greens nuclear policy spokesperson Senator Scott Ludlam said the arrest was only the latest in a series of moves to suppress criticism of India's notorious nuclear sector.

"The Prime Minister should put human rights and safety before uranium profits during her current visit to India," said Australian Greens spokesperson on nuclear issues, Senator Scott Ludlam, today.

"This visit will no doubt be spun as a triumph for the uranium industry, a deal is a long way from reality. Australia and India are months away from a formal agreement, and the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties should be expected to conduct an exhaustive inquiry into any agreement that emerges.