"You've thrown technology down the drain which Australia could have used," he said.

"As an Australian I feel very sad that that thing goes on, not because the technology wasn't good enough, or anything but for political reasons, ideological reasons."

The statement above could be about a number of technologies invented in Australia over the past 60 years. In this case, the quote is from nuclear scientist Don Mercer, lamenting that the Hawke government shut down research on uranium enrichment during the mid 1980s, leaving the process to be perfected by others.

It's ironic, because that's exactly what the present government is doing to research for renewable energy. Forcing it offshore through a lack of funds and commitment. Purely for ideological and political reasons.

Like the uranium enrichment technology of 20 years ago, renewable energy research will be a lost opportunity if the technology is perfected offshore.

Dr Clarence Hardy worked for 20 years at Lucas Heights and says Australia was at the forefront of nuclear technology.

"I don't think anyone at the really high level in the Government understood what we were trying to do, to preserve this technology for the good of the country," he said.

Dr Hardy is now a director of the company Nuclear Fuel Australia and is planning to put a proposal to the Federal Government to build an enrichment plan in Australia.

Yes, planning to put a proposal for technology developed and imported from overseas.

I wouldn't be surprised in another 20 years or so, Australian scientists will be lamenting lost opportunities as we cough up large amounts of money to import renewable energy technologies that could have been perfected here.

Update: Ken L has a different slant on the same thing here.

I stayed up late on Thursday night to watch Paul Keating interviewed on Lateline. I wasn't disappointed.

Keating's discourse was somewhat rambling and egotistical, but he hasn't lost the art of producing the 'quotable quote.' Here's some lifted from the transcripts.

On the effect of Work Choices on productivity ...

If you go to 200 or 300 people in a factory or 200 or 300 people in a workplace and come to a three or four year bargain to the improve productivity and share it between wages and profits you've got a good chance of getting productivity from the whole enterprise. But if you just take one person at a time, bring them into the boss' office and cut their wages there's no chance of getting any productivity. That's why trend productivity is now rapidly on the way down. It was 3 per cent under me. It's now under 1 per cent.

And this in the same vein ...

The great lie of the Howard Government in respect of workplace changes, they are simply a set of arrangements to keep unions out of workplaces. They've got nothing to do with productivity and the quicker we move away from that kind of discriminatory structure to a truly trust based co operative sharing of work and workloads, then we get back to reasonable levels of productivity and again, reasonable rates of growth in real wages. It's no accident as you saw in today's front page of The Sydney Morning Herald and other places that the wage share in the economy has gone down, and the profit share in the last four years has gone up because wages are now in real terms, are declining.

On using the Corporations Powers to regulate IR ...

Let me make this clear, the Liberals decided that they wouldn't use the conciliation and arbitration power.

Under that power of the constitution you always needed a commission who tested capacity to pay and comparative wage justice. They've now used the corporations power and the High Court for the first time as validated its use. That means a Federal Government can now legislate the wage and the conditions.

On the real reason why the economy has boomed without the traditional wage blowout ...

Everything in those national accounts yesterday, everything, that is the growth in the economy and the low unemployment, the reason the system is not blowing, the tinder box has not taken off is because of the float, because of the tariff changes and because of [the previous Labor government's] IR changes, structural changes. That's why they're there. Not because of any superior management by Mr Costello. You know this pat line tonight about you wouldn't put an L plater. God, he's the greatest L plater of all time.

And finally, best til last. This on poll based policy. Could be true for any political organisation these days ...

The Labor Party is not going to profit from having these proven unsuccessful people around who are frightened of their own shadow and won't get out of bed in the morning unless they've had a focus group report to tell them which side of bed to get out.

Keating makes the current pollies we're lumbered with these days look very bland. I look forward to his next media forray.