AUSTRALIAN MANUFACTURER MOVING PRODUCTION TO MALAYSIA

MELBOURNE, April 23 (Bernama) -- An Australian manufacturer of advanced
scientific equipment will relocate most of its production to Malaysia after
repeated Australian Defence Department's obstruction of export deals with Iran
and Pakistan.

GBC Scientific Equipment chief Ron Grey told "The Australian" newspaper he
had sold his factory in outer Melbourne suburb Dandenong on Wednesday, after
Australia's Defence Minister Senator John Faulkner blocked the sale of two
atomic absorption spectrophotometers to Pakistan just before Christmas.

He said this was the third time over the past decade that Canberra had
invoked the controversial Weapons of Mass Destruction (Prevention of
Proliferation) Act against GBC.

"The government said you can use this (equipment) for missiles and
centrifuges, but that's absolute crap," Grey was quoted by the newspaper as
saying.

"(Atomic absorption) is a method of measuring trace metals; it's not a major
metal technique. But they told me they have secret information they can't talk
about," he said.

"It's a star chamber -- you've got no way of defending yourself."

GBC's decision to go offshore, partly to circumvent the Australian
government's secret trade war with Iran and other countries suspected of having
Weapons of Mass Destruction programmes, comes after "The Australian" newspaper
revealed that Australian exporter Stolway had been caught in the crackdown.

Wollongong-based Stolway, which received a A$482,000 innovation grant from
Australia's Industry Minister Senator Kim Carr in 2008, has been targeted over
a A$100 million contract to export refrigeration units for the oil industry.

As Faulkner considers a prohibition order on the units, Stolway chief
executive Michael Briggs said the time taken already by the government to make a
decision was a "major concern".

Faulkner said the UN Security Council had imposed three resolutions on Iran
because of the country's refusal to suspend its nuclear programme, and
compliance with those resolutions, including minimising any risk of diversion of
Australian goods, was a high priority for the government.
-- BERNAMA


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