Antinuclear

Nuclear Secrecy- Australia – theme for October

Australia has long been involved in the secrecy surrounding the nuclear industry, and still is today.

It started in the early 1940s, as Australia supplied uranium for the nuclear weapons of America and Britain. From 1952, the UK’s atomic weapons were tested in South Australia and Western Australia.

Australia’s Atomic Energy Commission was set up in 1953, with the purpose of developing nuclear power, and the later option of nuclear weapons. In the   1960s and ’70ssecret litary bases at North West Cape, Pine Gap and Nurrungar tied Australia to the US nuclear war-fighting machine.

It is generally accepted that the CIA engineered the dismissal of Australia’s Prime Minister, Gough Whitlam, due to particular concern of the USA government to keep Australia in the dark over these bases, particularly Pine Gap. In America, Christopher Boyce was gaoled as a traitor,  1n 1977.  He alleged that the CIA had engineered Whitlam’s downfall and had not honoured the 1966 agreement to share the military information gained at Pine Gap.

October 8, 2010 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Christina reviews, uranium | antinuclear, Australia, nuclear, nuclear weapons, uranium