Antinuclear

Australian news, and some related international items

Muckaty Court Report Day 3 – When is a nuclear waste dump not a nuclear waste dump?

justiceMuckaty Court report Day 3- June 4  when is a dump not a dump?  By Padraic Gibson  Beyond Nuclear Initiative, 5 June 14 “…...Mr Merkel handed up to the court two anthropologist reports completed by the NLC specifically for the waste dump nomination in 2006. Mr Merkel argued there were differences between the first report, prepared exclusively by the NLC anthropologists, and the second, which had been both “heavily edited” and “rewritten” by NLC principal lawyer Ron Levy, despite his signature being absent…….

More significant than an argument about who has primary responsibility however, is the emphasis in the original report on shared responsibility for sites across Muckaty by all clan groups. Mr Yarrow argued that this fundamental principle that underpins the land grant had been abandoned by the NLC in their nomination of the site on Muckaty……

Despite the focus of the legal proceedings on the alleged misconduct of the NLC, from the perspective of the campaign against the Muckaty dump, the Commonwealth submissions provided an important reminder that the central problem here is the discriminatory actions of the government in targeting impoverished Aboriginal communities for some of Australia’s most toxic industrial waste.

The genesis of the Muckaty dump nomination is the Commonwealth push to establish a waste dump on Aboriginal land. The court heard evidence of Commonwealth representatives starting to attend full council meetings of the Northern Land Council in late 2005, to pitch the idea of a dump to Aboriginal land owners……..

As Traditional Owners have consistently pointed out – if this stuff is so safe, why do you want to put it so far away from the cities?

WASTES-1The second ideological argument put strongly by the Commonwealth, both in their submissions to court and in their presentations to Traditional Owners during consultations, is that the waste dump is needed to allow for the continued operation of nuclear medicine in Australia. This argument has been comprehensively rebuffed by health professionals, such as Dr Michael Fonda from the Public Health Association, who has highlighted the cruelty of making Traditional Owners, who live in communities that suffer from developing world health conditions, feel guilty that somehow their opposition to a waste dump would be an impediment to others receiving health care.

See for example the short video: Nuclear Furphies and Political Follies……..

No mention was made about provisions in the 2005 Radioactive Waste Management Act which stipulate that the Commonwealth will not hand back any land that had been contaminated. This also ignores the fact that the “low level” waste is set be buried, with no intention of recovery.

The nature of the waste dump then, is shaping up to be a central issue in the case……..

In my discussions with Muckaty Traditional owners over the last seven years, key witnesses relied upon by the Commonwealth have strongly rejected the assertion that they ever consented to the waste dump, or ever said the decision should rest with the narrow family group in question. Next week they will have a chance to be heard directly, as the court relocates to the Northern Territory for hearings both at Muckaty itself and in Tennant Creek http://beyondnuclearinitiative.com/muckaty-court-report-day-3-june-4/

June 6, 2014 Posted by | aboriginal issues, AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, legal, Northern Territory, wastes | Leave a comment

Energy Resources of Australia – uranium company expecting an even huger loss this time

Energy Resources of Australia expects loss http://www.marketwatch.com/story/energy-resources-of-australia-expects-loss-2014-06-05-14855444?link=MW_latest_news By Ross Kelly  SYDNEY–Uranium producer Energy Resources of Australia Ltd. expects a first-half loss of up to 140 million Australian dollars (US$130 million) after a radioactive leak halted activities at its Ranger operation in the Northern Territory.

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The company, which is 68% owned by Rio Tinto PLC, said it expects to restart operations at Ranger progressively beginning Thursday after cleanup and regulator approval.

The leak of about 1 million liters of contaminated slurry, which occurred in December, was caused by toxic material eating through a steel tank involved in the process of refining ore. Investigations by authorities found the leak was contained within the mine site.

The company had already stopped mining uranium at the Ranger operation in late 2012 after its ore was depleted. But it continued to process stockpiled ore while it studied the feasibility of digging a new underground pit there called Ranger 3 Deeps.

The company expects a loss of A$120 million and A$140 million for the six months through December, in large part due to costs associated with the suspension of ore processing. That compares to a A$53.4 million loss in the year-earlier period.

Energy Resources of Australia has run up a string of losses in recent years, dogged by low uranium prices, disappointing output volumes and costs associated with the rehabilitation of the old mine site.

June 6, 2014 Posted by | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, business, uranium | Leave a comment

Financial analysts send shudders through the uranium industry

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uranium-oreUranium stocks tumble after RBC takes axe to price forecasts, Financial Post  Peter Koven | June 5, 2014 Uranium miners have offered a very consistent message to investors over the past couple of years: The short-term outlook is bad, but don’t worry, a lot more uranium is going to be needed down the road.

RBC Capital Markets Analysts agree. Only they think it will be a much longer road than most.

Analysts Fraser Phillips and Patrick Morton on Thursday sent shudders through the industry as they took an axe to their uranium price forecasts. They cut their 2014 spot price forecast to US$31.50 a pound, down from US$45. And it got worse from there. The 2015 target was cut to US$40 (from US$60), and targets for the 2016 to 2018 period fell to just US$40-US$45 from US$75-US$80. Not surprisingly, shares of every significant uranium company (including Cameco Corp., Paladin Energy Ltd. and Denison Mines Corp.) tumbled on Thursday.

The analysts believe the uranium market is going to be in surplus until 2021, which is far longer than most insiders expect. They blame continuing oversupply in the market.

“Active annual supply exceeds demand by a significant margin, and on top of that, significant excess inventories have been and continue to be accumulated post the Fukushima disaster, particularly in Japan,” they said in a note. It is no secret the uranium market is under pressure. The sector is still reeling from the Fukushima disaster in 2011, and approvals for Japanese reactor restarts are taking longer than expected. The spot uranium price recently fell below US$30 a pound for the first time since 2005…….

The RBC analysts pointed out that mine production has continued to grow during the past two years despite low prices, and that the Japanese restart process has stalled. They believe only four Japanese reactors will restart this year, and just 28 (out of 50) will be online by 2018…….http://business.financialpost.com/2014/06/05/rbc-annihilates-uranium-price-outlook/

June 6, 2014 Posted by | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Tony Abbott shows Australia ‘out of touch’ as he excludes Climate Change from G20 summit in November

cartoon-climate-AustAustralia should come in from the cold  June 6, 2014  The Age As Tony Abbott heads towards the northern hemisphere summer on the next stage of his 12-day round-the-world trip, he might have cause to feel a distinct chilliness, particularly from his hosts in Europe and the United States. The reason is simple: the more the Australian government downplays the critical importance of acknowledging and controlling climate change, the more behind we will be with world opinion and action.

Just look at what has happened over the past week or so…….

as The Age has said, without carbon pricing, the nation lacks a credible policy outline to adapt to and match even modest accelerations in global emission cuts.

Sadly, the Prime Minister’s glib attitude to climate change is entirely predictable. But this does not excuse his consignment to the political freezer of anything that threatens to add to what should be a reasoned and far-reaching debate on what is a world problem.

The latest thing to be popped into the Australian government’s icebox is the potential inclusion of climate change on the agenda at the G20 leaders’ summit in Brisbane in November. ”The focus … will overwhelmingly be our economic security, our financial stabilisation, the importance of private-sector growth,” Mr Abbott said this week, adding that there are other international forums for climate change discussions. Yes, but not ones attended by those world leaders who regard the unchecked progress of global emissions as detrimental to our economic security and financial stability. To restrict, or possibly exclude, climate change from the G20 discussions is short-sighted and counter-productive. Again, it makes Australia look retrograde and out of touch with reality…….http://www.theage.com.au/comment/the-age-editorial/australia-should-come-in-from-the-cold-20140605-39lq4.html

June 6, 2014 Posted by | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, climate change - global warming, politics international | Leave a comment

Al Gore to visit Australia to this month tolaunch the Climate reality training project

Gore,-Al-climateGore praises Obama ahead of Australia climate change training drive, Asian Correspondent ,By  Jun 05, 2014 Former US Vice President Al Gore is scheduled to visit Australia this month to lead a climate leadership training drive, shortly after US President Barack Obama’s historic announcement early this week directing the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to initiate massive cuts on dirty carbon emissions.The 25th Climate Reality Leadership Corps training program will kick off on June 25-27 in Melbourne to teach participants about the science of climate change and how to communicate its effects.

Gore’s leadership training  will mark another important event following initiatives of various NGOs towards decarbonising Australia. Last month, US economist Jeffrey Sachs led the launch of a low carbon economy initiative.

Gore, the Climate Reality Project chairman, praised  Obama’s announcement to cut the nation’s dirty carbon emissions from the power sector by 30 percent nationwide below 2005 levels by 2030. This is equal to the emissions from powering more than half the homes in the United States for one year. The former VP said the clean energy initiative is the most crucial step towards combating the climate crisis.

We simply cannot continue to use the atmosphere as an open sewer for dirty and dangerous global warming pollution that endangers our health and makes storms, floods, mudslides and droughts much more dangerous and threatening – not only in the future, but here and now.

Gore reiterated that actions are taking place worldwide to address climate change but remained wary about special interest groups that continue to deny and spread misleading information to muddle and obfuscate the issue. He said denial of the linkage between carbon emissions and climate change is like denial of the link between tobacco and lung cancer. …He added that there are now technologies that can offer alternative sources of clean, efficient, and competitive renewable energy…….

Scientists in the Pacific welcome Obama’s clean energy plan. Radio Australia interviewed Dr. Padma Lal,  an independent researcher on Climate Risk in the Pacific, who applauds the announcement and said it is urgent to take action to make the plan a reality.

She noted other countries – the major polluters – have already started taking action to reduce their carbon emissions, such as China, India, Brazil.

…..we would like to see other countries such as Australia and European nations to follow suit. Perhaps it’s a bit too early to say that this is actually going to happen, it’ll be interesting to see in tangible terms what actions are taken by the American state. From the Pacific point of view it really is urgent that they do take such measures… http://asiancorrespondent.com/123482/gore-praises-obama-sets-to-train-climate-leaders-in-australia/

June 6, 2014 Posted by | ACTION | Leave a comment

Australia needs new standards on the rights of indigenous people

flag-UN.The United Nations has established the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues which has a mandate to discuss indigenous issues related to economic and social development, culture, the environment, education, health and human rights. The United Nations World Conference on Indigenous Peoples will be held in New York in September 2014.

The themes of the Conference are set out in the Alta Outcome Document

highly-recommendedThis could set a new standard for Australia as a whole.

There is still distinct disadvantage in Australia, Australian Options Magazine  May 31, 2014 in Focus, May indigenous2014 no 76 Dr Valerie Cooms* “……..With the enhanced involvement of the UN and the continuing relationship with resistance organisations, the Commonwealth had to not only address the suffering and treatment of Aboriginal populations, but also had to remove racist legislation from all Australian statutes (including its own). It was forced to commit to a program of land rights for Aboriginal peoples to address the disadvantage associated with the dispossession of lands by the colonisation process.[xviii]  The UN also demanded Australia put anti-discrimination legislation in place.  By 1975, the Commonwealth had removed its own discriminatory legislation, undertaken an investigation into a national land rights program by engaging Justice Woodward, and introduced the Racial Discrimination Act 1975as well as the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders (Queensland Discriminatory Laws) Act, 1975.[xix] The latter was introduced specifically to over-ride the 1971 Queensland Act which the State Government had refused to acknowledge contained discriminatory provisions involving the confiscation of earnings and property of Aboriginal workers. Though, according to John Pilger, no federal government ever enforced the 1975 Act about Queensland.[xx]

While the Racial Discrimination Act was watered down to a conciliatory process, its introduction along with the engagement of Justice Woodward, the removal of overtly racist legislation cleared the way for the Commonwealth to have UN conventions ratified.  The Commonwealth also established the National Aboriginal Consultative Congress (NACC) in 1973 and informed the public it would be advised by the representatives elected from across Australia.[xxi]  However, the Federal Government failed to fund NACC’s secretariat or to take advice that it either could not address or did not agree with.[xxii] Arguably, the NACC was put into place to quieten the growing Aboriginal activism which was in constant contact with not only the UN but other international resistance organisations.[xxiii]

Indisputably it was the need to avert UN and international criticism in order to have conventions ratified that saw the Commonwealth remove or over-ride racist legislation and address the appalling treatment and condition of Aboriginal people in Queensland. Yet as clearly demonstrated here, the Aboriginal policies of all Governments were merely modified into more acceptable methods of colonisation that could avert international criticism.

In 2014 and with decolonialisation almost complete, the critical United Nations’ body is the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues which first met in 2002.[xxiv] The UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) was adopted by the UN General Assembly in September 2007.[xxv] Only four countries, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States, voted against. In 2009, the Rudd Government reversed the position that had been taken by the Howard Government and endorsed the UN Declaration.[xxvi]The Howard Government was based its opposition on claims that it allowed customary law to override legislative law. The current Attorney George Brandis said in 2009 that the UN Declaration had provisions ‘that go well beyond the rights recognised in Australian domestic law’. He said it conferred the right to seek compensation for land taken without permission and to veto projects affecting land, without providing recognition for the rights of third parties.[xxvii]

As the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner said The Declaration is the most comprehensive tool we have available to advance the rights of Indigenous peoples.[xxviii] The Australian Human Rights Commission in its Community Guide to the Declaration says that the preamble makes some key points including that Continue reading →

June 6, 2014 Posted by | aboriginal issues, AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL | Leave a comment