Antinuclear

Australian news, and some related international items

Not the Corporate Nuclear News – week to 5 April

Some bits of good news   –  

UNESCO’s new Global Education Monitoring Report reveals a dramatic expansion in global education since 2000.     Lead in archived hair documents a decline in lead exposure to humans since the establishment of the US Environmental Protection Agency  with regulation of leaded petrol and other major sources.   Australia’s tiny marsupial ampurta is making a big comeback

TOP STORIES. Chernobyl at 40: The World’s Worst Nuclear Power Accident and Where It Stands Now.
A ‘small’ nuclear war would still be global catastrophe. 

                                 
From ISIS to Iran: Joe Kent Says Washington Keeps Repeating the Same Catastrophic Playbook – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=teapZxaBgDI


Golden Dome as a Leaky Golden Shower: Trump’s $4 Trillion Missile Defense System Ridiculed in DC. – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8zcu-ZM0jQ&t=1s


Christian Nationalists in US Government Push Attacks on Iran as Holy War.


It’s all about the nukes.Israeli nuclear city emerges as focal point in escalating Iran–Israel confrontation.

Climate. Data centers are creating ‘heat islands’ on land around them – warming them by up to 16 degrees, researchers warn.                                                                                          Funding gap threatens next round of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) climate science reports.                                    Climate change will push venomous snakes towards highly populated coastlines, study finds.                       US scientists are escaping to Norway because of Trump’s anti-climate agenda, minister says.

AUSTRALIA For Australia the Price is Always Right.        
The war they sold us, the price we pay.                                  US war on Iran exposes Australia’s frail defence, AUKUS even more.                                                                                                                 UniSuper members ‘divest from death’ on Palestine Land Day .                                                                                                                  Zomi Frankcom killing– Press Club takes on Israel’s ambassador.      The Platform of Shame: How Australia Normalised a Genocidal Regime.          15 April – Zoom –Nuclear Power is Not the Solution
                  21 April Webinar: No Nuclear Weapons in Australia.

ATROCITIES.
 ‘The rope is for Arabs only’: Israel’s new death penalty law for Palestinians recycles a colonial playbook. ‘This Arrogant Enemy’: Israel’s Colonial Reversion to the Noose.

ECONOMICS.   

ENERGY. Will the New Brunswick Power Review finally shake up New Brunswick Power? DONALD TRUMP: THE GREAT ILLUMINATOR.                                                                                    How Iran war energy crisis strengthens case for renewables.

ETHICS and RELIGION. Trump’s Divine War: How Christian Nationalists Are Running U.S. Policy in Iran and at Home.The Empire Is Losing Its Ability To Hide Its Ugly Nature.On Good Friday, Pope Leo speaks with presidents of Israel and Ukraine, calling for an end to war.Kucinich Statement on President Trump’s Address on Iran.
EVENTS 7 April – WEBINAR –  Australia and the Doomsday Clock  – Preventing nuclear war through NoFirstUse and other policies.14 April – Zoom –Nuclear Power is Not the Solution21 April – No Nuclear Weapons in Australia – Civil Society Declaration.
HISTORY. Trump’s “New” Mideast: False Promises of Peace Through War.
INDIGENOUS ISSUES. Progress, push back and Indigenous rights.
LEGAL. NuScale’s ENTRA1 “Veterans” Had Zero Nuclear Projects — Investors Lost 70%.Legal challenge against nuclear site plan rejected.
MEDIA They attack, we defend: how the media toe the line on Iran. Washington Post Promotes Nuclear Agenda Tied to Bezos’ Investments.Inspiring the Authentic Journalist: The Pentagon’s Renewed attack on Press Credentials.No To Nuclear- Why Nuclear Power Destroys Lives, Derails Climate Progress and Provokes War.
OPPOSITION to NUCLEAR . Back to Pentagon on Good Friday.Protestors target RAF Lakenheath amid evidence of US nuclear weapons and role in illegal war on Iran.
PERSONAL STORIES. US negotiator in 2015 Iran nuclear deal says Donald Trump ‘delusional’ on nuclear and regime change.

POLITICS. New US war team needed to end Iran war on Iran’s sensible terms. Scotland won’t pursue ‘unproven’ SMRs and ‘experimental’ fusion as focus remains renewables.

POLITICS INTERNATIONAL and DIPLOMACY.

PUBLIC OPINION. War front updates: America opposes war on Iran
RADIATION. The Impact Of Radiation On Health | March 25, 2026.
SAFETY. UN nuclear agency chief ‘deeply concerned’ by reports of latest attack on Iran power plantUS-Israel war on Iran heightening nuclear accident risk – CND.EBRD donors back plan to repair Chornobyl’s protective shield.
SECRETS and LIES. Massacre of UK aid workers: two years of obfuscation from Britain.UK submarine captain steps down after link to Chinese spy case.
SPACE. EXPLORATION, WEAPONS. The US has declared ‘space superiority’ over Iran – What does that mean?.
SPINBUSTER. The “Nuclear Energy Paradox”– Investigating nuclear imaginaries in energy projections.No Three Mile Island in Suffolk!Sanctity Lost: Even Neocon Pantheon Declares US a ‘Rogue Superpower’.
TECHNOLOGY. Bypass the Strait of Hormuz with nuclear explosives?- The US studied that in Panama and Colombia in the 1960sFusion power unlikely to become competitive.Atlanta robot security dogs now giving commands to Americans.
URANIUM. Does the Trump administration understand how ‘enriched’ uranium is made into weapons?
WASTES. France plans inquiry as cost of nuclear waste project hits €33bn.Scenario Analysis for Partitioning and Transmutation(P&T) in a Phase-out Scenario.Decommissioning. Manchester Professor appointed expert reviewer for Government nuclear decommissioning review

WAR and CONFLICT. 

WEAPONS and WEAPONS SALES.   Did Trump bomb Iranian schoolgirls with UK-made weaponry?    

What to Know About the ‘Massive’ Military Bunker Beneath Trump’s Ballroom.

It Takes Years To Refuel A Nuclear Submarine – Here’s Why.

April 5, 2026 Posted by | Weekly Newsletter | Leave a comment

NO NUCLEAR WEAPONS IN AUSTRALIA

CIVIL SOCIETY DECLARATION

2 April 2026

In 2026, the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons Australia invited Australian and Pacific Island civil society organisations to sign on to the “No Nuclear Weapons in Australia Declaration”. More than 150 organisations are calling on the Albanese government to prohibit the entry, transit or presence of nuclear weapons in Australian territory, waters and airspace, uphold Australia’s commitments to a nuclear weapons-free world, and sign and ratify the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.

Plans are advancing for Australia to host US nuclear-capable B-52 bombers and potentially nuclear-armed submarines. Australia’s willing acceptance of US policy of neither confirming nor denying the presence of nuclear weapons on these vessels, means Australia could unknowingly host American nuclear weapons in future. 

These dangerous developments don’t just make us complicit in nuclear warfare; they put a target on our backs. By becoming a launchpad for nuclear-capable vessels, we are inviting the risk of a devastating nuclear accident to our own shores.

We are not the only ones worried about this situation with concerns about AUKUS growing across our region, particularly with heightened global tensions around nuclear weapons.

That is why we have worked with civil society groups throughout the Pacific region to launch a new No Nuclear Weapons in Australia Declaration to push back on these policies of nuclear ambiguity and to reject Australia having any role in nuclear war. 

Read the Declaration here

More than 150 groups, representing millions of people including the Community and Public Sector Union, the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation, the Australian Conservation Foundation, Amnesty International, The Uniting Church, Pacific Elders Voice, the Medical Association for the Prevention of War and many others have endorsed the call.

The massive scale of this Declaration sends a clear message that Australians and our neighbours in the Pacific will not accept the world’s worst weapons on our doorstep.

Central to the Declaration is a collective demand for Australia to uphold the spirit and letter of the South Pacific Nuclear Free Zone Treaty, also known as the Treaty of Rarotonga. As a founding signatory, Australia has a permanent obligation to ensure our region remains shielded from the existential threat of nuclear weapons and the horror of renewed testing.

April 5, 2026 Posted by | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Billionaire Zionist John Gandel’s influence in Australian public schools

by Nicole Everett and Alan Musry | Mar 26, 2026  https://michaelwest.com.au/billionaire-zionist-john-gandels-influence-in-australian-public-schools/

Australian public school teachers and students are being influenced by Zionist lobbyists who seek to manufacture consent for the illegal occupation of Palestine and the Gaza genocide. Nicole Everett and Alan Musry with the story.

The Yad Vashem Holocaust Studies Teacher Training Program for Australian Educators, supported by The Gandel Foundation, is a tool used to indoctrinate educators and students under the guise of Holocaust Studies in what is clearly a state vision.

This represents a view contrary to what the majority of academics and experts know and teach, and undermines the spirit of balanced and independent studies.

The Gandel Foundation, which offers the teacher training program, is chaired by Australian billionaire John Gandel and includes junket trips to Israel.

John Gandel is a long-time associate of Benjamin Netanyahu and is listed as one of his ‘most valued supporters’. A leaked document declared him a ‘tier 1’ contact of the Israeli Prime Minister, who is currently overseeing the genocide of Palestinians in Gaza and the violent occupation of Palestinians in the West Bank.

After October 7, John Gandel publicly stated that “Israel has no choice but to go ‘all out’ in Gaza.

Gandel is well integrated into the Zionist colonial project and has associations with the Israel Defence Forces through a program that treats and rehabilitates IDF soldiers who have been carrying out the genocide in Gaza.

In 2022, the Hadassah Hospital’s Gandel Rehabilitation Centre in Jerusalem was funded by John Gandel and his wife, Pauline, in what is reportedly the largest ever donation to Israel.

The Zionist perspective

At an address to the audience at a special luncheon following the naming ceremony of the Hadassah Rehabilitation Centre, Gandel stated that

“When it comes to supporting the people and the State of Israel, we always saw it as our duty and obligation to strengthen the homeland and help this country” and that “it is worth noting that the Jewish community of Australia is a strong advocate, supporter and defender of the State of Israel. Israel has one of the best allies in the world in Australia.”

This statement clearly outlines full support for the Zionist state, and the teacher training program supported by John Gandel’s foundation seeks to influence Australian teachers to accept and teach the Zionist perspective in Australian schools.

This, in turn, influences young people in our schools and the wider education system to also advocate for Israel and the Zionist colonial project in occupied territories that include Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem, which was declared illegal by the International Court of Justice on 19 July 2024. At the ruling, UN experts, including Francesca Albanese et al., said,

“States must immediately review all diplomatic, political, and economic ties with Israel“

“inclusive of business and finance, pension funds, academia and charities.”

Since the start of Israel’s genocide in Gaza, the Rehabilitation Centre specifically treats and rehabilitates IDF soldiers who have been wounded or ‘stressed out’ while participating in the killing, maiming, abduction, and dispossession of Palestinians ­including a ‘specialised PTSD centre’.

Teacher training program


The Yad Vashem Holocaust Studies Teacher Training Program for Australian Educators represents an external lobby group that influences educators and enables a foreign interest group to interfere in the public education system. It does this by:

  • Providing free travel junkets.
  • Politicising history by refocusing Holocaust studies on contemporary politics of the Middle East.
  • Providing professional learning, teaching materials, lesson sequences, and historical sources” which support a Zionist interpretation of History.
  • Influencing politically uninformed teachers who may not be aware of the Palestinian Nakba that occurred in 1948.

The program is described by Yad Vashem as “a long-term professional-development program aimed at training a cadre of expert Holocaust educators who are active throughout Australia”. It captures teachers into a long-term commitment with five stages:


  • Stage 1: Online Course: Introduction to Holocaust Studies
  • Stage 2: The Australian Teacher-Training Seminar, Jerusalem
  • Stage 3: The Educational Project
  • Stage 4: Follow-up Seminars in Australia
  • Stage 5: Gandel Program Alumni

“… to ensure participants remain dedicated to ongoing advocacy and maintenance of the Israeli state.“

Australia’s Birthright program, which is managed by the Zionist Federation of Australia, providing young people with free trips to Israel.

Zionist exceptionalism

There are several reasons why we should not pay special attention to only teaching about the Jewish Holocaust in schools, including:

  •       making genocide seem like a unique or isolated event;
  •       unintentionally minimising victims of other genocides;
  •       limiting students’ understanding of the conditions that lead to genocide;
  •       reinforcing a narrow view of racism and violence;
  •       weakening education about how to prevent genocide;
  •       favouring a historical narrative where we ignore wrongdoings perpetuated by ‘the West’.


Australian Teachers value, support, and teach Holocaust education programs; however, they should not be delivered when they are about legitimising contemporary political violence in the Middle East through exposing teachers to Zionist voices.

Genocide studies should include those carried out in, but not limited to, places such as North America, Australia, Rwanda, Cambodia, the Rohingya in Myanmar and Darfur.

There should also be room in the curriculum for teaching about the perspectives of Palestinians who have lived under occupation for more than 75 years. By excluding this perspective, the Israel lobby can continue to

“deprive students of comprehensive learning aimed at developing critical thinking skills.“

April 5, 2026 Posted by | Education | Leave a comment

Climate change will push venomous snakes towards highly populated coastlines, study finds

 Climate change will drive venomous snakes away from arid interiors and
towards densely populated coastlines, increasing the risk of deadly
encounters for millions of people, a new global study says. It notes that
snake populations will broadly move towards higher latitudes and more
heavily populated areas as rising temperatures make their current habitats
less suitable. In Australia, the shift is expected to be especially
pronounced along the east coast where snakes will move from the arid centre
into more heavily populated southern areas.

 Independent 2nd April 2026,
https://www.independent.co.uk/climate-change/news/venomous-snakes-climate-change-b2950023.html

April 5, 2026 Posted by | climate change - global warming | Leave a comment

UniSuper members ‘divest from death’ on Palestine Land Day 

by Stephanie Tran | Apr 1, 2026, https://michaelwest.com.au/unisuper-members-divest-from-death-on-palestine-land-day/

UniSuper members have started a mass divestment campaign against the fund, citing investments in weapons companies and organisations complicit in Israel’s ongoing genocide and occupation. Stephanie Tran reports.

UniSuper, which manages approximately $166B on behalf of more than 680,000 members, is the industry superfund for employees in Australia’s higher education and research sector. The ‘Divest from Death‘ campaign is run by a group campaigning against UniSuper’s unwillingness to divest from weapons manufacturers and other companies involved in genocide, war crimes, occupation and apartheid in Palestine.

As of June 2025, the fund holds over $771m worth of investments in companies named in databases compiled by the UN Human Rights Office and the American Friends Service Committee, which track businesses complicit in the illegal occupation of Palestinian territories and the genocide in Gaza.

Analysis of portfolio data shows that UniSuper has significantly expanded these investments in recent years. Its shareholding in Elbit Systems, Israel’s largest weapons manufacturer, has more than tripled over the past two years, based on the number of shares held.

The fund also has hundreds of millions of dollars invested in companies involved in weapons production, including Lockheed Martin and Boeing, and maintains smaller holdings in Israeli financial institutions linked to settlement activity. 


A report by the Australia Institute previously identified UniSuper as one of only four major superannuation funds not to exclude controversial weapons, including nuclear weapons, from its investment screens.

Palestine Land Day

March 30th has been marked Palestine Land Day since the 1976 killing of six Palestinian citizens by Israeli police during protests against the expropriation of thousands of dunams of land in the Galilee.

Alison Gibberd, an organiser of the campaign, said members had raised concerns with the fund over several years, including through petitions, direct correspondence and questions at annual meetings.

“UniSuper has increased its investments in weapons and companies involved in the occupation of the West Bank in the past two years.”

“A large number of members are not happy with these investments – many hundreds of members have petitioned them and written to them in the past few years, and the union has passed pro-BDS motions, driven by members, nationally as well as locally,” Gibberd said.

“Despite this, there does not appear to have been a change in UniSuper’s policy and they state that they are not an ‘activist’ fund. This refusal to act is why members have left in the past for more ethical funds and why a group will leave on 30 March.”

Tamara Kayali Browne, Adjunct Senior Research Fellow at Charles Sturt University and Palestinian activist, said the divestment action had been “driven by university staff who will not tolerate their money being invested in genocide”.

“Many of us refuse to have our money invested in companies that are fuelling, or complicit in, the Gaza genocide,” she said. “Since UniSuper has refused to divest from these companies, we are left with little choice but to leave and put our money in more ethical superannuation funds.”

She said the campaign was intended to send a broader message to the superannuation sector.

“A retirement built on blood money cannot possibly be enjoyed,” Browne said. “Even if those who work at UniSuper are not bothered by the fact that they are investing in a genocide, many people are and are happy to put their money elsewhere.”

UniSuper response

In response to questions posed at its annual members’ meeting last year, UniSuper said it held “small investment holdings” in companies identified in the UN database of companies involved in illegal settlements, including Elbit Systems and “a small number of Israeli banks”. The fund said it had no holdings in Israeli government bonds.

“UniSuper is satisfied that our investment holdings are in accordance with law and with the investment strategies and objectives of our investment options,” the fund stated. 

“If their investments are indeed small, then it should not be much trouble to divest from them. And it is not as though a little bit of genocide is okay,” Browne said.

UniSuper was contacted for comment. A spokesperson for UniSuper provided the following response: 

“Our role as a superfund is to manage the life savings of our members and to act in their best financial interests.  We take a risk-based approach to identify and integrate material ESG factors into our investment decisions across our portfolios.

“As at 31 December 2025, UniSuper had small investment holdings relative to the size of our Fund in companies domiciled in Israel (according to our third-party data provider). We offer a wide range of investment options, giving members the flexibility to select options that align with their personal circumstances and preferences including options that don’t hold these investments.

“Members write to us about a number of investment-related issues. We aim to provide timely information to allow our members to make an informed investment choice. Members can access our holdings on our website as well as our How we invest your money document for information about what our options invest in.”

Your money, their rules. Super funds support Israel war machine

Australian industry super funds are investing in companies involved in the Gaza genocide, and unions are not asking them to stop.

April 5, 2026 Posted by | business, weapons and war | Leave a comment