Sept 16 Nuclear politics in the pub – Part.1 Royal Commission submission session
The NUKE FREE SA COALITION
Wednesday 16 SEPTEMBER, 2015
Upstairs @ The Gov, Port Road, Hindmarsh.
6.00pm – 8.30pm
Check out the fb event HERE
RSVP via eventbrite HERE – this help us with catering.
While submissions are closed for the Royal Commission into the Nuclear Fuel Chain, the discussion is just getting started!
Come and hear a range of authors and contributors share in brief (5 mins!) the key point of their submissions, on a range of economic, cultural and environmental issues.
Speakers include:
- Chris Hannaford, Prospect Local Environment Group
- Karina Lester, YNTAC Chairperson
- Rose Lester, from Walatina and committee member of the Australian Nuclear Free Alliance
- Tauto Sansbury, SA Congress
- Cr Michelle Hogan, Port Adelaide Enfield Council
- Dr Philip White, Friends of the Earth Adelaide
- Dr Jim Green, Friends of the Earth Australia (via Skype)
- Mark Parnell MLA, South Australia Greens
- Melissa Ballantyne, Environmental Defenders Office SA
- Philippa Rowland, Re-power South Australia
Special screening of short film ‘ Homelands’ with Bobby Brown .
Free event
Light snacks provided.
Drinks at bar prices
Hosted by the SA nuke free coalition – for more information call: Nectaria on: 0432 388 665 or Robyn on: 0423 219 096.
Radioactive Waste: Information for communities
Beyond Nuclear Initiative, August 21, 2015
Download Radioactive waste information leaflet (highres)
Download Radioactive waste information leaflet (lowres5)
A shortlist of sites to be considered for hosting the first national radioactive waste facility will be announced in the coming weeks.
The list of nominated areas has not been made public; however, we know from media reports that sites have been nominated in Western Australia and also in the Kimba region (Eyre Peninsula) in SA.
This information sheet has been produced by a number of environment groups with support from public health organisations.
Please download it (click links above) and share the information with family, friends and contacts in affected areas.
http://beyondnuclearinitiative.com/radioactive-waste-information-for-communities/
“10 Minutes to Midnight” photomedia exhibition Brisbane until August 7
Photomedia installation shines light on Australia’s nuclear past http://www.smh.com.au/national/clique/photomedia-installation-shines-light-on-australias-nuclear-past-20150730-gio5fo.html July 30, 2015 –
This August marks 70 years since the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
The two bombings, which killed at least 129,000 people, remain the only use of nuclear weapons for warfare in history.
To commemorate and recognise Australia’s own nuclear history, a team of artists has brought Australia’s chilling atomic story to life in an exhibition called 10 Minutes to Midnight. n the 1950s and 1960s, the British ran atomic experiments at Emu Field and Maralinga in South Australia, and Monte Bello in Western Australia, with grave ramifications for local communities.
Inspiration has been drawn from relationships with Pitjantjatjara Anangu communities affected by nuclear tests in remote South Australia; nuclear veteran and whistleblower Avon Hudson, a leading public campaigner for nuclear veterans’ rights; Japanese hibakusha (atomic survivors); and other international atomic survivor communities.
10 minutes to Midnight is on at The Block, QUT Creative Industries Precinct, Brisbane until August 7.
Friends of the Earth Adelaide’s Campaign Against Nuclear Expansion
The SA Government has launched a Royal Commission into the Nuclear Fuel Cycle in the hope of garnering support for an expansion of the nuclear industry. The terms of reference and the makeup of the commission and its experts are clearly biassed towards expanding the industry.
We believe this is an attempt to soften up the public for the creation of a nuclear waste dump for high-level waste from overseas.
FoE Adelaide are proud to announce the launch of the Campaign Against Nuclear Expansion
We believe that renewable energy is the best alternative to fossil fuels and SA is not the place for a nuclear waste dump, an enrichment facility or expansion of uranium mining. More at our website adelaide.foe.org.au
Our local campaigner will track the Royal Commission activities, plan our campaign, arrange public meetings, disseminate information, build our membership and coordinate volunteers.
The battle in South Australia is highly relevant to all Australians as it has been suggested that SA host a dump site for the world’s high level nuclear waste.
If you would like to give a one-off or ongoing donation you can use the online form at
https://www.givenow.com.au/foeadelaide
Donations are tax deductible.
Submissions called for Inquiry into Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Amendment Bill 2015
Inquiry into Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Amendment Bill 2015 On 25 June 2015 the Senate referred the above Bill to the Community Affairs Legislation Committee for inquiry and report by 17 August 2015. The Bill and accompanying documents can be accessed at: http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Bills_LEGislation/Bills_Search_Results/Result?bId=r5490
The Committee invites you to provide a written submission addressing issues that may be of relevance to you. The Committee would appreciate your submission to be lodged by 24 July 2015. Please contact the secretariat if you wish to make a submission but are unable to do so by this date.
The Committee prefers to receive submissions online as an attached document by accessing the committee website and selecting the Upload Submission Online link at: https://senate.aph.gov.au/submissions/pages/logon.aspx. Alternatively, submissions may be emailed as an attached document to community.affairs.sen@aph.gov.au or by hard copy to the address below.
Submissions become Committee documents and are made public only after a decision by the Committee. Publication of submissions includes loading them onto the Internet and making them available to other interested parties including the media. Persons making submissions must not release them without the approval of the Committee. Submissions are covered by parliamentary privilege but the unauthorised release of them is not protected. Information relating to Senate Committee inquiries, including notes to assist in the preparation of submissions can be located on the Internet at:http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate.
The Committee will consider all submissions, and may invite individuals and organisations to give evidence at public hearings.
If you require further information please contact the Committee secretariat on (02) 6277 3515.
Yours sincerely
Jeanette Radcliffe
Secretary
PO Box 6100, Parliament House Canberra ACT 2600 Tel: (02) 6277 3515 Fax: (02) 6277 5829
Email: community.affairs.sen@aph.gov.au Internet: http://www.aph.gov.au/senate_ca
#NuclearCommissionSAust Have your say for the future of South Australia – submissions close soon – July theme
Submissions for the Royal Commission into the Nuclear Fuel Cycle are closing soon.
This Commission could change our State forever.
Make sure you have a say in it. The Conservation SA team 26 June 15
This is too big an issue not to have your voice heard. Currently, our State government is weighing up a future that could see nuclear power, uranium enrichment and nuclear waste dumping here in South Australia. The window for the public to make comment on these issues closes in a month.
We encourage you to make a submission and draw on our resources to assist you.
In May nuclear expert Dr Jim Green produced some information resources about each of the issues the Royal Commission into the Nuclear Fuel Cycle is investigating. Please see a summary and full report here.
Only last week renewables expert Dr Mark Diesendorf from the University of NSW finished an exciting report showing that South Australia could be run on 100% renewable energy is just 15 years. You can view and download the summary version and Dr Mark Diesendorf’s full report online here.
The issue papers generated by the Royal Commission are available here and submissions are due:
- Issues Paper 1 (Extraction) and/or Issues Paper 4 (Storage and Disposal of Waste) is 24 July, 2015
- Issues Paper 2 (Further Processing) and/or Issues Paper 3 (Electricity Generation) is 3 August, 2015.
If you wish to provide a consolidated written submission addressing all Issues Papers you have until Monday August 3, 2015.
If you wish to make an oral submission call the Royal Commission on 08 8207 1480 to make arrangements.
It’s critical that your voice is heard. This commission could change our State for generations to come.
Now is the time to act.
June 16 In Conversation with Dr Mark Diesendorf. 100% renewable electricity for South Australia
June 16 – Adelaide – In Conversation with Dr Mark Diesendorf. 100% renewable electricity for South Australia Facebook event
Conservation Council SA invites you to join us as leading expert in renewable energy Dr Mark Diesendorf presents his newest report showing that South Australia could produce 100% of its electricity from renewable sources. This will be a critical conversation to inform submissions to the SA’s Nuclear Fuel Cycle Royal Commission.
Where: The Joinery, 111 Franklin Street, Adelaide
When: Tuesday 16 June
Time: 7pm – 9pm
This is a free event, please RSVP.
Check out the Facebook event
Come along, get inspired, and learn what we need to do to make 100% renewable electricity in SA happen!
Environmental Defenders Office (EDO) of South Australia needs crowd-funding for its survival
All donations can be made at http://www.gofundme.com/SavetheEDO.
EDO launches crowd funding campaign in desperate bid to survive beyond the end of its Federal funding on June 30 http://www.newsmaker.com.au/news/35589/edo-launches-crowd-funding-campaign-in-desperate-bid-to-survive-beyond-the-end-of-its-federal-funding-on-june-30#.VWuihNKqpHw
With a total cut to their Federal funding, courtesy of the Attorney-General, George Brandis, and unsuccessful attempts to negotiate with the current state government to secure annual funding required – the Environmental Defenders Office (EDO) of South Australia is now poised on the brink of closure as of June 30.
With options running out to secure its continued survival, the EDO is looking to the community to keep the Voice strong.
The crowdfunding campaign will launch on June 1st and will be run through the Go Fund Me page ‘Save the EDO’.
The EDO has been helping the SA community for over 20 years.
It is the independent Voice that speaks out to protect the environment for future generations, often involved in giving advice on cases that protect the air we breathe, the water we drink, the food we eat and the natural heritage for generations to come.The EDO supports communities who may not otherwise have the resources to seek such legal advice to protect the environment.
The Voice of the EDO has helped to protect the Adelaide Parklands, the Mount Lofty Ranges, Kangaroo Island, the Fleurieu Penninsula and many other urban and rural places that we all love, right across SA.
Without the EDO, who will our community turn to for independent and fearless advice and representation to protect our magical environment?
Strong advocate for the EDO, Senator Penny Wright speaks out on the vital importance of the EDO to SA:
“Over many years, EDOs have a track record of making sure government action is lawful and that the voice of ordinary Australians can be heard when it comes to our shared environment.
“Without them, individuals and grassroots community groups, who are often fighting David and Goliath battles with wealthy mining companies and wealthy developers, will be left to fight alone.”
Without the EDO as the Voice for Environmental Justice in SA, our community and our environment will lose an independent and expert advisor that “walks the walk and talks the talk” when it comes to protecting our environment for us and future generations. More information about the EDO can be found at: www.edosa.org.au. Continue reading
Petition: Restore Funding Needed for SA Aboriginal Communities’ Survival
Sisters of Saint Joseph: http://www.sosj.org.au/news-events/view_article.cfm?id=2413&loadref=7
Change.org: https://www.change.org/p/mr-nigel-scullion-minister-for-indigenous-affairs-restore-ias-funding-that-sa-aboriginal-communities-need-to-stay-open-and-sustainable
14 May 15: “How can SA Aboriginal Communities remain open
with 90% slashed off the required funding? This is the
question that needs asking of the Federal Minister for
Indigenous Affairs Nigel Scullion who has repeatedly said
of late that he ‘has no intention of closing Aboriginal
Communities.’
No organisation, no small business and certainly no
Community can stay open when it loses most of its income!
SA Aboriginal Communities have been successfully running
essential and effective programs for years providing
opportunities for training, support, activities for
children and youth, employment for local people, and many
other types of community programs designed and run for the
Communities by the Communities. With no funds for programs
and administration /governance, how can Communities remain
open? …
Sign the petition below to restore
the IAS [Indigenous Advancement Strategy] funding that
South Australian Aboriginal communities require to stay
open and sustainable. … ”
Sr Michele Madigan,
Chairperson Kaurna/ Narungga Elder Dr Alitya Rigney &
Josephite SA Reconciliation Circle
Exhibition JAPANESE ART AFTER FUKUSHIMA – Melbourne until 30 May
Stasis and climate cataclysm explored at RMIT’s After Fukushima exhibition, SMH May 19, 2015 Robert Nelson
VISUAL ART
JAPANESE ART AFTER FUKUSHIMA: RETURN OF GODZILLA
RMIT Gallery
Until May 30
WEATHERING
Rosemary Laing
MoMA at Heide
Until May 31 “….Called Crystal Palace: The Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of all Nuclear Nations, the works relate our age to the celebration of aesthetic manufacturing in the 19th century.
These chilling pieces hang within Japanese Art After Fukushima, an exhibition of artistic reactions to the melt-down of the Fukushima Daiichi plant in 2011. It contains marvellous work, such as Yutaka Kobayashi’s Absorption Ripples – Melt down, melt away, which uses a motif of the traditional Japanese garden, suggesting that radiation remains for millennia but the consciousness of it is transient.
The Fukushima disaster has inspired memorable actions, such as the Finger Pointing Worker, where a man menacingly accuses the Fukuichi live camera by pointing his finger at it. The unknown performer in the viral video is disguised in a radiation protection suit, but it might be Kota Takeuchi, who worked at Fukushima and included the video in an exhibition at in Tokyo.
Despite invoking Godzilla – the mutant monster of destruction awoken after Hiroshima and Nagasaki – the exhibition is collected and thoughtful, including quiet works such as Manabu Ikeda’s rococo drawing of an industrial cooling tower.
Japanese Art After Fukushima is part of an excellent festival, Art + Climate = Change, which gathers local and international artists working with environmental ideas. It has spanned numerous venues across the state and is an important initiative of Guy Abrahams from the non-profit-making Climarte. http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/art-and-design/stasis-and-climate-cataclysm-explored-at-rmits-after-fukushima-exhibition-20150519-gh4scw.html#ixzz3aoP9VAOk
Selling uranium to India? Public Hearing Melbourne 18 May
15 May 15 The implications of selling uranium to India will be the focus of a public hearing in Melbourne on Monday.
Strategic analysts, church and environment groups will give evidence to Parliament’s Joint Treaties Committee, which is focusing on the costs and benefits of the Government’s proposed agreement to sell uranium to India.
The agreement has attracted criticism from some nuclear non-proliferation specialists because India is not party to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and has been subject to external and internal criticism for its nuclear safety record.
Public Hearing: Monday 18 May, Meeting Room G3, 55 St Andrews Place
Commonwealth Parliamentary Offices, Melbourne
9.30am – 10.30am Uniting Church of Australia, Justice and International Mission
11.30am – 12.30pm Mr Crispin Rovere, private citizen
1.30pm – 2.30pm Australian Conservation Foundation
2.10pm – 3.30pm Friends of the Earth
3.30 pm – Close
The hearings will be broadcast through www.aph.gov.au/live
Copies of the treaties and submissions received can be found at
http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Joint/Treaties
Alternatively, interested parties may email jsct@aph.gov.au or phone
(02) 6277 4002
MEDIA CONTACTS
Media contact: Mr Wyatt Roy MP 0421 059 438
Background: Committee Secretariat (02) 6277 4002
Stop Australian government handing out money to the big polluters
Fifteen billion reasons http://www.action.org.au/news/fifteen-billion-reasons By Kelly O’Shanassy May 1, 2015
Five bad ideas and five good ideas — what’s your pick?
Every year, our government hands out billions of dollars to big polluting companies through tax breaks and subsidies.
While the rest of the world takes steps to cut pollution, our government lets these giants pollute with abandon. Even worse, it actually pays them to pollute.
Right now, Joe Hockey is busy looking for ways to save the government money. Next week he’ll hand over the Federal Budget.
Five really bad ways to spend public money in the federal budget:
Pay Glencore Xstrata $109 million to pollute.
Pay BHP Billiton $93 million to pollute.
Pay Peabody $58 million to pollute.
Pay Rio Tinto $57 million to pollute.
Pay Anglo American $49 million to pollute.
Cutting handouts to Big Coal and other polluters will save the budget $15 billion.
Fifteen billion goes a long way. Just think of all the ways that money could make Australia a better place.
Five really good ways to spend public money in the federal budget:
- Cut pollution with smart rules that make polluters pay and invest in clean energy.
- Fund Indigenous rangers to look after country.
- Protect the water catchments that provide our drinking water.
- Create a threatened species recovery fund.
- Formally require governments to consider the environment in decision making.
Fifty thousand reasons to speak out and not stay silent at budget time
Our government has a duty of care to protect life. 42,859 people have already signedour petition with one simple message to Treasurer Joe Hockey: Put an end to big polluter handouts.
Let’s make it 50,000. Will you speak out?
Want all the details?
University offering free online course to demolish climate denial
Climate change is real, so why the controversy and debate? Learn to make sense of the science and to respond to climate change denial……https://www.edx.org/course/making-sense-climate-science-denial-uqx-denial101x#%21
Starting 28 April, 2015, the University of Queensland is offering a free Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) aimed at “Making Sense of Climate Science Denial”. ..
Guide to submissions to South Australia’s Pro Nuclear Royal Commission
Submissions to the Royal Commission have to be in by July 24.
Well, they seem to be making this as difficult as possible for the ordinary peasant. You have to register at the website, you have to read the Issues Papers, and abide by their guidelines. (So far, only one Issues Paper is available Exploration, Extraction and Milling, with 3 more supposed to come later – Further Processing and Manufacture Electricity Generation Management, Storage and Disposal of Waste) Anything you want to say outside of their stated questions must not go into your submission, but be attached as an Appendix.
The submission must be in their stated form, as an affidavit, witnessed as a legal document.
Most of the stated questions are worded in such a way that they invite positive opinions about the industry. Having said all this – there still is scope to raise some pertinent questions to the Commission. For example – these 3 curly ones:
1.7 Is there a sound basis for concluding that there will be increased demand for uranium in the medium and long term? Would that increased demand translate to investment in expanded uranium production capacity in South Australia (bearing in mind other sources of supply and the nature of South Australia’s resources?). Figure 4: World Uranium Production and Demand 10 Figure 5: Traded price for uranium
1.10 Would a future expansion of exploration, extraction and milling activities create new environmental risks or increase existing risks? If so, are current strategies for managing those new risks sufficient? If not, in what specific respects? How would any current approach need to changed or adapted?
1.13 Would an increase in extraction activities give rise to negative impacts on other sectors of the economy? Have such impacts been demonstrated elsewhere in Australia or in other economies similar to Australia?”
Australia’s Anti – nuclear fight goes to Canada
Canadian company Cameco is behind plans for two controversial uranium mines in Western Australia – Kintyre in the Pilbara and Yeelirrie in the Northern Goldfields, which will be at the forefront of issues raised by the Australian delegation alongside the emerging issues with the South Australian Royal Commission into the nuclear industry.
The Symposium will examine the human and environmental impacts of the industry, with the Australian delegation presenting sessions on the nuclear fuel chain legacy in Australia, Indigenous Rights and the nuclear fuel chain and the intergenerational health impacts of nuclear power and nuclear weapons.
The Symposium will be followed by the 5th International Uranium Film Festival, which will feature the Australian film “Protecting Manuwangku”, documenting the successful struggle of Warlmanpa Traditional Owners to stop a national radioactive dump at Muckaty in the Northern Territory.
Follow the tour via the ANFA website and via twitter on #uranium2015.
The Australian delegation includes:
• Barb Shaw, Australian Nuclear Free Alliance co-chair (Alice Springs)
“Nationally we meet once a year with common issues on common ground, we’re now taking that internationally where people are fighting and struggling with the same things we’re facing back at home. My expectations for the next few days is networking and sharing solutions”
• Peter Watts, Australian Nuclear Free Alliance co-chair (Arabunna Nation)
“What we’re digging up at home has consequences for every corner of the globe. I’m devastated that the uranium dug up from our country has such far reaching consequences globally, not just locally”
• Debbie Carmody, Tjuma Pulka Radio Station Kalgoorlie (Anangu/Spinifex)
“People don’t always connect the mining with the end result, for example, what has happened at Fukushima”
• Dave Sweeney, Australian Conservation Foundation
“People from all around the world are in Canada sharing stories about the dangers and the environmental impacts of all aspects of the nuclear trade. From the land of the maple leaf to the land of the gum leaf, there is no place for the nuclear trade. It is not sustainable and it is not welcome.”
• Gem Romuld, International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons
• Marcus Atkinson, Footprints for Peace, Anti-nuclear Alliance of Western Australia
Contact the delegation
Gem Romuld: (+1) 865 919 4562 gemromuld@gmail.com
Australian Contacts:
Sue Coleman-Haseldine – ANFA : 0458 544 593
Natalie Wasley- Beyond Nuclear Initiative: 0429 900 774
Mia Pepper -Conservation Council WA: 0415 380 808
1 This month
of the week – Australians for War Powers Reform (AWPR)
To see nuclear-related stories in greater depth and intensity
Antinuclear 