Greenpeace Australia Pacific online campaign: Stop the Government from silencing us
The government has just released the report of its inquiry into nature group’s charity status. The Government’s report proposes to make the tax concession on your donation dependant on us spending less of our time advocating for the environment. They also want to distract us from our real work of fighting for the climate and the reef by tying us down with audits and inquiries.
Send a message now to our political party leaders and let them know that they need to reject this report and stand up to the fossil fuel industry once and for all.
Send your message here: http://bit.ly/1TKX71i
Australian and Marshall Islander nuclear test survivors demand a ban on nuclear weapons
“Black Mist White Rain” Speaking Tour
4-7 April 2016
Four Indigenous women from South Australia and the Marshall Islands are touring four cities over four days to speak about how nuclear testing has impacted their lives, and why a treaty banning nuclear weapons is urgently needed.
Sue Coleman-Haseldine, Kokatha-Mula, and Abacca Anjain-Maddison, Republic of the Marshall Islands, spoke to over 150 governments at the Third Conference on the Humanitarian Impact of Nuclear Weapons in Vienna, December 2014. They are joining forces again to bring their personal stories to Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane.
“The bombs have destroyed a large part of Australia and despite several attempts it will never be safe or clean. There are many Aboriginal people who cannot go back to their ancestral lands and their children and their children’s children and so on will never know the special religious places it contains.” Sue Coleman-Haseldine.
Coleman-Haseldine and Anjain-Maddison will be joined by Rosemary and Karina Lester, the daughters of Yankunytjatjara elder Yami Lester, who was blinded by the Totem 1 nuclear test at Emu Field in 1953. Speaking about the nuclear testing conducted in South Australia;
“Many people died immediately, but others are living with chronic health issues, cancers and disabilities. Not to mention depression, the painful loss and trauma suffered mentally, the psychological and social damage, and watching loved ones’ lives diminish. It has eroded our culture and further marginalised our people.” Rosemary Lester.
The United Kingdom conducted 12 major nuclear weapons tests in Australia between 1952 and 1963 at Monte Bello Islands, Emu Field and Maralinga. The United States conducted 67 nuclear tests in the Marshall Islands between 1946 and 1958, including the 15-megatonne “Castle Bravo” test at Bikini Atoll, which was 1000 times more powerful than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima, and exposed thousands of people to radioactive fallout.
“Marshallese people endured the loss of traditionally-held land and marine resources without negotiation or compensation; (and) were exposed to fallout contamination compromising the environmental health of individual and communities.” Abacca Anjain-Maddison.
In the wake of Three Conferences on the Humanitarian Impact of Nuclear Weapons, 127 nations have endorsed a Pledge to “fill the legal gap for the prohibition and elimination of nuclear weapons”. A UN-endorsed working group to take forward nuclear disarmament negotiations is meeting over three sessions during 2016, and is expected to lay the groundwork for negotiations to begin on a nuclear weapons ban treaty.
“While the Republic of the Marshall Islands is holding nuclear weapons states accountable in the International Court of Justice for their failure to disarm, the Australian government continues to justify the utility of the nuclear threat. The time is overdue for us to join the international majority in banning nuclear weapons”, said Gem Romuld, ICAN Australia.
The Tour Schedule:
Monday April 4 in Adelaide
Tuesday April 5 in Melbourne
Wednesday April 6 in Sydney
Thursday April 7 in Brisbane
More detail is available at: www.icanw.org/au/bmwr
Transitioning Byron Shire to Zero Carbon
Plan to transition Byron shire to zero carbon, Echo Daily, 7 Mar 16
Professor David Hood will be guest speaker at a meeting titled Transitioning Byron Shire to Zero Carbon to be held at Byron Council Chambers on March 15. Christobel Munson
Byron Shire is well placed to bring to life a vision where carbon use can be reduced to zero in 10 years’, predicts Professor David Hood.
‘National research organisations such as Beyond Zero Emissions have proved Australia has the technology and the technical skills to implement this vision. And parts of Europe and China are already starting to migrate their economies, environment and life styles to a post carbon world. If they can do it, it can certainly be done here.’
Keynote speaker at the Sustainability Seminar being held from 6 to 9pm on Tuesday 15 March in Byron Council Chambers, Professor Hood AM, an environmental and civil engineer and councillor with the Australian Conservation Foundation, is also the leader of the QUT Sustainability Research & Teaching programs.
He will introduce the evening with an update on the latest findings in the world of climate change. Professor Hood is amazed at how our political leaders are taking such huge risks with the planet’s ecosystems when they wouldn’t dream of allowing engineers to fiddle with current risk factors in their work.
‘We have already exceeded the amount of carbon that we can burn to say with certainty that we will not exceed a two-degree C rise in global average temperature – a rise that many experts say is dangerous for climate impact’, he says.
‘Yet by approving massive new coal mines, we are heading into an area where we seem to be saying that a 66 per cent chance of staying under two degrees is OK. Exceeding two degrees will likely cause massive extinction of life on Earth………..
The aim of the Zero Emissions Byron project is to protect and sustainably improve the shire’s economy, while developing resilience to mitigate against the effects of climate change. A community initiative, volunteer teams have been working for some months to ascertain baseline emissions data, then draw up strategic plans to reduce emissions in five sectors: transport, energy, land use, waste and buildings. Information on the ZEB project will be available on the night.
See www.zerobyron.org for more information
Transitioning Byron Shire to Zero Carbon
Tuesday 15 March 6 – 9pm, Byron Council Chambers, Station Street, Mullumbimby
Food, tea and coffee will be available. http://www.echo.net.au/2016/03/plan-to-transition-byron-shire-to-zero-carbon/
Waste dump submissions due this Friday, Flinders Ranges petition and more….
Submission close this coming Friday March 11, 2016 for you to submit comments to the National Radioactive Waste Management Project – this process has shortlisted three nominated sites in SA – two in Kimba and one in the Flinders Ranges. SA has battled before against a intermediate and low level waste dumps and won!
Check out the BNI website HERE for some great tips on making a submission and more information on the current process. Remember, you need to get them in by Friday March 11 at 5pm!
A petition has just been set up to oppose the site at Wallerberdina in the Flinders Ranges becoming a nuclear waste dump. The petition is HERE – please sign, share and crank it out there.
Submissions on proposed National Radioactive Waste Management Facility
Tips on writing a submission and lodging comments about the proposed
National Radioactive Waste Management Facility – (closing date 11 March 16)
Groups and individuals concerned and/or potentially affected by the government’s proposed national radioactive waste management facility are strongly urged to submit comments to government. The more submissions they receive the better!
The government website about the waste dump process is: http://www.radioactivewaste.gov.au/project
Further information and an online survey is here: https://consult.industry.gov.au/radioactive-waste/national-radioactive-waste-management-project-2
How to lodge comments/submissions is here: http://www.radioactivewaste.gov.au/proposed-sites#3
Along with
- Proposed approval of nominated sites-Invitation to comment
- Nominated Site Information
Comments can be lodged via email to radioactivewaste@industry.gov.au
The six nominated sites are:
- Sallys Flat (Hill End) – New South Wales 2641 Hill End Road, Hill End
- Hale – Northern Territory Lot 1933 Old South Road, Hale
- Cortlinye – South Australia 2051 Buckleboo Hundred Line Road, Cortlinye
- Pinkawillinie – South Australia 762 Peella Road, Pinkawillinie Barndioota – South Australia 377 Wallerberdina Road, Barndioota
- Oman Ama – Queensland Cunningham Highway, Gore
General Tips Continue reading
Friends of Omanama: A local community’s perspective on national nuclear waste storage
https://www.facebook.com/Friends.of.Omanama/ Public Meeting: Friday 12th February 6:30pm McIntyre Sports Centre Chilcott Street, Inglewood
Presenters include:
Dr. Colin Owen – a local GP
Local speakers on the social, psychological, environmental impacts…
Video on nuclear medical waste & ANSTO’s safety record (Dr. Peter Karamoskos, MAPW)
Members of the Inglewood/Omanama community have voiced their overwhelming support for a chance to hear the ‘Other Side of the Story’ when ‘Friends of Omanama’ host an open function in the MacIntyre Sports Centre Inglewood tonight.
The function is designed to give a balanced presentation of facts about the Regional and National consequences if Omanama (21 kms east of Inglewood) is chosen as the site for Australia’s National Nuclear Waste Management Facility.
In November 2015 Omanama was announced as one of six sites short listed to accommodate the facility. Since then, the community has been bombarded with Government press releases, Radio and TV interviews and Government-convened public meetings, consultations and meetings with individual local organisations. As a result many locals have said they feel confused, intimidated and anxious about the future. They have said they need to know more about the other side of the story.
‘Friends of Omanama’ Co-0rdinator Dr Colin Owen said the function was designed to inform the community about the Nuclear waste Dilemma and for everyone to hear a Community perspective on concerns, as opposed to the Government agenda.
Regardless of their views on the subject every member of the community is welcome to attend the function. The evening will conclude with a free sausage sizzle.
The Lizard is biting back at Olympic Dam uranium mine
Lizard’ bites back with new message http://www.themonitor.com.au/news-articles/160210-lizard-bites-back-with-new-message– 10-Feb-2016 Patrick Glover Hundreds of protestors are set to descend on Olympic Dam for a three-day festival in July.
The Desert Liberation Front previously visited the area in 2012 with its Lizard’s Revenge event.
This year’s gathering, which will run from July 1-3, is being called The Lizard Bites Back.
“The first time, we were very focused on the expansion with the announcement having only been made a few months prior to our visit,” said event co-organiser Nectaria Calan.
“The mine is still there, and it’s four years later now, so we thought it was time to go back to the source.
“The mine is always an issue. It was not just when the expansion was going ahead – it is one of the largest uranium mines in the world, so for us it is already having an impact.
“Now there is the Royal Commission (into nuclear energy) on”
Ms Calan said the event was still in the early planning stages and no activities had been planned yet.
However, she said the group was hoping to hold educational workshops and other activities as part of the ‘protestival’.
The group is also aiming to reach out to more locals this time around. It is inviting anyone interested to visit the campsite during the event.
Ms Calan said she was hoping for a similar attendance to the previous festival’s crowd of hundreds.
Senior Sergeant Terry Boylan said South Australia Police (SAPOL) was well under way with planning for this year’s protest, as extra officers may need to be called in.
A BHP Billiton spokesperson told The Monitor the company wished to make no comment regarding the protestors’ visit at this point in time.
Block the Trans Pacific Partnership!
GetUp! campaign: Dangerous deal Find out what this deal could mean for you and your family, then sign the petition calling on Parliament to block the TPP!
Trade Minister Andrew Robb is about to sign Australia onto the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) deal.
The TPP is bad news for democracy, as it will allow multinational corporations to sue our government over laws that protect our health and our environment.
But it’s not over yet. We still have a chance to derail the secretive TPP agenda when it’s put to a vote in the Senate. …Read more & find TPP facts, video & online petition template at: http://www.getup.org.au/tpp
Hill End community remains resolute against radioactive waste plan
The Hill End community is again preparing to face off with government officials at a consultation meeting about the proposed national radioactive waste dump in the vicinity.
The meeting is being held at 10am this Saturday January 30 at the Royal Hall in Hill End and will be attended by representatives from the Department of Resources as well as a representative from Federal Minister Josh Frydenberg’s office.
The Hill End (Sallys Flat) site was nominated by a local landholder without consultation with or consent from neighbours or the local community. Since being announced there has been fierce and sustained opposition with a series of public meetings and events held to build awareness.
Robyn Rayner, who runs the Pomanara Merino Stud Farm directly opposite the nominated property said the previous two government visits (one by Department officials and one by local Member John Cobb) were on weekdays during business hours, which made it very difficult for locals to attend.
“The hall was still full on both occasions, so we expect standing room only tomorrow as people are very keen to express their ongoing opposition to the project”
Mrs Rayner added “We asked Minister Frydenberg to attend rather than just hearing our views second hand from the project team. He is not coming, so I will be watching to see the representative he is sending pays very close attention.”
“The community meeting is also a chance for us to come together and build our campaign. We are asking everyone who attends to sign the petition that was written by the No Central West Nuclear Waste Dump Committee and take copies back for their family and friends to also sign.”
“We know that people in the Northern Territory spent eight years campaigning to stop the waste dump proposed there. We are also ready to be in this for the long haul if needed,” Mrs Rayner concluded.
KARLALMYI WALK: 5th – 12th June 2016 anti uranium mining Western Australia
The Karlamilyi Walk from Parnngurr to Waturarra (Kintyre) – 5th -12th June 2016 -has just gone online http://walkingforcountry.com/karlamalyi-walk/ with registrations open. There are limited spots available.
KARLALMYI WALK: 5th – 12th June 2016 Registrations are open:
“Come with us (Martu) we’ll walk to stop the uranium mining on our country. We’ll walk through Karlamilyi, not far, across Karlamilyi river. Walk through Lullapakujarra up to Punumullara then to Puljcatja – big water, up to Desert Queen Baths and then Kintyre.”
The walk will start at Parnngurr Community in the Karlamilyi National Park – 360km East of Newman in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. The walk will end at Cameco and Mitsubishi’s proposed Kintyre uranium mine at Waturarra. For more details about the walk dates, logistics, and background to the uranium mine issues check out the website here.
Dr Caldicott to speak in South Australia, on Nuclear Waste
The Prospect Local Environment Group (PLEG) will be hosting a public meeting on a proposed nuclear waste dump in South Australia, with Nobel Peace Prize winner Dr Helen Caldicott. Other speakers to be announced. Prospect Town Hall 128 Prospect Road, Prospect, South Australia 5082
Cinema in the Shed: Film screening to highlight local and global nuclear debate
What: Screening of Containment (2015) in Hill End, NSW
When: From 6:30pm, Saturday January 16, 2016
Where: Pomanara Merino Stud Farm, opposite shortlisted nuclear waste facility site.
Movie trailer: http://containmentmovie.com/#trailer
Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/584806271670932/
A community screening of the film Containment, produced by Harvard University Professors Peter Galison and Robb Moss, will be held in Hill End (NSW) on Saturday January 16.
The No Central West Nuclear Waste Dump committee has organised the event to share information on the national radioactive waste dump selection process and provide a global and intergenerational perspective on the nuclear industry.
Containment uses striking imagery and animation to ask practical and philosophical questions about the long-term storage of radioactive waste. Viewers are asked to consider: “How should we protect yet-to-come generations of humans on earth- people who will not share our language, our nations, even our civilisation?”
The film will be shown in the woolshed at Pomanara Merino Stud Farm, which is located opposite the site nominated and subsequently shortlisted for the national radioactive waste facility.
Sydney trio RAPT will also perform at the start of the evening to show support for the community campaign.
The local community has shown overwhelming opposition to the proposed radioactive waste facility. A series of public meetings have been held and local residents have presented to and gained supported from nearby town councils.
Public comments on the national waste facility proposal are due by March 11 and the No Central West Nuclear Waste Dump committee hopes the film screening will inspire more local people to make submissions to the government expressing their opposition.
Wiluna + Lake Maitland Uranium Mine Proposals: Toro Energy’s uranium plans go from bad to worse
Conservation Council of Western Australia campaign:
Toro Energy has released new plans to include a uranium mine at Lake Maitland and Millipede to the Wiluna uranium proposal. CCWA is calling on the EPA to re-assess the whole project incorporating plans for four mines across two lake systems – including 6.9 million litres of water a day and generating 50 million tonnes of radioactive mine waste – and to consider the impact of Toro’s other three deposits in the region which they hope to add to the Wiluna proposal.
Read more & find links to resources here: http://ccwa.org.au/wiluna
(Toro’s latest proposal is open for public comment until February 8, 2016. On January 6, 2016, CCWA launched an online action against the latest proposal to mine uranium at Wiluna in the East Murchison/ Northern Goldfields – interested readers are invited to send online submissions opposing the proposal to the Environmental Protection Authority of Western Australia. Read more and find a submission template at: https://ccwa.good.do/wiluna/stopthenuclearindustrialisationoftheeastmurchison/.)
Community and unions gather to protest arrival of nuclear shipment
Radioactive waste will be on the community’s radar on Saturday as trade 
unionists, environmentalists and local residents gather at Port Kembla to protest and monitor the first shipment of Australian radioactive waste returning from reprocessing in France.
After being unloaded the waste will be transported for storage in a new purpose built facility at the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation’s Lucas Heights reactor site.
“Our members do not support the nuclear industry,” said Maritime Union of Australia’s Southern NSW Branch Secretary Garry Keane. “There is no totally safe way to transport or store waste which remains a danger and threatens communities for thousands of years.”
“Understandably no one else wants our nuclear waste – that is why it is coming back to Lucas Heights and we want to send a clear message that we won’t accept anyone else’s nuclear waste.”
The shipment comes as the federal government explores options for a national radioactive waste dump at one of six regional and remote sites across Australia. Civil society groups are calling for the waste to continue to be stored at Lucas Heights pending an expert and open examination of all future management options.
“Extended interim storage at Lucas Heights is the ‘least worst’ of the current waste management options,” said Australian Conservation Foundation campaigner Dave Sweeney.
“If this material can be made at there then it can be stored there until a full review takes place. ANSTO has a secured and actively managed facility with the highest concentration of nuclear expertise and response capacity in Australia.”
The groups organising the community presence at Port Kembla have been active in sustained and successful campaigns with NT Traditional Owners opposing a planned national radioactive waste dump on their lands.
“The federal government’s current plan to transport this waste to one of six short-listed sites is contested and unnecessary,” said Beyond Nuclear Initiative coordinator Natalie Wasley.
“Communities at all of the proposed locations have already expressed concern and opposition to this plan. There is no need to rush and Minister Frydenberg should use this time to initiate a public and independent review of both waste production and responsible management options.”
French political and environment groups, Greenpeace and the Maritime Union of Australia have all raised significant concerns over safety and capacity of the BBC Shanghai, the ship carrying the waste returning from France, and the nature of the waste.
“When a shipment of solar panels comes through the port you don’t see hundreds of cops blocking highways and a national security operation,” said Arthur Rorris from the South Coast Labour Council.
“Communities the world over want to see the back of the nuclear industry so we don’t have to endure these unnecessary risks to public health, the environment and our national security.”
Don’t nuclear waste Australia
Don’t nuclear waste Australia: community gathering to witness waste shipment. http://beyondnuclearinitiative.com/dont-nuclear-waste-australia-community-gathering-to-witness-waste-shipment/December 1, 2015/
The first shipment of nuclear waste returning from overseas reprocessing is due to arrive in Port Kembla (Wollongong) in the first week of December.
The Maritime Union of Australia (Illawarra Branch), South Coast Labour Council and Beyond Nuclear Initiative are organising a community gathering to witness the shipment being unloaded and transported to Lucas Heights for extended interim storage.
The BBC Shanghai is scheduled to arrive Friday 9:00am but may not berth then. We will hold the community gathering at Saturday 1pm and expect the waste transport from the Port to Lucas Heights to begin just before midnight that evening.
FACEBOOK EVENT: Don’t nuclear waste Australia: community gathering to witness waste shipment.
The radioactive material was produced at the Lucas Heights nuclear research reactor in Sutherland Shire and sent overseas for reprocessing, whereby uranium and plutonium are extracted. The returning waste is classified long-lived intermediate level waste and must be isolated from people and the environment for thousands of years.
Radioactive waste is a risk to workers who are handling the materials and people living along the proposed transport routes. However, while the nuclear reactor is still operating, extended interim storage at Lucas Heights is considered by many as the ‘least-worst’ option. It is a secure federal facility with the concentration of Australia’s nuclear expertise.
The federal government’s plan to transport this waste in five years to one of six shortlisted sites is irresponsible and unnecessary. Communities at all of the proposed locations oppose the plan and once this waste is back at Lucas Heights, it should stay there where it will be front of mind, rather than out of sight in a regional or remote area.
Radioactive waste is an intractable problem and the first principle of management must be minimisation- stop producing it.
A Royal Commission in South Australia is currently examining the possibility of importing international high-level waste, but we will not allow this shipment to be the start of increased transports or an expansion to the nuclear industry in Australia. Join us at Port Kembla to say: Don’t nuclear waste Australia.
1 This month
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– go to https://nuclearinformation.wordpress.com/
Antinuclear 