WATCH: Nabbed Australian Protestors Stopping Military Shipment to Israel
Video and article by Cathy Vogan, Consortium News https://consortiumnews.com/2024/03/25/watch-nabbed-stopping-military-shipment-to-israel/
Paul Keating, branch secretary of the Australian Maritime Union (AMU) spoke for fellow members in solidarity with the Palestinian community and faced off with police, when he and several hundred protestors blockaded Sydney’s Port Botany on Sunday to protest Australia’s export of military aid to Israel.
The protestors’ target is ZIM Shipping, a well known Israeli company that trade unionist Ian Rintoul says supports and is connected with Israel. “It offered its services to the Israeli state for the conduct of the genocide,” he told Consortium News. “Zim Shipping has actually been a target of protests at ports all around the world in the United States and Italy, Europe [and elsewhere in Australia]”.
Keating, who also spoke to CN, called on all of the other workers’ unions to stand with the AMU and for Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to place sanctions on Israel for what the International Court of Justice has called a plausible case of genocide.
He told the police chief at the scene: “This is an international working class issue”, and in his speech reiterated:
“On behalf of the MUA, we stand with our communities and throughout the generations we fought against the establishment who have supported apartheid, like we saw with South Africa, like we’ve seen with the wars that have forced ordinary working class men and women like ourselves and our communities into the most desperate of situations. We oppose war. Peace is union business, and this is our business”.
Deputy Leader of the Greens Mehreen Faruqi also spoke in favour of the blockade and condemned the government’s current policy. She said:
“It’s been 169 days of Israel’s genocide on Gaza. 169 horror-filled days for Palestinians. More than 30,000 Palestinians have been slaughtered by Israel. More than 1 million Palestinians are being starved by Israel. Famine and disease loom large in the ruins of Gaza. That’s the reality on the ground right at this moment. And how bereft, how bereft of humanity, of morality, of head and heart can the Labor government be to not do anything to stop these war crimes, this collective punishment, these atrocities and this genocide? How ruthless and cruel can you be to aid, abet and arm Israel?”
The blockade was short-lived and was broken up by police. Keating and 18 others were arrested and now face fines of up to AUS $22K and two years jail for obstructing traffic in the maritime zone.
Cathy Vogan is the executive producer of CN Live!
Let’s Label #USPropaganda – Call it out. Our crews at Boeing and disrupting General Mick Ryan/
Age Peace 21 Sept 23
Wage Peace friends have been out disrupting the US propaganda machine.
Last week our friends interrupted this public lecture. General Mick Ryan is there at the lectern. He’s an ex-ADF General – now a #USPropagandist – and he’s about to tell people about why we must prepare for war by buying more US weapons.
ALP stalwart Paul Lucas moves in. But even 30 minutes later we were still there telling an alternative story about what is going on!
| –Last week our friends interrupted this public lecture. General Mick Ryan is there at the lectern. He’s an ex-ADF General – now a #USPropagandist – and he’s about to tell people about why we must prepare for war by buying more US weapons. ALP stalwart Paul Lucas moves in. But even 30 minutes later we were still there telling an alternative story about what is going on!Watch on YouTube as we disrupt his latest propaganda engagement. #BewareBoeingsWars Boeing is a weapons companyOur friends also attended Boeing slowly walking up to their suburban location in Brisbane. We prevented the weapons dealers arriving for work. Beware Boeing’s wars we warned. Boeing is a weapons company. With BAE, Thales, and General Dynamics, Boeing is pushing for war while taking the big bucks from Australians. #EarthCareNotWarfare |
Melissa Parke to spearhead International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, as Oppenheimer thrusts issue into spotlight
ABC News, By David Weber, 11 Aug 23
As the film Oppenheimer and war in Ukraine both draw the world’s attention to the threat of nuclear weapons, Melissa Parke says there is no better time for change.
Key points:
- Melissa Parke says a nuclear weapons ban is urgently needed
- Ms Parke says the film Oppenheimer had raised public awareness around the issue
- She says the war in Ukraine had also made people more aware of the risks
The former West Australian federal politician and UN Human Rights lawyer has been announced as the new executive director of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons.
With the majority of the world’s nations supporting the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, Ms Parke said there was no better time for Australia to sign up.
“There’s never been a more urgent time with the heightened tensions and conflict around the world to take action to eliminate nuclear weapons,” she said.
The former Labor MP for Fremantle called for “honest negotiations” around disarmament.
“Nuclear weapons do not make the planet safer, they make it an infinitely more dangerous place to be,” she said.
“Australia’s had a proud history of championing nuclear disarmament.
“The Australian Labor Party has made a commitment in its national policy platform … [and] when they were in opposition in 2018, they made a commitment that when Labor was in government it, would sign the treaty.”…………………………………………… more https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-08-11/melissa-parke-to-spearhead-campaign-to-abolish-nuclear-weapons/102715862
90 Seconds to Midnight – nuclear weapons are still a threat, not a lesson in history
After a weekend in which Chris Nolan’s new film Oppenheimer opened in UK cinemas to great acclaim, it would be easy to think that nuclear weapons are now a thing of the past – but the UK/Ireland Nuclear Free Local Authorities are all too aware that today’s weapons are infinitely more powerful that the rudimentary ‘gadgets’ dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and that chillingly many remain on ‘hair-trigger alert’ ready to be fired on warning, targeted at the millions of civilians who live in our cities……………………….
Robert Oppenheimer himself had doubts about the future of humanity should more powerful devices be developed after the war. He called for international control of atomic weapons and for the United States to refrain from developing far more destructive hydrogen bombs; ultimately these actions, contrary to received wisdom in foreign policy and military doctrine, took him from being the darling of the scientific and political elite to its pariah, earning him dismissal from high office and the revocation of his security clearance.
Although the thawing of US-Soviet relations during the Reagan-Gorbachev era and the ending of the Cold War led to a significant reduction in the number of nuclear warheads held by the two superpowers, from a high of around 70,000, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) reports in its latest Yearbook that there are still an estimated 12,512 warheads in January 2023, with about 9,576 in military stockpiles for potential use. Of these, an estimated 3,844 warheads are deployed on missiles and aircraft, and around 2,000—nearly all of which belong to Russia or the USA—are kept in a state of high operational alert ready to fire at short notice.
In 2023 we have nine nuclear-armed states (the USA, Russia, UK, France, China, India, Pakistan, North Korea, and Israel). The United States also currently stores air-dropped nuclear bombs in four European nations and in Turkey under a ‘hosting agreement’ to fit them to the nuclear-capable military aircraft of those NATO nations in the event of war, and, with ongoing war in Ukraine and the deployment of Russian nuclear weapons in Belarus, there is a real possibility that US nuclear weapons will soon again be redeployed to USAF / RAF Lakenheath taking us back to Cold War days.
Nuclear weapons are infinitely more powerful and more accurate than the atomic bombs dropped on Japan, and the consequences of their use are too dreadful to contemplate. Brilliant scientist and anti-bomb campaigner Albert Einstein famously said of the impact of any nuclear war that, in addition to the appalling human casualties and the complete destruction of our natural and built environment, human development would be so set back that any Fourth World War would be fought with sticks and stones!
Even the Trinity test itself, played out in a seemingly empty desert, had consequences – for those exposed to the radiation from this and countless further nuclear tests – the so-called Down-winders – suffered terribly from cancers and other fatal illnesses; this even impacted upon some of the leading stars of Hollywood. Literally dying for their art, ninety-two people involved with the production of the 1956 film ‘The Conqueror’ died from cancer. The film depicting the life of a Mongol warlord was shot in the Utah desert chosen as it resembled the vast plains of Mongolia. Unfortunately for the cast and crew, the desert was heavily irradiated from the numerous nuclear tests conducted in neighbouring Nevada, and amongst those who succumbed to the disease were the leading actors John Wayne and Susan Hayward.
The UK/Ireland Nuclear Free Local Authorities was created in response to the threat of nuclear war in the early 1980s. Ironically, its founding member city, Manchester, was the place where the atom was first split, making both nuclear weapons and nuclear power possible, but the City Council was also the first to declare itself a nuclear free city, rejecting any notion of nuclear war and any acceptance that cities are legitimate targets, and to campaign for universal nuclear disarmament.
The NFLAs remain a proud partner in ICAN (the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons), the Nobel Peace Prize winning international coalition of campaign groups, scientists, physicians and ‘Hibakusha’ (atomic bomb survivors), which succeeded in outlawing nuclear weapons for the first time in 2021 through the enactment of a UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. We also value our close links with Mayors for Peace, the organisation founded in 1982 by the Mayor of Hiroshima for civic leaders dedicated to working for a peaceful and nuclear weapon free world, with the NFLA Secretary also being the Mayors for Peace UK/Ireland Chapter Secretary.
Reflecting on Oppenheimer, NFLA Steering Committee Chair Councillor Lawrence O’Neill said: “Faced by the awful, awesome might of nuclear weapons, it is understandable for individuals, or even Councils, to feel powerless against the threat, but we can all do something to work to make our world more peaceful and nuclear free. Even Oppenheimer and many of the prominent scientists who played a part in the development of the atomic bomb, such as Albert Einstein and Joseph Rotblat, grew to revile it and to instead dedicate themselves to disarmament.
“I urge anyone watching Oppenheimer who leaves the film with a desire to fight nuclear weapons and the prospect of nuclear war to join their local peace group and become involved with the campaigns of ICAN and I urge all Councillors and Councils who wish to see a nuclear free world to join with the Nuclear Free Local Authorities and with Mayors for Peace to help make that future possible. With the Doomsday Clock now standing at just 90 seconds to midnight, the time to take action is now! As our Japanese friends say: ‘We want to see No More Hibakusha.’”
Unions to march against nuclear subs, citing health risks over jobs
Angus Thompson, May 5, 2023 —
Labor’s red-shirted rank and file will join a coalition of unions to protest against a major container port south of Sydney becoming a nuclear-powered zone under the AUKUS deal.
Representatives from the Electrical Trades Union, Maritime Union of Australia, Australian Services Union and Unions NSW are among those who will on Saturday rally against the possibility of Port Kembla, near Wollongong, becoming a nuclear submarine base.
NSW Electrical Trades Union secretary Allen Hicks, who represents a workforce that would be expected to work on the future fleet, should it be docked at the commercial port, said his members were resolutely opposed to nuclear propelled submarines in Australia.
“Electricians and engineers have deep and long-standing health and safety concerns about nuclear technology,” said Hicks, who is scheduled to speak at the May Day march.
The Australian Services Union’s NSW secretary, Angus McFarland, said his union was opposed to such a base anywhere on Australia’s coastline.
“The presence of nuclear attack-class submarines in our ports would make us a nuclear target and pose an unacceptable risk to the health and safety of hundreds of thousands of people given potential exposure to hundreds of kilograms of highly enriched uranium,” he said.
South Coast Labour Council secretary Arthur Rorris said opposition to the nuclear submarines was widespread among the labour movement.
“What we’ve tried to do is to paint a picture of how deep and serious the concern is over the AUKUS submarine base proposal,” Rorris said.
South Coast Labour Council secretary Arthur Rorris said opposition to the nuclear submarines was widespread among the labour movement.
“What we’ve tried to do is to paint a picture of how deep and serious the concern is over the AUKUS submarine base proposal,” Rorris said.
Former Albanese government press secretary Marcus Strom, now a spokesman for Labor Against War, said he was worried about the direction the government had adopted with AUKUS. “Australians do not want to be dragged into another US-led war,” he said.
Opposition to the new submarines extends to the top of the union movement, and ACTU president Michele O’Neil voiced the peak body’s decades-long stance at the National Press Club in March, although the Australian Workers Union supports the AUKUS deal…………………..
Port Kembla has also been floated as a future hydrogen hub, and Rorris said renewable energy “dwarfs any benefit that we might get from a nuclear parking lot”…………..
On Friday, Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen announced the introduction of a national energy transition authority helmed by unions, employers and the government to help fossil fuel workers train for jobs in the renewables sector. https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/unions-to-march-against-nuclear-subs-citing-health-risks-over-jobs-20230505-p5d5ug.html
May Day March planned – against AUKUS
The Age (print version) , David Crowe, Matthew Knott,23 Mar 23,
Laboutr organisers will escalate their concerns about the AUKUS defence pact by movingan annual workers’ march to the NSW city of Port Kembla to oppose its use as a base for a future submarine fleet.
The organisers agreed on Tuesday night to relocate the MayDay March from Wollongong out of growing c oncern at the prospect that nearby Port Kembla could become the eas-coast home for eight nuclear-powered vessels.
“the battle for Port Kembla has begun” said Arthur Rorris, the secretary of the South Coast Labour Council, a longstanding Labor member and one of the organisers of the annual march.
The move cam after former Labor cabinet minister Kim Carr added hi svoice to concerns about AUKUS in the wake of criticism from former prime minister Paul Keating………………..
The location of the fleet is a major obstacle because the AUKUS plan includes$10 billion for an east coast base to house the submarines, with Brisbane and Newcastle named as options, but the idustrial city of Port Kembla seen as the government’s most likely choivce.
The protest will focus attention on AUKUS befoe Albanese heads to the G-7 summit in Japan on May 19 and United States President Joe Biden visits Sydney for the Quad summit in the same months, with expectatins that tehpresident will address federal parliament.
Rorris said the groups concerns about AUKUS were about the national interest and nota “not-in-my-backyard” protest.
The name is Port Kembla not Fort Kembla” he said.
“We will not cop lectures about the national interest from spooks and arms dealers”, he said……….
On anniversary of the Fukushima disaster, Australia must stand firm against nuclear
Many Australians are unaware of our country’s direct connection with this disaster.
In October 2011 it was formally confirmed to the federal parliament that Australian uranium was fuelling the Fukushima complex at the time of the disaster.
Dave Sweeney 10 March 2023 https://reneweconomy.com.au/on-anniversary-of-the-fukushima-disaster-australia-must-stand-firm-against-nuclear/
It is now a dozen years since the world held its breath and learned to pronounce the word Fukushima.
On March 11, 2011, a massive earthquake and tsunami devastated large areas along Japan’s eastern coastline.
It also breached the safety and back-up systems of the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO’s) Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power stations, leading to a meltdown, mass evacuations, hundreds of billions of dollars in economic loss and the release of large volumes of radioactive contamination to the ocean and air.
More than $A120 billion has already been spent stabilising the stricken site, but the crisis continues today.
Following the disaster large volumes of radioactive water were collected and stored. This includes water used to cool nuclear fuel rods along with contaminated groundwater, rainwater and seepage water.
Between one and three hundred tonnes of water are collected each day and there are more than 1000 large tanks holding around 1.3 million tonnes of contaminated water on site.
TEPCO proposes to directly discharge this waste to the Pacific, starting later this year.
TEPCO intends to treat the water prior to discharge to remove some contaminants using a process known as the Advanced Liquid Processing System (ALPS).
This pumping and filtration process is meant to remove and dilute radioactive isotopes from the liquid, but some remain, in particular tritium.
There are concerns the proposed treatment also fails to deal adequately with other contaminants, including strontium, iodine and cobalt.
The proposed ocean dumping has horrified coastal and fishing communities in Japan and in Korea and China.
It is also a cause for growing concern and heartache among the wider Pacific community, given the adverse environmental and cultural impacts and the tension between the planned action and the prohibition of radioactive waste dumping in the South Pacific Nuclear Free Zone Treaty (1985).
The Pacific Islands Forum engaged an independent expert advisory panel to undertake a detailed assessment of the dumping plan.
This criticised the assumptions, data analysis and modelling underpinning TEPCO’s approach.
In August 2022 the advisory panel told the forum the plan was premature, lacked a sound scientific basis and should be postponed until there had been a detailed consideration of alternative options.
ACF, the Medical Association for Prevention of War and other civil society groups are urging the federal Labor government to add Australia’s voice to those calling for a halt to the current plan in favour of an evidence based and agreed approach to this pressing transboundary and transgenerational issue.
Pacific Islands Forum Secretary General Henry Puna said the ultimate goal must be ‘to safeguard the Blue Pacific – our ocean, our environment, and our peoples – from any further nuclear contamination. This is the legacy we must leave for our children.’
The Pacific is a place of richness, life and culture. It is not a sewer.
Many Australians are unaware of our country’s direct connection with this disaster.
In October 2011 it was formally confirmed to the federal parliament that Australian uranium was fuelling the Fukushima complex at the time of the disaster.
The then head of the Australian Safeguards and Nuclear Safety Office – a unit of DFAT charged with tracking Australian uranium – told a Senate Committee, “we can confirm that Australian obligated nuclear material {uranium} was at the Fukushima Daiichi site and in each of the reactors.”
Australian radioactive rocks are the source of Fukushima’s fallout and waste.
And large volumes of this waste are now planned to be directly released into the Pacific Ocean.
We cannot change the past, but we can act to shape the future.
The time is right for the Albanese government to join with the wider Pacific community and formally ask Japan to defer the planned direct ocean dumping of contaminated and instead look at alternative waste management options.
While our federal government has been quick to emphasise that Australia’s involvement in AUKUS does not signal a move towards domestic nuclear power or nuclear weapons, the partnership’s promise of nuclear-powered submarines poses new environmental and security risks to Australian ports, shipyards and seas – including the seas we share with our Pacific neighbours.
And nuclear power enthusiasts in the Coalition and on Sky News after dark continue to push for unpopular and unnecessary nuclear electricity.
Against the shadow of Fukushima, the latest pro-nuclear push in Australia is ill-judged, insensitive and wholly inappropriate.
Our future must be renewable, not radioactive.
Dave Sweeney is the Australian Conservation Foundation’s nuclear free campaigner
Unions NSW opposes nuclear powered submarines and the AUKUS treaty.
Paul Keating ,Branch Secretary, Maritime Union of Australia, Sydney Branch, 26 Apr 22,
Unions NSW declares its total opposition to the reckless announcement by Scott Morrison that Australia would be developing nuclear-powered submarines as part of a military alliance with the US and UK.
At a time when Morrison should have been pursuing vaccination supplies and providing maximum support to our health system and millions of people in lockdown, he has been pursuing secret military deals. The deal will continue to escalate unnecessary conflict with China. Workers have already been impacted with seafarers stranded on coal ships and some trades shut down.
Extraordinary sums of money have been wasted with the previous submarine contract scrapped only five years after it was signed. That contract was worth $90 billion – nuclear submarines will cost much more.
Only six countries in the world have nuclear submarines, and they all have nuclear power stations. Advocates for nuclear power and nuclear weapons have been emboldened. The submarines will use highly enriched uranium ideal for nuclear weapons.
The Australian government has repeatedly tried to set up nuclear waste dumps on First Nations land. This will intensify that pressure.
The billions wasted on submarines should be spent on:
Building an Australian strategic shipping fleet in Adelaide that could operate in cabotage and international trades;
· Building renewable energy and offshore wind turbines to ensure we prevent global heating from exceeding 1.5°C;
· Raising Jobseeker payments to well above poverty levels;
· Pay increases for health workers and investments in our health systems;
· Pay increases for teachers and investments in public schools to make them covid-safe;
· Investing in firefighting capacity and ensuring we are ready for the next bushfire season.
Workers have no interest in war with China or any other country. Every effort should be made to pursue peaceful relations.
Unions NSW stands in solidarity with workers in all countries in opposing war and wasteful environmentally harmful military spending.
We pledge our opposition to oppose the development of nuclear submarines in Australia, and the development of any other nuclear industry.
Various groups oppose plan for nuclear submarine base – ”a military target” at Port Kembla, New South Wales
Planes, trains, automobiles … and nuclear subs: the local issues at play in the federal election
Guardian Stephanie Tran and Khaled Al Khawaldeh, Mon 2 May 2022
………….Submarine base in Port Kembla
Max, 26, works for a non-profit and lives in the electorate of Cunningham, held by retiring Labor MP Sharon Bird. He is worried about the prospect of a base being built in Port Kembla to house the future nuclear-powered submarines to be built under the Aukus agreement.
“This announcement was made with no consultation with the community, no proposal for consultation moving forward and a potential for my home to have a giant target on its back,” he said.
The Wollongong suburb, 100km south of Sydney, was flagged by the Coalition as the potential home of its new nuclear-powered submarine base. However, experts have raised concerns that the base could endanger the community by making it a military target, and some in the community are wary over the safety of the submarines’ nuclear reactors.
Alison Byrnes, the Labor candidate for Cunningham, said that if elected she would ensure that the community was consulted on the decision.
“I will make it a priority to seek a detailed briefing from the minister for defence on this plan, as well as Defence’s proposed assessment process,” she said.
The Liberal party emphasised the economic benefits of the project, but did not address the community concerns……..
Greens candidate Dylan Green said he did not want to see his community “getting caught up in a nuclear arms race”.
“Our government should be strengthening diplomatic ties with neighbouring states, not inviting conflict by investing in warships with primarily offensive capabilities,” he said.
Alexis Garnaut-Miller, from the Australian Citizens party, was “absolutely and resolutely opposed to this nonsensical proposal of building nuclear submarines or any development of nuclear submarine presence in Port Kembla”…… https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/may/02/planes-trains-automobiles-and-nuclear-subs-the-local-issues-at-play-in-the-federal-election
Remembering the success of the nuclear-free movement at Muckaty in Australia’s Northern Territory
The Commons Social Change Library Nuclear Fuel Cycle watch Jim Green, 24 FEb 22, https://www.facebook.com/groups/1021186047913052
To mark the first anniversary of the official announcement of Muckaty in the Northern Territory as the site for a proposed national radioactive waste dump, members of Friends of the Earth ACE (Anti-nuclear and Clean Energy) Collective toured part of the ALP Energy and Resources Minister Martin Ferguson’s Batman electorate in search of an alternative dumping ground.
This was one of many protests against the project and it would take another three years of concerted campaigning by the Muckaty community and supporters to overturn the government’s decision. For his part Ferguson rapidly transitioned from mining minister to mining lobbyist, taking up a role as the chair of peak group the Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association within six months of retirement from parliament.
To learn more about creative activism visit- https://commonslibrary.org/creative-activism-101-an…/
Growing opposition to radioactive waste dump
Federal plans for a radioactive waste facility near Kimba on South Australia’s Eyre Peninsula face growing opposition with Barngarla Traditional Owners today launching a Federal Court challenge to Minister Keith Pitt’s decision to site the facility on their lands.
The UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People requires that ‘States shall take effective measures to ensure that no storage or disposal of hazardous materials shall take place in the lands or territories of indigenous peoples without their free, prior and informed consent.’
“The federal plan has many flaws, one of which is poor consultation with the Aboriginal and wider community,” said Australian Conservation Foundation campaigner Dave Sweeney.
“Barngarla have never given consent. Instead, they have been denied a vote in a federal community ballot. This approach is simply not acceptable in the third decade of the 2000s.
“Fewer than a thousand South Australians have had a say in a plan that has profound inter-generational implications.
“The proposed facility is unnecessary given federal parliament’s recent support for a $60 million waste storage upgrade to secure the most problematic intermediate level waste at the federal Lucas Heights nuclear site for the next three to five decades.
“Extended interim storage at Lucas Heights is prudent and possible. Moving intermediate level waste from Lucas Heights – a site with security, radiation monitoring, emergency response and local expertise – to a site near Kimba with far fewer assets and resources is irresponsible and inconsistent with best industry practice.
Sites that store and manage nuclear medicine waste around Australia will still need to do so, irrespective of the status of any national facility, so the Minister’s repeated reference to nuclear waste being spread across 100 sites is disingenuous and inaccurate.
“The planned federal action is contrary to SA state law and does not enjoy bi-partisan political support. The waste plan needs formal environmental and regulatory assessment and approval and is occurring in the context of both state and federal elections in 2022. This issue has a long way to run and will be actively contested.”
For context or comment contact Dave Sweeney on 0408 317 812
ACF’s 3-page background brief on federal radioactive waste plans
Measure twice, cut once: Advancing responsible radioactive waste management in Australia
Protesters say no to AUKUS nuclear submarine deal
- Protesters say no to AUKUS nuclear submarine deal, Mandurah Mail, Claire Sadler 15 Dec 21,
Canning MP Andrew Hastie has hit back at the Greens party, calling members “nuts” following protests outside his Mandurah office this week.
The Greens, along with other community groups, say they are lobbying to stop the Liberal’s AUKUS deal – which would see Australia’s first nuclear-powered submarines in WA waters under a partnership with the United States and United Kingdom…………
On Friday, Greens MP Jordon Steele-John, former MP Jo Vallentine, and Conservation Council nuclear free campaigner KA Garlick presented a dossier of statements to Mr Hastie – who is also Assistant Defence Minister.
The dossier outlined anti-AUKUS statements from groups such as the Australian Conservation Foundation, the Medical Association for the Prevention of War, the International Campaign against Nuclear Weapons, and Amnesty International.
Mr Steele-John said the Liberal government was trying to implement the AUKUS deal for two reasons alone.
To be able to escalate tensions so they can use the threat of war to win an election and because their party takes money from the very weapons manufacturers that will profit from these projects,” he said.
“The Morrison government is engaged in war mongering with China and the Assistant Defence minister and the Defence minister are complicit in that war mongering.
“They’re using a faux threat of war for political purposes and it is a shameful thing to do.”
Mr Steele-John said the Liberals had proposed to base the nuclear submarines in WA with no community consultation, without mediating the danger, and without detailing how much money it would cost………..
An 18-month consultation period for the nuclear submarine deal would determine workforce and training requirements, production timelines and safeguards on nuclear non-proliferation agreements.
During this time, The Greens say they will continue to protest the AUKUS nuclear-powered submarine deal. https://www.mandurahmail.com.au/story/7547141/andrew-hastie-hits-back-at-greens-anti-nuclear-submarines-stance/
Protesters say ‘No’ to AUKUS, nuclear submarines and war with China
Protesters say ‘No’ to AUKUS, nuclear submarines and war with China https://www.greenleft.org.au/content/protesters-say-no-aukus-nuclear-submarines-and-war-china Kerry Smith December 12, 2021Issue 1329Australia A national weekend of action against AUKUS was organised over December 10-12 with protests in Canberra, Perth, Sydney, Wollongong, Hobart, Brisbane and Adelaide.
Around 40 people attended an action by the newly-founded campaign group Stop AUKUS – WA action in Boorloo/Perth on December 10 as part of a national weekend of action. The group’s three objectives are: No nuclear subs; No US bases; and No war with China. Greens Senator Jordon Steele-John called for a reduction in defence spending, more funds to international aid and proper care for veterans.
Other speakers included: Christopher Crouch from the Independent and Peaceful Australia Network; anti-nuclear campaigner Jo Vallentine; Socialist Alliance WA convenor Sam Wainwright; Elizabeth Hulm from the Communist Party of Australia; Peter Shannon from the Medical Association for Prevention of War and Steve McCartney from the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union.
Around 200 people protested in Sydney on December 11. Speakers included Wongkangurru man Raymond Finn, an anti-nuclear campaigner, who acknowledged country; Greens Senator Mehreen Faruqi; a speaker from School Strike 4 Climate; Lachlan Good from Young Labor Left and Warren Smith, Assistant National Secretary of the Maritime Union of Australia.
The lively protest, which marched through the CBD to Belmore Park, was endorsed by the Retail and Fast Food Workers Union, Maritime Union of Australia – MUA, United Workers Union, NTEU-NSW, as well as many anti-war and peace organisations and environment groups.
Kimba residents who oppose the nuclear waste dump plan are not backing down.
Opposing residents refusing to back down on nuclear stance, Port Lincoln Times
- Claire Harris 2 Dec 21,. Kimba residents opposed to the nuclear waste facility being built in the district are not backing down on their stance, following the selection of the Napandee site by the federal government earlier this week.
No Radioactive Waste on Agricultural Land in Kimba or SA president Peter Woolford said he was disappointed in the announcement, but not surprised.
“It’s a bitter pill to swallow, because last week we were announced SA Ag Town of the Year, and now we’re the nuclear dump town,” he said.
“Ag is our big passion, it’s made Kimba, and will be a big factor influencing Kimba in future, so we’re standing up and opposing this because we want to protect what we have.”
Mr Woolford said he didn’t “subscribe to the theory” that the nuclear waste facility would be issue-free.
“We all take out insurance not because we know something is going to happen, but to protect against a potential risk if something does happen – this is no different,” he said.
He said the group would seek legal advice going forward to explore all avenues, potentially including a judicial review.
Retired Kimba farmer Peter McGilvray also opposes the choice and expected the community would remain divided on the issue.
“The damage is done. I came here in 1976 and was never going to leave, but this has pushed the button for me, and now I don’t plan on staying much longer,” he said.
Despite the criticism, Napandee site owner Jeff Baldock said the definitive decision was a step in the right direction for the town….. https://www.portlincolntimes.com.au/story/7534854/opposing-residents-refusing-to-back-down-on-nuclear-stance/s
No nuclear submarines, say protesters
No nuclear submarines, say protesters https://www.greenleft.org.au/content/no-nuclear-submarines-say-protestersRenfrey ClarkeAdelaideSeptember 27, 2021 A protest on September 24 against the federal government’s decision to build nuclear-powered submarines and join in the new AUKUS pact drew 150 people to the front of Parliament House.
It was organised by a new network of anti-war, anti-nuclear and left activists. Speakers included Arabunna elder Uncle Kevin Buzzacott, Stephen Darley of the Independent and Peaceful Australia Network; economist and Greens Senate candidate Barbara Pocock; and Friends of the Earth anti-nuclear spokesperson Jim Green.
1.This month.
14 May Industrial Decarbonisation Summit
Sydney Get involved at eec.org.au/summit-registration
15- 16 May Sydney – EEC National Conference Efficiency Electrification Decarbonisation more https://eec.my.canva.site/eecnc24
The video on Palestine that got Yanis Varoufakis BANNED from Germany
Keep U.S. military expansion out of Australia
Petition EN5543 – Call for termination of the US-Australia Force Posture Agreement
Antinuclear 