Former State environment minister Albert Jacob gave the green light to Cameco’s Yeelirrie mine proposal in January 2017, just 16 days before the pre-election caretaker mode began. Yeelirrie is 70km southwest of Wiluna in the Mid West region.Together with members of the Tjiwarl native title group, CCWA challenged the approval in the Supreme Court but lost, and have now taken their battle to the Court of Appeal. CCWA director Piers Verstegen said the previous government was desperate to lock-in a uranium project before it lost power, going against the advice of the Environmental Protection Authority, which was concerned about the impact of mining on subterranean fauna.
“Stygofauna might be a relatively obscure species. In fact, these particular species of stygofauna were not known to science until the proponent started exploring for uranium in that area,” Mr Verstegen said on Tuesday.
“But the legal precedent here has much broader implications.
“We’re certainly very keen to be upholding environmental laws … which were never intended to be used by a minister or a government to approve the extinction of species.”
The matter was heard on Tuesday and a decision will be handed down at a later date.
March 7, 2019
Posted by Christina MacPherson |
aboriginal issues, environment, legal, opposition to nuclear, uranium, Western Australia |
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The Conservation Council of Western Australia (CCWA) and three Tjiwarl Traditional Owners have continued their landmark legal bid to prevent the extinction of multiple species and protect Aboriginal lands from uranium mining at Yeelirrie, with a hearing in the WA Court of Appeal today.
The Yeelirrie mine proposal by uranium miner Cameco in the Northern Goldfields on Tjiwarl Native Title land was approved by the Minister for the Environment in the final days of the Barnett Government, against the advice of the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA), and against the outcome of an appeals process.
The EPA found that the proposal would cause the extinction of multiple species of subterranean fauna.
Bret Walker SC, Dr Hannes Schoombee, and the Environmental Defenders Office WA (EDOWA) represented Traditional Owners and CCWA in the legal challenge to the environmental approval for the Yeelirrie uranium mine.
CCWA Director Piers Verstegen said, “This important case is seeking to prevent the extinction of multiple species at Yeelirrie, and uphold the rights of Traditional Owners to protect sacred country from uranium mining.
“Mr Walker is one of Australia’s most eminent legal minds and his involvement with this case is an indication of its national legal significance.
“The approval of extinction at Yeelirrie at the stroke of a Minister’s pen cannot go unchallenged because it sets a dangerous precedent for all wildlife across Western Australia.
“We are proud to stand with three members of the Tjiwarl Native Title Group, Shirley and Elizabeth Wonyabong and Vicky Abdullah, who have been fighting to protect their country from uranium mining for many years.
“As well as the threat of extinction, Cameco’s uranium project would have a major impact on the landscape and ecosystems at Yeelirrie. It would involve a 9km open mine pit and processing plant, clearing 2421 hectares of native vegetation, and generating 36 million tonnes of radioactive mine waste to be stored in open pits.”
EDOWA Principal Solicitor Declan Doherty said, “This is a landmark case to test how Western Australia’s primary environmental law should be applied.
We argued that in approving the Yeelirrie uranium mine, Minister Albert Jacob failed to correctly follow the process set out in the relevant legislation.
“It will be an important test for how the legislation should be applied, which could have significant implications for future decisions of this kind.”
March 7, 2019
Posted by Christina MacPherson |
legal, opposition to nuclear, uranium, Western Australia |
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The days roll on and 2018 is about to be in the past tense.
As ever the year saw highs, lows and flatlines. It also saw sustained and successful resistance to the nuclear industry in Australia.
This note is a snapshot, not a definitive list, but I wanted to capture some of our collective efforts and achievements so in a quiet moment we can reflect and recharge – and know that we are making a real difference.
Thanks and solidarity to all – and best wishes for a good break and time with people and in places that freshen the spirit. I look forward to working with you all in season 2019.
Uranium: Less is being ripped and shipped
- Kakadu: the clean-up of the Ranger site is underway – Mirarr native title of the region was formally recognised – Rio Tinto have accepted their responsibility to clean up – there was a calendar and a series of events around the country to mark twenty years since the Jabiluka blockade
- uranium remains stalled and actively contested in WA: 2018 saw a decade since then Premier Barnett announced a fast tracked uranium sector that would be “iron ore on steroids” – there are no mines but there is a major legal challenge to the Yeelirrie project, procedural challenge to Mulga Rock and community resistance to the four proposed projects with actions at AgMs, project critiques, Walkatjurra Walkabout and more
- Qld Labor reaffirmed its opposition to uranium mining at its state conference
Radioactive waste: Under pressure and delayed
the federal plan for a national waste facility in regional SA is highly contested, behind schedule and increasingly uncertain
- the issue was pushed ahead of the state election and SA Labor has subsequently adopted a good policy position
- there is growing civil society awareness and engagement with the issue – especially through our trade union partners
- the Barngarla people were formally awarded native title over the Kimba sites in June and have taken legal action over deficiencies in the Feds consultation processes
- Adnyamathanha resistance to the proposed Flinders Ranges site is strong and they have lodged a complaint on the plan with the Australian Human Rights Commission
- community resistance at both sites is sustained and strong with high levels of engagement and regular actions, events and media profile
- Federal Labor policy has a long way to go but at its national conference in December Labor moved from a policy position dominated by sites and place to one of standards and process
- Standing Strong – the story of the successful community fight against the earlier plan for an international radioactive waste dump in SA was launched and learned from
- there was early and strong opposition to chatter around other potential radioactive waste sites – especially at Brewarrina (NSW) and Leonora (WA)
Nuclear weapons: the cold war is reheating and support for a weapons ban grows
ICAN – the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons – has continued to build on its 2017 Nobel Peace Prize profile
- there was sustained outreach and awareness initiatives, including a bike ride from Melbourne to Canberra
- there is growing international support for the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons with more nations signing and ratifying the ban
- federal Labor committed to sign and ratify the ban treaty at its national conference in Adelaide in December – a major step forward
- the Peace Boat visited Australian waters and cities in January/February and the Black Mist, Burnt Country Maralinga exhibition continued touring
Broader nuclear free efforts
ANFA – the Australian Nuclear Free Alliance – had a good gathering in the Adelaide Hills in October and there was clear recognition of the role of First Nation people in the atomic resistance with awards to crew in WA, Aunty Sue in SA and Jeffrey Lee gaining the German based Nuclear Free Future award in the global Resistance category
- anniversaries were marked with actions, events and reflection – including Fukushima, Chernobyl, Hiroshima and Maralinga
- people engaged in state and federal processes including Senate Estimates, Senate Inquiries into radioactive waste siting and mine rehabilitation, ARPANSA Codes of Practice and more
- folks engaged with ALP state and federal conferences, the ACTU Congress, many union forums, SoS, the Sustainable Living Festival and more
- we remained connected and updated via the efforts of Christina Macpherson, Maelor at ACF, Jim Green at WISE, KA at CCWA and Walkatjurra, WGAR news, 3CR’s Radioactive Show, Understory and more
Looking ahead to 2019 – Another big year ahead folks – and one where we consolidate, defend and grow
- Challenges include:
- the forever struggle of resourcing and capacity
- pro-nuke voices pushing small modular reactors (SMRs) and seeking to overturn the ban on domestic nuclear power
- Mineral Council of Australia and others seeking the removal of uranium mining as a ‘trigger’ action in the federal EPBC Act
- We need to:
- better braid the uranium story and struggle into the wider dirty energy-fracking- fossil fuel narrative
- keep Rio Tinto and the regulators focussed and genuine re the best possible rehab outcomes at Ranger and keep the door shut to the uranium sector in WA
- support affected communities facing radioactive waste dump plans and push federal Labor to adopt a different approach
- pressure and support federal Labor to follow through on its commitment to sign and ratify the nuclear weapons ban
- make Australian uranium companies operating overseas – often in jurisdictions with low governance – accountable for their impacts
December 30, 2018
Posted by Christina MacPherson |
AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, opposition to nuclear, politics, uranium |
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Fighting for life in the “place of death”https://beyondnuclearinternational.org/2018/08/27/fighting-for-life-in-the-place-of-death/ August 27, 2018 by beyondnuclearinternationa
Traditional owners won’t give up 40-year opposition to Yeelirrie uranium mine, By Linda Pentz Gunter
In the local Aboriginal language, the name Yeelirrie means to weep or mourn. It is referred to as a “place of death.” Yeelirrie is on Tjiwarl Native Title lands in Western Australia, where it has long been faithfully protected by Aboriginal traditional owners. The Seven Sisters Dreaming songline is there. It is home to many important cultural sites. And for 40 years, due to resolute indigenous opposition, and thousands of community submissions of protest, it had been spared plans by the Canadian mining company, Cameco, to plunder it for uranium.
The earth guardians know that such a desecration would cause the extinction of multiple species of subterranean fauna. It would release death. It would destroy Yeelirrie.
Now the fate of those tiny creatures hangs in the balance, their future in the hands of three brave women, backed by environmental organizations, after the outgoing Western Australian government decided to allow the Yeelirrie uranium mine project to go forward.
That decision was made in January 2017, despite the fact that, in August 2016, the Western Australia Environmental Protection Agency (WAEPA) had recommended that the Yeelirrie project be rejected.
The Conservation Council of Western Australia (CCWA), which is engaged in contesting the uranium mining permit for Yeelirrie, said the WAEPA had rejected the Yeelirrie mine plan “on the grounds that the project is inconsistent with three of the objectives of the Environmental Protection Act — the Precautionary Principle, the Principle of conservation of biological diversity, and the Principle of intergenerational equity. The EPA decision was based on the overwhelming evidence that the project would make several species of subterranean fauna extinct.”
But former Minister for Environment, Albert Jacob, threw all that aside to approve the Yeelirrie mine in the waning days of Western Australia’s Liberal government, now replaced by Labor, which came in on a mandate to end uranium mining that it now may not be able to enforce.
In February 2018, CCWA and three members of the Tjiwarl community initiated proceedings in the Western Australia Supreme Court in an attempt to invalidate the approval decision made by Jacob. The case was dismissed by the court, a decision said CCWA executive director, Piers Verstegen, that shows that “our environmental laws are deeply inadequate,” and “confines species to extinction with the stroke of a pen.”
However, while the decision was a set-back, Verstegen said, “it’s absolutely not the end of the road for Yeelirrie or the other uranium mines that are being strongly contested here in Western Australia.”
Accordingly, CCWA and the three Tjiwarl women — Shirley Wonyabong, Elizabeth Wonyabong, and Vicky Abdullah (pictured left to right above the headline) vow to fight on, and have begun proceedings in the WA Court of Appeal to review the Supreme Court decision.
“I grew up here, my ancestors were Traditional Owners of country, and I don’t want a toxic legacy here for my grandchildren,” Abdullah told Western Australia Today in an August 2017 article.
“We have no choice but to defend our country, our culture, and the environment from the threat of uranium mining — not just for us but for everyone.”
Yeelirrie is one of four uranium mines proposed for Western Australia. The other three are Vimy’s Mulga Rock project, Toro Energy’s Wiluna project, and Cameco’s and Mitsubishi’s Kintyre project. Each of them is home to precious species, but Yeelirrie got special attention from the WAEPA because the proposed mine there would cause actual extinctions of 11 species, mostly tiny underground creatures that few people ever see.
According to a new animated short film, produced by the Western Australia Nuclear-Free Alliance, all four of these proposed mines could irreparably damage wildlife, habitat and the health of the landscape and the people and animals who depend on it. The film highlights Yeelirrie, but also describes the other three proposed uranium mines and the threats they pose.
At Mulga Rock, in the Queen Victoria Desert, the site is home to the Sandhill Dunnart, the Marsupial Mole, the Mulgara and the Rainbow Bee Eater, according to the film.
Wiluna, a unique desert lake system, could see uranium mining across two salt lakes that would leave 50 million tonnes of radioactive mine waste on the shores of Lake Way, which is prone to flooding.
The Kintyre uranium deposit was excluded from the protection of the Karlamilyi National Park within which it sits so that uranium could be mined there. It is a fragile desert ecosystem where 28 threatened species would be put at risk, including the Northern Quoll, Greater Bilby, Crest Tailed Mulgara, Marsupial Mole and Rock Wallaby.
At Yeelirrie, says the CCWA, “Cameco plans to construct a 9km open mine pit and uranium processing plant. The project would destroy 2,421 hectares of native vegetation and generate 36 million tonnes of radioactive mine waste to be stored in open pits.”
The mine would likely operate for 22 years and use 8.7 million litres of water a day.
Under Australian laws, ‘nuclear actions’ like the Yeelirrie proposal also require approval by the Federal Environment Minister. CCWA and Nuclear-Free Western Australia, have launched a campaign directed at Federal Environment Minister, Josh Frydenberg, calling for a halt to the Yeelirrie mine, given the immense risk it poses to “unique subterranean fauna that have been found nowhere else on the planet.” They point out that the Minister has the opportunity to “protect these unique species from becoming extinct.
“Species have a right to life no matter how great or small,” they wrote. “One extinction can massively disrupt an entire ecosystem. No one should have the right to knowingly eliminate an entire species from our planet forever.”
August 29, 2018
Posted by Christina MacPherson |
aboriginal issues, opposition to nuclear, uranium, Western Australia |
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Aboriginal Elders Face Off with Uranium Mining Co. in the Australian Outback, Earth Island Journal , BY ELIZABETH MURRAY – AUGUST 27, 2018
With four new mines approved in the Western Desert, the Tjiwarl turn to courts for help
Members of one of Australia’s most remote Aboriginal nations, the Tjiwarl, who live in the red heart of the Western Desert lands, are embroiled in a long running battle to protect their ancestral home from mining interests.
Last year, the government of Western Australia approved four new uranium projects in the state, despite warnings issued by the Western Australian Environmental Protection Authority, and a global slump in the price of uranium.
Two of the projects, in Yeelirrie and Kintyre, belong to the Canadian mining giant Cameco. The other two are by Australia-based companies, Vimy Resources and Toro Energy.
While uranium use is banned in Australia it holds 33 percent of the world’s uranium deposits, and, it is the world’s third-largest producer of the mineral after Kazakhstan and Canada. Seen as controversial among Australian politicians and unpopular with electorates, uranium operations have drawn both federal and state government bans at various times.
In February this year, the Supreme Court of Western Australia backed the expedited approval of the Yeelirrie uranium project granted by the previous state government in January 2017, but recognized the duty of the Tjiwarl applicants as cultural custodians of Yeelirrie, to preserve those lands. Tjiwarl Elders, Elizabeth and Shirley Wonyabong, and Tjiwarl Traditional Owner Vicky Abdullah, are now appealing that Supreme Court decision, with the support of the Conservation Council of WA.
Western Desert Aboriginal nations have battled against uranium mining on their lands for forty years. It is just one of the many struggles they have faced to preserve their 40,000 year-old culture and spiritual connections to the land in the face of contemporary society’s competing priorities…….
Conservation Council of Western Australia Director, Piers Verstegen, said that the Yeelirrie approval had undermined the existing environmental protection framework. He said the approval “knowingly allows the extinction of multiple species” in Yeelirrie and “treats the EPA and its environmental assessment as something to be casually dismissed.”…….
If the Tjiwarl appeal was successful, it would restore the normal approval process and protect it from political influence, he said. Conversely, if it fails, governments in Western Australia will forever be able to use ministerial oversight to override the independent authority of the Environmental Protection Agency.
The council has previously expressed alarm over the Yeelirrie project’s proposal to clear 2421 hectares of native vegetation for a 9 km-open-pit mine, which they estimate could generate 36 million tons of radioactive waste.
Dr. Euan Ritchie, Associate Professor in Wildlife Ecology and Conservation at Deakin University, independent of the proceedings, said some remote regions are under-surveyed and Yeelirrie may fit that category. In such a circumstance, “where the fauna is unique…species that are not found in other areas, and/or it is in an area that is under-surveyed…there’s a risk of inadvertently having a negative effect on species because of our lack of understanding of what species are there.”
He said important research is developing in relation to cryptic species (species that are morphologically similar but genetically different, and unable to interbreed).
Thorough surveys of plant, animal and other organisms in the area of potential developments were vital, above and below ground, he stressed. The impact of uranium on water resources can be critical for many species in the food chain over a wide expanse, he added, and could extend well beyond the boundaries of a project.
Apart from the delicate, unique ecology of Yeelirrie, the area also includes multiple ancient Aboriginal spiritual sites there are so sacred that they cannot even be discussed or explained in open court or media……..
Cameco Australia has decided not to proceed with the Yeelirrie project until there’s renewed market demand for uranium. Additionally, in Cameco’s 2017 third-quarter report, the company’s global chief Tim Gitzel said “difficult conditions” were continuing and there had been “little change in the market.” In fact, earlier this year, just a week before the Tjiwarl filed their appeal against the project, Cameco suspended two more of its key mines in Canada, citing the global glut and the company’s own large inventory. ……
Financial pundits have also questioned if uranium prices can ever make a comeback with the growing strength of renewables on the market. http://www.earthisland.org/journal/index.php/elist/eListRead/aboriginal_elders_face_off_with_uranium_mining_co._in_the_australian_outbac/
August 29, 2018
Posted by Christina MacPherson |
aboriginal issues, opposition to nuclear, uranium, Western Australia |
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Nuclear Free WA, K-A Garlick, 29 Aug 18 It’s the last week of the Walkatjurra Walkabout! Over 60 people have walked through awesome country in support and solidarity with Traditional Owners to stop uranium mine projects on their country. From Lake Way in Wiluna to the gates of Yeelirrie and finally finishing in Leonora this week they have walked over 250kms to raise awareness about this toxic industry that would destroy beautiful land, water and communities. The walk will finish with a public meeting in Leonora to share messages from the Walkatjurra Walkabout and to give updates on the Yeelirrie court challenge and the proposed national radioactive waste dump. You can see photos and read about their adventures here.
We welcome the new Federal Environment Minister, Melissa Price, Member for Durak, WA that includes Wiluna and Yeelirrie in her electorate not to Federally approve the Yeelirrrie uranium project and look forward to working with her on this issue.
Looking forward to seeing you all at the Projections at Parliament event on the 11th September to send a clear and important message to the WA Government to ban uranium mining permanently. See below for further details.
If you haven’t seen it … please watch and share the short 2 min video Uranium: West Australia under threat to make uranium mining extinct – not WAs unique species.
August 29, 2018
Posted by Christina MacPherson |
opposition to nuclear, uranium, Western Australia |
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MUA Says No To Nuclear Ports In South Australia https://www.miragenews.com/mua-says-no-to-nuclear-ports-in-south-australia/ 8 Aug 18
The Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) is continuing its long-running stance against the shipping of any nuclear material in or out of South Australia.
The Turnbull Government has shortlisted three sites in South Australia that could be used to permanently hold low-level nuclear waste and temporarily store intermediate-level waste.
Two of these sites are at Kimba, on the Eyre Peninsula, while a third is near Hawker, in the northern Flinders Ranges.
Whyalla, Port Lincoln and Port Pirie were named as potential nuclear waste ports in three “Site Characterisation, Technical Reports” released by the Federal Department of Industry in July.
MUA South Australian Branch Secretary Jamie Newlyn said MUA members are long time opponents of Nuclear Waste Storage in Australia and led the charge against the former SA Government’s International Waste Dump Royal Commission and consequent citizens’ jury.
“The Turnbull Government’s recent declaration that sites in Kimba and Flinders Ranges could be used to store intermediate-level nuclear waste is incredibly concerning,” Newlyn said.
“The MUA is further alarmed that the Federal Department of Industry has identified Whyalla and Port Pirie – where our members currently work – as potential ports to unload this toxic and unsafe material.
“The MUA, along with the mayors of Port Pirie and Whyalla, have been blindsided by this announcement yet the safety of port workers and the communities through which this hazardous material is transported is critical.
A postal ballot will begin in Kimba and Hawker on August 20 to determine public support.
Federal Minister for Resources Matt Canavan has said the facility would need “broad community support” to go ahead, noting that he will take into account the views of neighbouring landholders and the Adnyamathanha Traditional Lands Association (ATLA).
Before the ballot, a Senate inquiry into the site selection process, which includes the impact a community benefits program is having on support, will hand down its findings.
“The Turnbull Government is dividing communities, dividing families and dividing friendships over this decision and are trying to ruin the fabric of these country areas,” Newlyn said.
“The MUA will be discussing this with our members in the region to explain the dangers and we are confident that our decisions will again be on the right side of history.
“The MUA is well-known for taking a strong stand against South Africa’s apartheid regime, supporting Indonesian independence, demonstrating against the Vietnam War and refusing to load pig iron to Japan in the lead-up to World War II.”
August 10, 2018
Posted by Christina MacPherson |
AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, Federal nuclear waste dump, opposition to nuclear |
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Anti-nuclear protests at SA Liberal HQ https://www.eyretribune.com.au/story/5395082/anti-nuclear-protests-at-sa-liberal-hq/?cs=1825 MAY 11 2018
South Australians concerned about the prospect of a radioactive waste facility in the state protested outside of the Liberal Party headquarters in Adelaide this morning to oppose the proposal to both state and federal Liberals with a giant inflatable radioactive waste barrel drawing the attention of peak hour traffic.
The protesters were calling for Premier Steven Marshall and the Liberal government to oppose the federal government’s plan to establish a nuclear waste facility in Kimba or near Hawker.
Don’t Dump on SA member Tadhg Porter said the South Australian Liberal party brought in legislation that made the establishment of a waste dump illegal.
“We want Premier Marshall to defend our state against the prospect of the federal proposal, just like he defended South Australia against the proposal for an international high level radioactive waste facility,” Mr Porter said.
“We call on the federal government to stop this process, stop dividing communities and take a responsible approach to the management of Australia’s nuclear waste.”
May 15, 2018
Posted by Christina MacPherson |
Federal nuclear waste dump, opposition to nuclear, South Australia |
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Fight To Stop Nuclear Waste Dump In Flinders Ranges SA, 14 May 18 It is not just Kimba that needs to be consulted. I live at Whyalla, just up the road. At the very least all of Eyre Peninsula needs to be consulted, better still all South Australia. It will effect and affect us all. Especially the reputation of any agritculture or aquaculture. Unbelieveable that there are some people in Kimba who think this will “save” their town. I believe if it goes ahead, it will be the demise of the town.
Gov thinks that people can be bought – they did with the Shire of Kimba as it is a dying town like many rural towns n those who want this to happen decided $$$$ is what they need to boost it.
When the Mayor decided that the vote should only be for Kimba residents three quarters of the Shire didn’t want it, as everyone I have 
spoken to is against it. Somehow the Mayor and Ramsay had found a loophole and they ran with it. People are getting blinded by being healed by Nuclear Medicine saying it’s OK to av this dump but don’t realise that the Nuclear Waste is completely different than Nuclear Medicine.
Yes the gov is trying to cover up the negatives and saying it is harmless but it’s not as it was why then a worker last year when he got contaminated by a work accident is still not well. When the governments put out No Bullying ads why don’t they take action as at the moment that is what they are doing BULLYING US INTO SAYING YES FOR MANY NEGATIVE IDEAS THEY WANT TO DO ALL AROUND AUSTRALIA.
the tax payer as insurance companies hate nuclear, – USA has plenty about it on google and the tax payer pays not the nuclear corporation. I say NO Nuclear dump and people should research and see Medical isotopes have a half life of 3 days, This is not about medical isotopes. https://www.facebook.com/groups/344452605899556/
May 14, 2018
Posted by Christina MacPherson |
Federal nuclear waste dump, opposition to nuclear, South Australia |
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No nuclear waste groups stand together, https://www.eyretribune.com.au/story/5362658/no-nuclear-waste-groups-stand-together/ 24 Apr 18
No nuclear waste dump groups from Kimba and the Flinders Ranges came together in Port Augusta last week in response to the recent announcement by federal Resources Minister Matt Canavan that a community vote for a planned national radioactive waste management facility would begin on August 20.
The groups discussed shared concerns and committed to increase their efforts against the plan including through an open debate featuring the federal department, the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO), Traditional Owners and public policy and health professionals.
People at the meeting included Adnyamathanha community members, representatives from Kimba, Hawker, Whyalla and Quorn along with members of the Flinders Local Action Group and No Radioactive Waste on Agricultural Land in Kimba or SA.
Peter Woolford from Kimba said the “flawed federal process” was failing the communities.
“Minister Canavan is fast-tracking a plan that does not have broad community support”.
The groups committed to highlight community concern and opposition to the federal plan ahead of the August vote and urged residents in the wider region to stand up and speak out.
Former federal member for Grey Barry Wakelin said it was a national issue, “not something that a regional community should be left to deal with”.
“The current federal plan lacks evidence and poses a threat to our existing industries – we need a better way,” Mr Wakelin said.
“This has been a productive meeting and it is heartening to see regional South Australians stepping up to the challenge, taking action and working together.”
April 25, 2018
Posted by Christina MacPherson |
aboriginal issues, Federal nuclear waste dump, opposition to nuclear, South Australia |
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East Gippsland fights mineral sands mine https://www.greenleft.org.au/content/east-gippsland-fights-mineral-sands-mine, Alan Broughton, Bairnsdale,March 23, 2018
A packed meeting in Bairnsdale in eastern Victoria on March 21 was horrified as the implications of a planned mineral sands mine in the area were revealed.
The Kalbar Resources mine has been in the planning stage for several years and is due to start next year. The site is at Glenaladale, about 20 kilometres from Bairnsdale in grazing country, but only 350 metres from the $200 million a year vegetable growing industry in the Mitchell River Valley.
The mine will be open-cut, with up to five holes operating at any one time, each 1 kilometre long, 500 metres wide and up to 40 metres deep. It will be the biggest mineral sands mine in Australia and will mine zircon, rutile, titanium and ilmenite. Mining is planned to last 20 years, processing 800 tonnes an hour, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
There are many serious concerns.
Kalbar declares mining will cease on windy days to prevent dust laden with radioactive and or/carcinogenic chromium, vanadium pentoxide, thorium and titanium dioxide from blowing across the farmland and urban areas. However, this was not the experience of people in the Victorian Wimmera who were promised the same; it never happened. One farmer who challenged the mine owners (Iluka in that case) was told he would be charged $70,000 a day for lost production!
The mine requires about the same amount of water as used by the 29,000 households supplied by the Mitchell River. This water is not available locally. It is planned to be piped from the Sale aquifer, but that aquifer is fully committed and can only be released by purchasing existing water rights.
There will be an extra 40 B-double 72 tonne trucks a day, with road maintenance costs to be met by the East Gippsland Shire.
Run-off and siltation of the Mitchell River and Gippsland Lakes is inevitable in heavy rain, further damaging the world-renowned Silk Jetties, the Ramsar-listed wetlands and the tourist industry based on recreational fishing. There will be six tailings storage dams, each 10 hectares in size, at the head of the Perry River, which also flows into the Gippsland Lakes.
Speakers from the Wimmera talked about their experience of the Iluka Douglas mineral sands mine in their area. All promises of consultation, employment, compensation, monitoring, dust control and rehabilitation were reneged. Conditions imposed on the mine operation were not enforced. Radioactive materials were not buried as promised. The community was destroyed. Several people developed brain tumours. There were several Workplan Variations, which bypassed environmental regulations. Dust monitoring stations were placed upwind of the mine and only checked every seven days.
The Victorian Labor Government in 1990 legislated the Mineral Resources (Sustainable Development) Act to give mining priority over all other land uses. Farmers are forced by regulation to accommodate mining. This has not been changed by subsequent governments.
Promised rehabilitation does not occur. Of the 150 mines operating in Victoria, 122 are in care and maintenance mode, which can continue indefinitely, and only one has been classified as fully rehabilitated.
Communities receive no benefit from mines but suffer the costs of pollution, falling land values, impaired health and community destruction. Local councils lose revenue because mines do not pay rates.
While East Gippsland is a strong National Party area, people have fought and won major victories against governments before and will do so again. The battle against the proposed Very Fast Train land speculation proposal was successful in the early 1990s, the closure of the railway line was reversed, the Tambo Upper School closure was prevented, and more recently community action defeated coal seam gas mining.
The opposition to the mine is led by the East Gippsland Community Action Group and Mine-Free Glenaladale, which screened The Bentley Effect two weeks before the mineral sands meeting, increasing people’s determination to fight and win.
March 29, 2018
Posted by Christina MacPherson |
opposition to nuclear, Victoria |
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Photographs from a rally in Sydney, protesting against Federal Government plans to establish a nuclear waste dump at Brewarrina in North Western NSW, on Ngemba land. Traditional custodians of the land, the Ngemba, are opposed to the dump.
Speakers at the rally included organiser Natalie Wasley, Ngemba and Brewarrina representatives, Trish Frail and Natalie Eastwood, Nathan Moran from the Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land Council, Dave Sweeney from the Australian Conservation Foundation, Jim Green from Friends of the Earth, and NSW Greens parliamentarians Jamie Parker and David Shoebridge, as well as others. The Wakagetti dance troupe provided dance performances and a smoking.
About 100 people from all around Australia then marched from Bligh Street outside the Commonwealth offices, through Sydney’s CBD to NSW Parliament House, chanting, “No bundabunda (poison) on Ngemba land”.
Three other sites, in South Australia, are also under consideration for the nuclear waste dump. All are on Aboriginal land
March 25, 2018
Posted by Christina MacPherson |
aboriginal issues, Federal nuclear waste dump, New South Wales, opposition to nuclear |
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Fukushima disaster ‘not over’, rally hears, https://www.echo.net.au/2018/03/fukushima-disaster-not-rally-hears/ Harsha Prabhu ‘The Fukushima nuclear disaster is not over,’ were the chilling words of warning uttered by Toshiko Okada, anti-nuclear activist from Japan, speaking at a gathering to mark the seventh anniversary of Fukushima, at the Channon Market on Sunday.
Scores of people – including members of the region’s Japanese community – attended the gathering, despite the wet weather and the chance of the market being cancelled.
Okada is a member of Ctitzen’s Network for Evacuation from Radiation, which has been promoting the cause of Fukushima children and families affected by radiation.
She said, ‘We are having serious radioactive contamination problems not only in Fukushima but also in Eastern Japan, because life threatening radioactive substances are still discharging from the Fukushima nuclear power plant every day.’
Lethal levels of radiation had been detected at Fukushima’s power plant seven years after the tsunami. Apart from the release of volatile, gaseous radionuclides, a recent Manchester University study also noted the presence of micro particles containing uranium, caesium and technetium, several kilometres from Fukushima.
Plus thousands of gallons of radioactive water and waste are being stored above ground with no safe means of disposal.
Govt forced relocation While experts were warning of a ‘global disaster’ in the making, the Japanese government was busy normalising the situation by marketing food from Fukushima and stopping subsidies for Fukushima evacuees, thus forcing people to relocate to Fukushima. The government had also unilaterally raised the maximum limit of radiation exposure from 1mSv per year to 20 mSv.
Okada and her group are fighting to promote a Japanese version of Chernobyl Law to ‘protect all people in our country, especially future generations from ongoing critical nuclear issues and future nuclear disasters.’
She said, ‘Such law must be applied to all victims of radiation around the world.’
Okada and her citizens’ group hold protest actions at Shinjuku railway station and the Japanese PM’s residence in Tokyo every month. The banner used for this protest action became a rallying cry for Australia’s rainbow region folk, standing in solidarity with the people of Japan.
OK to speak up Local activist and actress Saya Minami said, ‘It’s important to let all the victims of Fukushima know that it’s ok to be scared, it’s ok to tell the truth, to speak up and say what you really feel. We are here with you in Australia!’
Lismore City Council Deputy Mayor and Greens party member Vanessa Ekins said, ‘It’s the seventh anniversary of the Fukushima nuclear power plant meltdown and radioactive water is still pouring into the Pacific Ocean.’
Lismore Council has erected signage at the entrances to Lismore declaring the city a nuclear free peace zone. Ekins said, ‘This may seem tokenistic but it raises awareness. The action we need to take as the federal election looms, is to question Australia’s role in supplying uranium to other countries for nuclear weapons and power.’
Uranium moratorium call She said, ‘Lismore’s Mayor visited Japan last year to join Mayors For Peace, initiated in 1982 by Hiroshima Mayor, and now 6,800 cities in 161 countries are negotiating to eliminate nuclear weapons. I question their focus on nuclear weapons when the nuclear industry itself is so damaging.’
Ekins added: ‘Australia needs to stop mining and exporting uranium.’
One activist said, ‘ This is an international crisis that requires an international solution. Instead of attending to this, governments are busy promoting crisis-ridden, failed nuclear technologies. French President Macron is in India today to sign a nuclear deal with Indian PM Modi. Corporations and governments are brazen in their support for the uranium industry. And Australia supplies uranium to India, a country that has not signed the nuclear non proliferation treaty. The whole uranium cycle is lethal – from uranium mines, to radioactive dumps, to leaking reactors, to nuclear weapons.’
He said, ‘We stand in solidarity with people everywhere fighting the military industrial complex and their baby – the uranium industry.’
Art & music Organisers had set up an art show and all through the rain-soaked day punters were treated to a smorgasbord of music: from soulful kirtans by Mico, Shivam and Armando, to young Belle McGreggor singing ‘Somewhere over the rainbow’; from fiery flamenco by Bart Stenhouse, to happy reggae anthems by JT Rastasamurai; from radical songs by Bo Kaan, to Brazilian folk by Priscila Rios and Anna Hamard-Lecoeur. By the time the six-piece Latin band Passando started their set the sun finally decided to come out to play.
Organisers called on the crowd to ‘say no to uranium. Leave it in the ground, like the aboriginal elders have been saying in their Dreamtime stories and the hippies have been singing for years gone by’.
‘And help the children and families of Fukushima by dreaming up a nuclear free world.’
March 14, 2018
Posted by Christina MacPherson |
AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, opposition to nuclear |
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Pine Gap protesters who entered top-secret Central Australia facility spared jail to avoid creating ‘martyr’ http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-12-04/pine-gap-trespassers-not-jailed-to-avoid-creating-martyr/9223946
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Steven Schubert Six Christian peace activists who illegally entered the top-secret Pine Gap defence base near Alice Springs have avoided jail time, with a judge telling the court he didn’t want to make a “martyr” of one of the offenders.
The group were charged under the Defence (Special Undertakings) Act, which carries a maximum of seven years in prison.
One of the group members, Andy Paine, faced another two years for carrying a smartphone onto the base.
But Justice John Reeves fined the group a total of $15,500.
While sentencing the oldest member of the group, Jim Dowling, 62, Justice Reeves expressed concern that Dowling had committed 27 similar trespass offences since 1986.
“If I imprison you, I think that would be likely to make you a martyr to your cause, rather than to underscore the law breaking in which you were involved,” he said.
Dowling was fined $5,000 as one of five people who entered Pine Gap on September 29, 2016.
In that group, Margaret Pestorius was fined $3,500, Andy Paine fined $2,500, while Franz Dowling and Tim Webb were fined $1,250.
The group told the court they went to sing a lament which several members of the group had composed in memory of people they believed had been killed by US drone strikes, with help from Pine Gap.
Paul Christie was fined $2,000 for also entering Pine Gap in a separate crime on October 3, 2016.
In sentencing Christie, Justice Reeves said his offence was at the lowest possible end of the spectrum.
He said Christie was arrested while holding a rattle and some flowers, while praying.
“I do not accept the Crown’s submission that your offences potentially struck at the heart of national security,” Justice Reeves told the group.
“Your activities posed no real threat to the Pine Gap facility.”
The two separate trials in the NT Supreme Court lasted two weeks, with the Crown briefing a senior counsel to prosecute the matters.
December 6, 2017
Posted by Christina MacPherson |
AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, legal, opposition to nuclear |
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Gem Romuld, 25 Sept 17, Today marks the UN International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons. We took a big step towards that goal when the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons opened for signature last Wednesday, gaining 53 signatories within the first 3 days. Many of our regional neighbours have signed on, including New Zealand, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines.
Unfortunately, while Julie Bishop was at the United Nations, she failed to sign Australia on to the Treaty. To shine a spotlight on Australia’s dismal record on nuclear disarmament, activists scaled the front awning of the Foreign Affairs Department in Canberra.
This peaceful action was reported on television news, print and online. You can see the full list on our media page.
A September ReachTEL poll commissioned by Greenpeace Australia Pacific shows that 72% of the public supports the ban treaty. In Bishop’s own electorate of Curtin, 70% want her to sign on for Australia. Activists in Perth delivered a giant copy of the treaty and a giant pen to Julie Bishop’s electorate office, to remind her of what to do.
Please help us build support for the Treaty within federal parliament by signing up MPs and Senators to the Parliamentary Pledge. So far, 54 parliamentarians from all sides of politics have pledged to work for Australia’s signature and ratification of the Treaty. Let’s get more on board. Please check the list here and reach out to those who haven’t yet signed on.
With sadness, we farewell the Sydney-based author and Hiroshima survivor, Junko Morimoto, who passed away on September 21. In her final month, she urged Prime Minister Turnbull to sign Australia on to the nuclear weapons ban treaty.
While the nuclear threat continues to escalate, we must call on our government to reject these weapons of mass destruction entirely. Please support our efforts to get Australia and our regional neighbours to sign and ratify this vital new treaty.
September 27, 2017
Posted by Christina MacPherson |
AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, opposition to nuclear |
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