Antinuclear

Australian news, and some related international items

Kimba District Council excluded Bangarla Aboriginal people from vote on nuclear waste dump site proposal

Traditional owners left out of dump vote https://www.eyretribune.com.au/story/5878759/traditional-owners-left-out-of-dump-vote/?cs=9397, Kathryn Bermingham , 30 Jan 19,  A South Australian council did not consider native title holders when deciding who should vote on a proposed nuclear waste dump, a court has heard.

Kimba District Council chief executive officer Deborah Larwood gave evidence at a Federal Court hearing between the council and the Barngarla Determination Aboriginal Corporation on Wednesday.

The Barngarla people have argued the council’s decision to exclude native title holders from the ballot because they do not live in the municipality is discriminatory. Ms Larwood told the court the council had decided to hold the ballot in accordance with eligibility guidelines set out under the Local Government Elections Act.

She said there was never any discussion about including traditional owners in the poll until after that decision was made, when the council received a letter from the Barngarla people.

“There was a lot of issues that would arise if the Barngarla Determination Aboriginal Corporation went outside of the guidelines to be allowed to vote,” she said. “It (would have) then opened up: should we be letting all other owners who are non-ratepayers have a vote?”

Two sites near Kimba, on the Eyre Peninsula, have been short-listed as potential locations for a low-level radioactive waste storage facility, while a third is near the Flinders Ranges town of Hawker.

The Kimba vote was stalled last year after the Barngarla people won an injunction in the South Australian Supreme Court, where the case was then referred to the Australian Human Rights Commission.

Lawyer Dan O’Gorman, for the Barngarla people, again argued on Wednesday the ballot was in contravention of the Racial Discrimination Act.

He said the breach occurred because the council chose to use the eligibility guidelines established under the Act – it was not compelled to do so.

Also called to give evidence on Wednesday was Bruce Wilson, principal advisor to the National Radioactive Waste Management Taskforce.

Mr Wilson said the ballot was a “tried method that had community understanding and integrity” after a similar vote was conducted by the Australian Electoral Commission on behalf of the council in 2017.

“That process was run, that worked well… it was agreed by ourselves and the council that they would use that method in the second ballot for that reason,” he said.

January 31, 2019 Posted by | Federal nuclear waste dump, South Australia | Leave a comment

Australian promoters of the coal industry also promote nuclear – as a delaying tactic

Steve Dale Nuclear Fuel Cycle Watch South Australia, January 29    I’ve put this up a few times as a comment, but the more I think about it, its significance grows for me. It is a statement by Barnaby Joyce in Parliament. I am not picking on Joyce, in fact I thank him for revealing the normally secretive workings of nuclear lobbying in Canberra. Here it is –

Hansard: Mr. Joyce, Parliament, on the 29/3/2017 “Even today we had one of our leading energy producers, ERM, in my office saying that, if the Victorians think they are going to fix it by gas, at $10 a gigajoule the gas power price would be $100 a kilowatt-hour. He said that at that price you should look at small modular nuclear reactors because they would probably be cheaper than the solution that is being suggested.”

Why would ERM suggest using Small Modular Nuclear reactors when they don’t actually exist?

The only answer I can think of is as a delaying tactic. Don’t go to “gas” (or renewables) because around the corner will be a magical nuclear reactor to solve all problems – in the mean time, we will keep supplying profitable coal fired power to you.

How much of this secretive, manipulative nuclear lobbying of poor gullible politicians has gone on in Canberra? At least Joyce gave us a glimpse.  https://www.facebook.com/groups/1021186047913052/

January 31, 2019 Posted by | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, spinbuster | Leave a comment

Reparation: the colonisers’ fear of admitting the truth of invasion

Ghillar, Michael Anderson 27 January 2019 “One of the slogan chants of the Invasion/Sovereignty Day March in Sydney was “No accident, it was murder!“, referring to the continuing and spiralling number of deaths in custody. International lawyers are now referring to First Nations Peoples’ Deaths in Custody as being attributed to State-sanctioned death squads. People wanting to know need to do research on this. It is in fact an untold story that is operating world-wide, but perfected in Australia.

Another slogan was “What do we want – Land Rights; When do we want it now!” All those years ago the militant young Blacks of the 1960s and 1970s succeeded in smashing PM Billy McMahon’s policy of leasing back land to First Nations Peoples, the owners of the country. But today, with the assistance of wilfully assimilated First Nations Peoples, centralised power and ownership of land is now a reality and as the current cries now state: “Native Title is NOT Land Rights.”

The NSW Land Rights Act is not Land Rights. Other Land Trusts around Australia are not Land Rights. These Land Trusts only lease back land to their own people, as they hold the land in for the Crown. It should also be understood that this is an escheat regime, where the Crown retains ultimate title under a feudal-type system. Thus, Billy McMahon’s policy is now a reality. Land Rights is when First Nations are accepted as the true original owners and guardians of our lands, waters and sacred places. Our ownership can only be secure, if it is not vested in legislation in a minister of the Crown, making the Blacks mere custodians on behalf of the Crown. That is not Land Rights.

The final cry in Sydney this year was “Sovereignty Never Ceded“. So then, what does this truly mean?…

The full bench of the High Court did in fact breach this doctrine of the rule of treason. As Justice Willis explained over 150 years before, it is treasonous to rule the way the High Court judges did in the Mabo Case:

 

At paragraph 29 The Mabo judgement ruled:

In discharging its duty to declare the common law of Australia, this Court is not free to adopt rules that accord with contemporary notions of justice and human rights if their adoption would fracture the skeleton of principle which gives the body of our law its shape and internal consistency.

… Here rests the ultimate responsibility of declaring the law of the nation. Although this Court is free to depart from English precedent which was earlier followed as stating the common law of this country (21) Cook v. Cook [1986] HCA 73; (1986) 162 CLR 376, at pp 390, 394; Viro v. The Queen [1978] HCA 9; (1978) 141 CLR 88, at pp 93, 120-121, 132, 135, 150-151, 166, 174, it cannot do so where the departure would fracture what I have called the skeleton of principle. The Court is even more reluctant to depart from earlier decisions of its own (22) Jones v. The Commonwealth (1987) 61 ALJR 348, at p 349; 71 ALR 497, at pp 498–499; John v. Federal Commissioner of Taxation [1989] HCA 5; (1989) 166 CLR 417, at pp 438–439, 451–452; McKinney v. The Queen [1991] HCA 6; (1991) 171 CLR 468, at pp 481–482.

As can be seen from this ruling, the Mabo judges committed treason and demonstrated their refusal to make an unbiased decision. This apprehended bias in a judge, or in this case judges, clearly demonstrates that they were unfit for the positions they hold and/or held. This is discrimination and prejudice of the highest order and it is what reflects First Nations Peoples continued cry ‘Sovereignty Never Ceded’ … ” nationalunitygovernment.org/content/reparation-colonisers%E2%80%99-fear-admitting-truth-invasion

January 31, 2019 Posted by | aboriginal issues, AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL | Leave a comment

Courageous indigenous appeal to Scotland to stop sending nuclear waste – stop indigenous cultural genocide

Last ditch aborigine appeal to Scotland to stop nuclear waste transfers to Australia, https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/17391290.last-ditch-aborigine-appeal-to-scotland-to-stop-nuclear-waste-transfers-to-australia/?ref=fbshr&fbclid=IwAR3r2Lqdv0V66rc7I8PrKJme4mkAsIx2Wtd5bv-Vy_XeT1i3GOgi_Mr    By Martin Williams  29 Jan 19, SOME of the Aborigines who live in and around a sacred burial place in South Australia can still remember the clouds of poison that were the result of Britain’s nuclear bomb tests in the 1950s.

Many of the indigenous population claimed they were exposed to radiation as a result of the post-war atomic weapons tests in the desert and received compensation from the Australian government.

But a new kind of radiation could be heading to the remote sacred area of Wallerberdina – nuclear waste. The concerns are centred over a spot 280 miles north of Adelaide, which has become a potential location for Australia’s first nuclear dump.

The movement of waste is part of a deal that returns spent fuel processed at the nuclear facility currently being decommissioned to its country of origin.

Despite campaigners’ efforts it has emerged that David Peattie, chief executive of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA), has insisted that there can be no change.

And now Aboriginal elder Regina McKenzie has made a last-ditch direct appeal to the First Minister for help to halt Dounreay’s dumping plans, calling for her “not to be part of the cultural genocide of Australian Aboriginal people”.

Mr Peattie said in a letter to UK campaigners who are fighting against the dumping: “The NDA does not have an option of retaining the waste in the UK.”

The Dounreay Waste Substitution Policy, agreed in 2012, sees waste from Australia, Belgium, Germany and Italy processed at the Scottish facility to make it safe for storage being returned to its country of origin.

The UK Government has previously confirmed that “a very small quantity of Australian-owned radioactive waste” is currently stored in the country.

Scottish Government policy allows for the substitution of the Dounreay nuclear waste with a “radiologically equivalent” amount of materials from Sellafield in Cumbria.

The proposed dump site is next to an indigenous protected area where Aborigines are still allowed to hunt, and is part of the traditional home of the Adnyamathanha people, one of several hundred indigenous groups in Australia. And Ms McKenzie, an Adnyamathanha woman who lives at Yappala in South Australia and leading campaigner against any dump, has told the Nicola Sturgeon in a letter that the substitution policy is “culturally inappropriate”.

Ms McKenzie, who has been trying to get a meeting with the First Minister since the start of last year, said: “Adnyamathanha people have lived and practised culture in our country since the beginning of time. We understand and have connections with our land in a way the Australian Government does not. It is our duty to care for our country, song/storylines for future generations.

“We know we have friends in Scotland and in the UK. My great grandfather was Joseph Thomas McKenzie from Aberdeen, so we have a great respect for our Scottish heritage. We ask that you do all in your power to cancel the agreement made with the British Government and send a message of support to our people that Scotland stands with us in our fight to protect our country.

“We have previously offered to crowdfund money to travel to Scotland to raise our concerns with you in person, and we extend the offer for you to visit us here on our country at the sacred women’s waterhole Pungka Pudinah so you can hear why we must protect our country, for all of our futures.

She has said the UK should not make the mistakes they did when the nuclear tests were conducted between 1956 and 1963 at Maralinga, part of the Woomera Prohibited Area in South Australia.

“Please do not be a part in cultural genocide of Australian Aboriginal people, the past atrocities that were practiced on all the nations of Aboriginal people, must be something of the past and not committed further,” she told Ms Sturgeon.

“This waste facility is just that, cultural genocide, it will stop future generations’ access to a significant site.

“Again I ask please listen with your ears and heart, be a voice for my people and help stop cultural genocide on a minority group only trying to keep our culture strong and survive.”

The local Aboriginal people claimed they were poisoned by the tests and, in 1994, the Australian Government reached a compensation settlement with Maralinga Tjarutja of $13.5 million in settlement of all claims in relation to the nuclear testing.

Despite the governments of Australia and the UK paying for two decontamination programmes, eight years ago concerns were expressed that some areas of the Maralinga test sites are still contaminated 10 years after being declared “clean”.

Campaigner Gary Cushway, a dual Australian-British citizen living in Glasgow, said the new appeal came after the reached deadlock on any movement in ditching the substitution policy. He said: “My argument remains the same, that the material shouldn’t be returned, at least until the final destination is known.”

the Aborigines from supporters in the UK was turned down by the First Minister. Rory Hedderly, the diary team manager, wrote back: “Unfortunately, due to considerable diary pressures, the First Minister is unable to meet with Ms McKenzie at this time.”

A Scottish Government spokesman said: “The Scottish Government believes any concerns expressed by indigenous people must be addressed and we sympathise with concerns relating to the location of the planned radioactive waste facility in Australia.

“However, this issue is a matter for the Australian authorities, who are responsible for waste arising from historic reprocessing of Australian spent fuels, carried out under contract at Dounreay.”

January 29, 2019 Posted by | aboriginal issues, AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, Federal nuclear waste dump, politics international | Leave a comment

How our electricity system of the future could be powered by sun, wind and waves

January 28, 2019 Posted by | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, energy, reference | Leave a comment

Olympian Zali Steggall’s main policy will be climate action, as contests Tony Abbott’s Warringah election seat

Climate key in Olympian’s bid for NSW seat, SBS News 28 Jan 19, Climate change will be one of Olympian Zali Steggall’s main policies as she contests Tony Abbott’s Sydney seat of Warringah in the federal election.The barrister and former world champion skier on Sunday launched her campaign to run as an independent in the upcoming election in a seat she described as socially progressive and caring.

The 1998 Winter Olympics bronze medallist said Sydney’s northern beaches need a voice from “the sensible centre”……..Ms Steggall will make climate change policy a key issue, one which Mr Abbott dismissed saying locals cared about a northern beaches tunnel, lowered living costs, border security and power prices……https://www.sbs.com.au/news/climate-key-in-olympian-s-bid-for-nsw-seat

January 28, 2019 Posted by | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, climate change - global warming, politics | Leave a comment

Traditional Owners continue to resist Adani’s ‘invasion’

“Full Bench Federal Court Appeal against ‘rent a crowd’ ILUA to proceed, 28 Jan 19 

UN demands Australia explain why Adani’s project has not been suspended over rights concerns

Bankruptcy threat to W&J leader to be resisted nationally and internationally”

“W&J Traditional Owner and lead spokesperson Adrian Burragubba said: “Adani is attempting to invade, occupy and plunder our land, contravening our human rights and denying us our property, under the cover of a bogus land use agreement. Their rent-a-crowd ILUA is not supported by the legitimate W&J Traditional Owners from the Carmichael Belyando native title claim area.

“We have made sure our Federal Court appeal can proceed because we are determined to prove that Adani does not have our consent for its mine, and to ensure it is never allowed to destroy our country and our future.

“Our people have survived 230 years since the start of colonisation in this continent, and we can survive this onslaught from Adani. We are determined to defend our country from destruction”, he said.

The confirmation of the appeal comes as the UN CERD has intervened under its early warning and urgent action provisions to demand Australia answer concerns about breaches of the W&J People’s internationally protected rights. The UN expressed concern over the ‘Adani amendments’ to the Native Title Act in 2017, as well as alleged breaches of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, and the failure to obtain the genuine “free, prior and informed consent” of the relevant Traditional Owners.

Ms Linda Bobongie, Chairperson of the W&J Council said: “We have called on the UN CERD to highlight our plight and to bring pressure onto the Australian and Queensland Governments to prevent these threats from Adani to our people and to our traditional lands and waters.

“The legal system is being used as a weapon against us because we have chosen to stand up to defend our lands and waters, and our rights. Discriminatory legislation, such as the Native Title Act, and punishing costs, are allowed to override our rights and leave us open to ruthless suppression by an increasingly desperate and farcical Adani”, she said.

Ms Bobongie, is writing on behalf of the Council to Mr. Michel Forst, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights Defenders, and Ms. Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, over ongoing abuses in relation to the Carmichael project and Adani’s recent move to bankrupt W&J leader, Mr Adrian Burragubba.

Ms Bobongie said: “We are requesting interventions from the UN Rapporteurs, and we will be calling on social justice groups and our hundreds of thousands of supporters around Australia to back our demands.

“We ask the Queensland Government to provide protection from bankruptcy to Mr Burragubba and the other appellants. We demand Adani cease its harassment and undermining of Mr. Burragubba and cease its bankruptcy proceeding. And we call on the Commonwealth Government and Opposition to ensure that access to equal justice to defend our rights is not undermined by punitive cost orders and the kind of aggressive corporate conduct Adani is allowed to engage in.

“Australia’s legal system does not recognise that human rights defenders, such as Mr Burragubba, are acting in the public interest and we are therefore subject to potentially crippling costs. This is a recognised problem with serious consequences.

“UN Rapporteur Tauli-Corpuz has reported that ‘a global crisis is unfolding. The rapid expansion of development projects on indigenous lands without their consent is driving a drastic increase in violence and legal harassment against Indigenous Peoples… The root of this global crisis is systematic racism and the failure of governments to recognize and respect indigenous land rights’”, she said.

Mr Burragubba concluded: “Adani will not stop us by trying to silence our voice with their awful bankruptcy tactic, which is intended to intimidate us. They will not succeed. They cannot have our lands, our heritage and our children’s futures, which are worth far more than they could ever compensate us from their ill-conceived mine.” … “wanganjagalingou.com.au/traditional-owners-continue-to-resist-adanis-invasion/

January 27, 2019 Posted by | aboriginal issues, AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, climate change - global warming, legal | Leave a comment

Western Australia bushfire a threat to homes and lives

WA bushfire a threat to homes and lives https://www.sbs.com.au/news/wa-bushfire-a-threat-to-homes-and-lives  26 Jan 19   Authorities in Western Australia say a bushfire burning in Perth’s northern suburbs is a threat to lives and homes. An emergency warning has been issued for a bushfire burning out of control in Perth’s northern suburbs with authorities warning of a threat to lives and homes.

The fire at Jandabup is burning in an area near Sydney Road and Ross Street and a nearby pine plantation.

“The bushfire is moving fast in a north-westerly direction. It is out of control and unpredictable,” Emergency WA says.

Spot fires are also starting up to 300 metres ahead of the fire front.

Authorities say the best escape route is to the southwest, using Badgerup Road but anyone still planning to leave should follow the directions of fire crews.

January 27, 2019 Posted by | climate change - global warming, Western Australia | Leave a comment

Tania Constable – a new spruiker for Australia’s coal-nuclear lobby

Australia’s coal and nuclear lobbies have just recruited a new puppet, Independent Australia,  25 January 2019, Newly-appointed Mining Council CEO Tania Constable has been championing nuclear power at a time when we should be discussing renewables, writes Noel Wauchope.WHAT BAD TIMING. Only in dictatorships – Russia and China – is nuclear power thriving. In the Western world, it’s problematic due to costs and waste issues. As for coal, even China is working to phase it out.

In Australia, renewable energy is going ahead in leaps and bounds. Our coal-loving Liberal Coalition Government is so on the nose, they’ll be forgotten men within a few months.

But never mind, Australia’s fossil fuel and nuclear lobbies are on the propaganda trail and they’ve just recruited a new puppet, Tania Constable. Appointed as CEO of the Mining Councilin July last year, Ms Constable’s first job is to mouth the standard pro-coal and nuclear platitudes. Here she goes.

A headline in the 22 January edition of The Daily Telegraph reads: ‘Heatwaves proof positive Australia needs nuclear’.

In the article, Constable says:

“Energy costs are rising and renewables can’t meet all our needs but a new generation of clean reactors could.”

‘Heatwaves proof positive Australia needs nuclear’?No, Tania, proof positive that Australia needs solar air conditioners. She seems unaware of the fact that nuclear power is highly water intensive, and subject to shutdowns due to hot weather.

Ms Constable mourns that:

“The influx of part-time power sources such as wind and solar which make it more difficult for older baseload power stations to operate will likely see the early closure of a number of them well before 2030.”

So, it’s renewable energy’s fault that coal is not doing well? She goes on to enthuse about “baseload” power — coal, of course. But that’s seen as a myth, nowdays, as reliable power is no longer synonymous with coal.

She has a bash at the AEMO and CSIRO:

“[They] missed a golden opportunity of lowering power prices, ensuring reliability and lowering emissions through advanced coal technology.”

She doesn’t mention the high costs of this advanced coal technology, needing government subsidy and the fact that it’s not all that clean anyway.

Now she gets to her main point – changing the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 – which happens to be due for review this year.

“The removal of four words — ‘a nuclear power plant’ — in Section 140A(1) (b) would allow nuclear industries to be considered for development in Australia.”

Ms Constable writes approvingly of nuclear power in countries around the world – not a mention of the financial problems of nuclear power development in UK and USA, and Japan, too.  Not a mention of the nuclear waste problems…..

[She goes on to praise “new nukes’ – Small Modular Nuclear Reactors, singling out Terra Power and Transatomics, – But]

First of all, Bill Gates has just had the door slammed on his TerraPower project. He’s closed it down for now, but hopes to find a country that will back it.

Secondly, Transatomic has also had a big setback. Its nuclear start-up folded, in disarray. This company was spruiked by an enthusiastic young woman, Leslie Dewan. The nuclear lobby seems to pick them for the poisoned chalice of propaganda work.   https://independentaustralia.net/environment/environment-display/australias-coal-and-nuclear-lobbies-have-just-recruited-a-new-puppet,12313

January 26, 2019 Posted by | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, spinbuster | Leave a comment

Nuclear energy doesn’t make sense in Australia

NUCLEAR POWER STATIONS ARE NOT APPROPRIATE FOR AUSTRALIA – AND PROBABLY NEVER WILL BE  by Climate Council  /  23 January 2019

Periodically, as with the changing of the seasons, various individuals appear in the media extolling the virtues of nuclear energy, promising a panacea of clean and reliable electricity to solve Australia’s energy crisis. But the truth is far less rosy.

…….steps involved in producing nuclear power (from mining, to construction, decommissioning and waste management) result in greenhouse gas pollution. Greenhouse gas pollution associated with nuclear power could be similar to a gas power station, with estimates ranging from 80 – 437 kg/MWh.

But nuclear energy is not “renewable”. Uranium is a finite resource just like coal or gas……

Nuclear energy doesn’t make sense in Australia

…..there are a number of reasons why nuclear power is not appropriate for Australia.

  1. Nuclear power stations are highly controversial, can’t be built under existing law in any Australian state or territory, are a more expensive source of power than renewable energy, and present significant challenges in terms of the storage and transport of nuclear waste, and use of water.
  2. Nuclear power stations also present significant community, health, environmental, and cost risks associated with potential impacts from extreme weather events and natural disasters, such as occurred in Fukushima, Japan in 2011. Nuclear power stations leave a long-term and prohibitively expensive legacy of site remediation, fuel reprocessing and radioactive waste storage.
  3. Australia is one of the sunniest and windiest countries in the world, with enough renewable energy resources to power our country 500 times over. When compared with low risk, clean, reliable and affordable renewable energy and storage technology in Australia, nuclear power makes no sense.

Nuclear power stations are expensive

Nuclear power stations are extremely expensive to build. For example, the Hinkley nuclear power station under construction in the UK will cost 20 billion pounds (AU$36 billion). Nuclear cannot compete on a cost basis with wind and solar, which are the cheapest forms of new generation. The cost of energy from the Hinkley Power station is significantly higher than large-scale solar, wind and offshore wind energy in the UK.

On average, nuclear power stations take a decade to build

The Hinkley power station will take nine years to build. The global average is 9.4 years. This would be even longer in Australia given there is currently no nuclear industry here. It is not unusual for nuclear power stations to take over a decade between the start of approvals and coming online. For comparison, wind and solar farms take just one to three years.

Australia cannot wait this long to replace our ageing fleet of coal power stations, which are already struggling to cope with extreme heat.

Nuclear power stations are inflexible and ill-suited to a modern grid

Nuclear power stations are inflexible – that is, they cannot quickly increase or decrease the amount of electricity they produce.


Nuclear power generation is not well suited to modern, fast and flexible electricity grids with large amounts of wind and solar generation. Unlike inflexible nuclear, fast response technologies such as batteries, pumped hydro and solar thermal can be turned on and off, or ramped up and down to balance electricity supply and demand.

In California, where wind and solar provides more than 30% of the state’s power needs, the last nuclear power plant will shut by 2026.

Nuclear power stations need a lot of water

Nuclear power stations require massive quantities of water to operate. In a dry continent like Australia, prone to hot summers and drought conditions which are only likely to get more severe as climate change worsens, it would be reckless to rely on a water-hungry power source like nuclear.

The bottom line is this: it makes no sense to build nuclear power stations in Australia.

For more information on what Australia needs to build a modern electricity grid, read the Climate Council’s report ‘Powering a 21st Century Economy: Secure, Clean, Affordable Electricity’.https://www.climatecouncil.org.au/nuclear-power-stations-are-not-appropriate-for-australia-and-probably-never-will-be/?fbclid=IwAR17owy2q3hjcXz71kId35__kQPL4GZEp1JdN-1UOo4o7iQ0RYCorZKtdWs

January 26, 2019 Posted by | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, politics | Leave a comment

RISE : Refugee Survivors and eX-detainees Invasion Day Solidarity Statement – 2019

January 21, 2019, “RISE: Refugees, Survivors and eX-detainees – the FIRST self-determined advocacy and welfare organisation in Australia run by Refugees for Refugees – makes a public call for a boycott of “Australia Day”, for the seventh year in a row.

We eX-detainees, Asylum Seekers and Refugees from RISE condemn any group or individual who claims to be pro-refugee but celebrates “Australia Day” on the 26th of January 2019. Instead, RISE encourages all Refugees, eX-detainees, Asylum Seekers and allies to support First Nations peoples in their actions against “Australia Day”.

RISE represents over 30 refugee community groups in Australia and is the first (and one of the few) self-determined, registered, non-profit refugee organisations in Australia governed and managed by eX-detainees, Asylum Seekers and Refugees. As eX-detainees, Asylum Seekers and Refugees in Australia, we acknowledge that the land we seek protection on is the land of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples whose sovereignty was never ceded. ‘Always was, always will be Aboriginal land’.

We believe the systemic abuse of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples is a result of over 200 years of discrimination as part of the white colonial genocide strategy that continues to this day and this template is now being used against our own refugee communities. How can we dismantle the white Australian government’s refugee torture camps built within and outside its colonial borders without addressing the root cause of this criminal abuse?

RISE fully supports Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ sovereignty and self-determination and stands in solidarity with them every day in our commitment to fighting for justice on this land on their terms.”

ReadMore at theSource includingEvents: riserefugee.org/rise-refugee-survivors-and-ex-detainees-invasion-day-solidarity-statement-2019/

 

January 26, 2019 Posted by | aboriginal issues, AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL | Leave a comment

Adelaide – hottest capital city on record

January 26, 2019 Posted by | climate change - global warming, South Australia | Leave a comment

Reliability of newer coal power questioned

 Newer coal-fired power stations break down more often per gigawatt than older power generators, the Australia Institute has found. https://www.sbs.com.au/news/reliability-of-newer-coal-power-questioned Reliability of newer coal power questioned

Newer coal-fired power stations break down more often per gigawatt than older power generators, the Australia Institute has found.

The reliability of “high efficiency low-emissions” coal fired power plants is being questioned, with a new report finding they break down more often per gigawatt than older generators.

Australia’s newest coal power station, the 12-year-old Kogan Creek Power Station in Queensland, broke down six times last year, the Australia Institute found.

“These new supercritical coal plants are touted by proponents as ‘high efficiency, low emissions’ coal plants, but this could not be further from the truth … they are more emissions-intensive than renewable energy and even gas,” the Australia Institute’s Richie Merzian said.

January 26, 2019 Posted by | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, climate change - global warming | Leave a comment

Ngalia man Kado Muir opposed Warren Mundine’s pro nuclear campaign for Western Australia

Response to Warren Mundine, letter published in the Australian Financial Review, Kado Muir, April 2012, http://nuclearfree.wordpress.com/media/?preview=true&preview_id=11&previ…

(at left Kado Muir) It’s time to stop radioactive racism

Globally the nuclear industry is in decline and has been for a long time. The price of uranium was briefly inflated along with false dreams of a nuclear renaissance, in reality the industry is waning. The Fukushima disaster reminded both communities and financial institutions that nuclear power is far too risky for life on this planet.

In Western Australia we have a very aggressive uranium exploration program, sponsored by the State Government, yet deeply opposed by the people. We have a strong history of resistance against uranium mines and a proud history of stopping these mines. In the 1970′s my elders fought against uranium mining at Yeelirrie. In the 1980′s people from the Western Desert marched down St Georges Terrace in the thousands against uranium mining on their lands and we are proud to say we’ve never had a uranium mine in WA. We are going to keep it that way.

Warren Mundine wrote to the Financial Review promoting the nuclear industry. He wants uranium mining, he wants nuclear power and he wants the international community to dispose of its nuclear waste here, all on our lands. Mr Mundine does not speak for us here in Western Australia and has no right to talk about what should or should not happen on our country.

Some of the communities who are being barraged by these wanna be miners have generations of knowledge about uranium ‘poison’. We know better than most, the dangers of uranium. We also have generations worth of experience in dealing with mining companies , of witnessing their broken promises and the deep enduring failures of government to protect our country and people.

We don’t need someone from the East Coast, from Canberra or Canada to tell us what we should or shouldn’t do. Uranium stays in the ground. We have a saying, “Wanti* Uranium, leave it in the ground!” (*leave it)

The nuclear industry across Australia takes it’s toll on Aboriginal communities; from the nuclear weapons testing in Maralinga and Monte Bello island, from the trial mines in Wiluna, Yeelirrie and Manyingee in WA, to the abandoned mines in the NT & Queensland at Rum Jungle and Alligator River and Mary Kathleen, the existing mines at Ranger and Beverley and Roxby Downs in SA. The defeated proposed waste dump in South Australia now proposed for Muckaty Station in the NT. This industry preys on remote Aboriginal communities keeping everything out of sight and out of mind.

Across Australia there has never been a uranium mine that has not leaked radioactive mine waste into the environment, this industry has been tried and consistently failed.

The risk to our lands, to life itself far outweigh the measly rewards, the few jobs on offer, the State government royalties. It is not worth the long term damage to our country and to our water.

These mines will only last for 10 years or 20 years but as custodians we have thousands of years of waste. Long after this State government is a memory, long after the mining companies have gone broke we will be living with the radioactive legacy of their greedy short term ambitions. I and the people of West Australian Nuclear Free Alliance will not sell future generations short.

Kado Muir is the Chairperson of the West Australia Nuclear Free Alliance, he is a Ngalia man and a custodian for Yeelirrie – one of the uranium deposits under exploration by BHP Billiton.

January 24, 2019 Posted by | politics, Western Australia | Leave a comment

Warren Mundine, new Liberal candidate, makes it clear that he is pro coal and nuclear, and anti environment

January 24, 2019 Posted by | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, spinbuster | Leave a comment

« Previous Entries     Next Entries »