Friends of the Earth National Nuclear Campaigners have been speaking to candidates for the seat of Grey ahead of the federal election to see where they stand on the proposed nuclear waste dump regional SA.
Mara Bonacci and Jim Green were in Whyalla on Tuesday and met with trade unionists and one of the candidates for Grey.
The green energy campaigners are calling on the federal government to end the site selection process and instead have a ‘responsible approach’ to choosing a location for the dump.
The process of establishing a low-level and intermediate waste dump in Kimba or Hawker is currently delayed because of two court cases brought on by the Barngarla and Adnyamathanha traditional land owners.
Ms Bonacci said there was a mix of opinions within the candidates about the nuclear waste dump, with a need for more information about the proposal.
“Unless people go out to find the information towns like Whyalla, Pirie or Lincoln don’t get it,” she said
“The Department of Industry, Innovation and Science are still open for submissions. People can still write to the government about this issue.”
Ms Bonacci said the scope of the federal government’s consultation during the site process had been very narrow.
“They’re looking at the sites proposed to house the facility rather than the towns it’s going to impact which is potentially all of the Eyre Peninsula,” she said.
Their visit is also a follow-up on a report from the Department of Industry, Innovation and Science made public last year which named Whalla, Port Pirie and Port Lincoln (among others) as potential nuclear waste ports. “There are communities that haven’t been told at all about being a nuclear port unless NGOs like the ones we work through had trawled through reports and identified these port towns,” Mr Green said.
“They’ve had no say, let alone a meaningful say on whether this goes ahead.”
To make a submission to the Department of Industry, Innovation and Science click here.
The U.S. government, determined to extradite and try Julian Assange for espionage, must find a way to separate what Assange and WikiLeaks did in publishing classified material leaked to them by Chelsea Manning from what The New York Times and The Washington Post did in publishing the same material. There is no federal law that prohibits the press from publishing government secrets. It is a crime, however, to steal them. The long persecution of Manning, who on March 8 was sent back to jail for refusing to testify before a grand jury, is about this issue.
If Manning, a former Army private, admits she was instructed by WikiLeaks and Assange in how to obtain and pass on the leaked material, which exposed U.S. war crimes in Afghanistan and Iraq, the publisher could be tried for the theft of classified documents. The prosecution of government whistleblowers was accelerated during the Obama administration, which under the Espionage Act charged eight people with leaking to the media—Thomas Drake, Shamai Leibowitz, Stephen Kim, Manning, Donald Sachtleben, Jeffrey Sterling, John Kiriakou and Edward Snowden. By the time Donald Trump took office, the vital connection between investigative reporters and sources inside the government had been severed.
Manning, who worked as an Army intelligence analyst in Iraq in 2009, provided WikiLeaks with over 500,000 documents copied from military and government archives, including the “Collateral Murder” video footage of an Army helicopter gunning down a group of unarmed civilians that included two Reuters journalists. She was arrested in 2010 and found guilty in 2013.
The campaign to criminalize whistleblowing has, by default, left the exposure of government lies, fraud and crimes to those who have the skills or access, as Manning and Edward Snowden did, needed to hack into or otherwise obtain government electronic documents. This is why hackers, and those who publish their material such as Assange and WikiLeaks, are being relentlessly persecuted. The goal of the corporate state is to shroud in total secrecy the inner workings of power, especially those activities that violate the law. Movement toward this goal is very far advanced. The failure of news organizations such as The New York Times and The Washington Post to vigorously defend Manning and Assange will soon come back to haunt them. The corporate state hardly intends to stop with Manning and Assange. The target is the press itself………
Manning has always insisted her leak of the classified documents and videos was prompted solely by her own conscience. She has refused to implicate Assange and WikiLeaks. Earlier this month, although President Barack Obama in 2010 commuted her 35-year sentence after she served seven years, she was jailed again for refusing to answer questions before a secret grand jury investigating Assange and WikiLeaks ……
The New York Times, Britain’s The Guardian, Spain’s El País, France’s Le Monde and Germany’s Der Spiegel all published the WikiLeaks files provided by Manning. How could they not? WikiLeaks had shamed them into doing their jobs. But once they took the incendiary material from Manning and Assange, these organizations callously abandoned them. No doubt they assume that by joining the lynch mob organized against the two they will be spared. They must not read history. What is taking place is a series of incremental steps designed to strangle the press and cement into place an American version of China’s totalitarian capitalism……….
“The internet, our greatest tool of emancipation,” Assange writes, “has been transformed into the most dangerous facilitator of totalitarianism we have ever seen.”
Australia’s 2018 environmental scorecard: a dreadful year that demands actionThe Conversation, Albert Van Dijk, Professor, Water and Landscape Dynamics, Fenner School of Environment & Society, Australian National University, April 4, 2019 Environmental news is rarely good. But even by those low standards, 2018 was especially bad. That is the main conclusion from Australia’s Environment in 2018, the latest in an annual series of environmental condition reports, released today.
Every year, we analyse vast amounts of measurements from satellites and on-ground stations using algorithms and prediction models on a supercomputer. These volumes of data are turned into regional summary accounts that can be explored on our Australian Environment Explorer website. We interpret these data, along with other information from national and international reports, to assess how our environment is tracking.
A bad year
Whereas 2017 was already quite bad, 2018 saw many indicators dip even further into the red. Temperatures went up again, rainfall declined further, and the destruction of vegetation and ecosystems by drought, fire and land clearing continued. Soil moisture, rivers and wetlands all declined, and vegetation growth was poor.
The combined pressures from habitat destruction, climate change, and invasive pests and diseases are taking their toll on our unique plants and animals. Another 54 species were added to the official list of threatened species, which now stands at 1,775. That is 47% more than 18 years ago and puts Australia among the world’s worst performers in biodiversity protection. On the upside, the number of predator-proof islands or fenced-off reserves in Australia reached 188 in 2018, covering close to 2,500 square kilometres. They offer good prospects of saving at least 13 mammal species from extinction. ……..
They headed the article “Boss discovers ‘major breakthrough‘ for Honeymoon uranium expansion ” and went on to detail how the Honeymoon uranium mine project restart in South Australia will ramp up production. But even in its enthusiasm, , Australian mining gave a hint about the low prospects for the uranium industry. It will all happen – “ assuming a favourable global uranium price for shareholders is achieved” https://www.australianmining.com.au/news/boss-resources-discovers-major-breakthrough-for-honeymoon-expansion/
SBS News, 3 Apr 19, March was the hottest on record for Australia, the Bureau of Meteorology says, but a wet end to the month saved it from being the driest. Australia has sweltered through its hottest March on record.
The national mean temperature was 27.7C, making it 2.13C above average according to The Bureau of Meteorology’s monthly climate report.
It was particularly warm in the Northern Territory and Western Australia, both of which posted their hottest March on record, while it was among the six warmest for NSW, Queensland and South Australia.
In Rabbit Flat, northwest of Alice Springs, temperatures reached at least 39C for 115 straight days between December 1 and March 25 – smashing the previous record of 106 days at Marble Bar in WA in 1921-22.
Clive Palmer’s nuclear power plan for SA knocked back by Coalition, Chris Russell, The Advertiser, March 31, 2019
A push by the United Australia Party for nuclear power has been swiftly rejected by the Federal Government.
A spokesman for the party led by Clive Palmer confirmed nuclear was on the agenda.
“South Australia has a major energy problem and we, as a party, are discussing nuclear,” he said. “Australia has uranium reserves and nuclear is emissions free.
“Kristian Rees, our number one senate candidate is speaking with his SA candidates and party members on major issues like cheaper power, manufacturing and jobs.”
A planned announcement on nuclear power, reported by the Sunday Mail, was revealed early by Professor Adrian Cheok who quit the party despite being the No. 2 Senate candidate in SA.
The party spokesman said it was “disappointing someone who didn’t get what they wanted leaked confidential discussions”.
Federal Energy Minister Angus Taylor rejected the nuclear call.
“Nuclear power remains illegal in Australia and highly expensive to build and operate,” he said.
The Government has short-listed electricity generation projects that could warrant underwriting — but the program specifically excluded nuclear.
Last financial year, SA generated more electricity than it used, exporting the excess to Victoria.
Wholesale prices were 11 per cent lower than the year before, according to the Australian Energy Market Operator’s report on SA electricity.
Mr Palmer is the national leader but has yet to nominate for a seat. His options include his former seat of Fairfax, on the Sunshine Coast, and Herbert, based in Townsville.
The Senate ticket for Queensland also is unresolved.
A party spokesman said Mr Palmer was expected to be endorsed “very soon”.
By Dominique Bayens 31 Mar 19 A fight for safe drinking water at Buttah Windee in Western Australia has been a fight for the survival of the community, and a battle they are proud to have won on their own.
Key points:
Six solar hydropanels have been installed in the small WA community, capturing 900 litres of water a month from the air
The community had discovered its water supply contained uranium more than twice the national health standard, and the State Government deemed it too expensive to address
With the help of crowdfunding and technology donated by a WA company, the residents of the community no longer need to live elsewhere
The remote Aboriginal community is 760 kilometres north-east of Perth on the outskirts of Meekatharra.
Almost a decade ago, resident Andrew Binsiar discovered the community’s water was tainted with naturally occurring uranium at more than twice the national health standard.
“I was actually very surprised,” he said.
“You’d imagine people would test the water for human consumption before people are allowed to drink it.”
Unable to drink the community’s tap water, most of the 50 people who lived at Buttah Windee left.
Too expensive to fix: State Government
But for Andrew Binsiar and his wife Janine, leaving the home where they had raised their five children was not an option.
He turned to the State Government for help, but was told fixing the water supply would be too expensive.
“They come out and put up ‘do not drink the water’ signs and that was their solution to it,” Mr Binsiar said.
The State Government offered to move the remaining residents into state housing in Meekatharra, but Mr Binsiar was apprehensive about exposing his family to the town’s social issues.
“We knocked them back … for the simple reason I’d already been there and done that. My life changed when I moved here,” he said.
“I wasn’t a very good father when I lived in Meeka.”
Solar hydropanels pull water from air
Almost a decade on, Buttah Windee is the first remote Aboriginal community in Australia to use innovative technology for its water supply.
Six solar hydropanels have been installed at the outback community, donated by a WA company who heard about the community’s plight and wanted to help out.
Director of Wilco Electrical Frank Mitchell said the units captured water from the air and produced up to 900 litres of water a month.
“Those fans, you can hear them whirring away, are just drawing in air all day, all around, and the piece of material inside collects … the moisture in the air, then condenses down into the tank where it’s got a pump straight out to the tap,” he said.
Mr Binsiar said it was a simple idea, which should be introduced to all remote communities.
“Water is a basic human right that everyone deserves,” he said.
“It could mean better health for your children … I would guarantee that most communities have bad water.”
Crowdfunding rallies support
The near decade-long battle for clean drinking water has not come easily for the Buttah Windee residents, with Mr Binsiar turning to crowdfunding as a last resort.
Word spread quickly when Mr Binsiar began the fundraising campaign last year, and people from across Australia donated nearly $26,000 in three months.
“It was a huge success. The Australian public have been awesome,” he said.
Mr Binsiar used the funds to install a reverse osmosis water treatment plant.
“Reverse osmosis takes out all the contaminants in the water … on the back end of it, it puts the minerals your body needs back into the water,” he said.
“They’ve given us a chance where no-one else would and we are really proud of what we have done here.”
Barramundi fish farm to boost employment
The two separate systems now supply the community with safe drinking water and enough water to run a small barramundi fish farm.
Mr Binsiar and several residents built the fish farm hoping it would eventually provide local employment and a potential source of income. “Hopefully we can continue on and make it bigger and provide this region with fresh barramundi,” he said.
“I’d like to welcome everyone out to Buttah Windee and come and look at the work we do.”
Malaysia turns up heat on Australia over Lynas waste, Brad Thompson, Fin Rev, 1 Apr 19, A senior Malaysia politician says the Australian government has been asked to collaborate on the removal of low-level radioactive waste produced by Lynas Corporation’s rare earths processing operations.
Lynas looks to WA, not Wesfarmers, for its Malay solution, WA Today, By Hamish Hastie, Colin Kruger and Darren Gray, March 27, 2019Western Australia might hold the key to Lynas Corp’s future despite the rare earths miner rejecting a $1.5 billion takeover offer from Perth-based Wesfarmers on Wednesday.
WA’s Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) confirmed it had recently met with the company to discuss approvals in the state.
“These discussions are preliminary in nature and no formal submission for any change has been presented to the EPA,” a spokeswoman for the agency said.
The discussions could help solve the problems in Malaysia which threaten the company’s future, and made it vulnerable to what analysts and investors described as a low-ball bid from Wesfarmers on Tuesday.
Lynas faces an uncertain future after the Malaysian government imposed strict new conditions on its billion-dollar Malaysian operation which could force it to shut down in September.
This includes the permanent removal of a residue with naturally occurring radiation, Water Leached Purification Residue (WLP), from Malaysia.
According to institutional investors, Lynas discussed plans last month to relocate some of its rare earths processing back to Western Australia. All processing is currently handled in Malaysia.
Lynas chief executive Amanda Lacaze denied there was any plan to extract and retain the controversial WLP residue in WA – the state where it is mined – but did confirm it planned to expand its processing operations outside of Malaysia.
She confirmed that Western Australia was a contender.
We operate in a growth industry and we are looking at how we grow our business with the market,” Ms Lacaze said.
According to the EPA, in February 2017 the rare earths miner applied to make changes to conditions of its rare earths operation at its Mt Weld mine in Laverton, 700 kilometres north east of Perth, and “secondary processing” at Meenar in the Shire of Northam 100km north east of Perth.
Lynas received approval for the mine and Meenar processing facility in 1998, but decided to set up its processing plant in Malaysia instead.
Anti-nuclear groups had fought the facility in both countries over concerns about rare earths radioactive by-product thorium.
Speaking of the approvals, Ms Lacaze said “it’s not something that we have specifically refreshed for any purpose”.
On Wednesday, Ms Lacaze played down the Wesfarmers bid, saying the highly conditional nature of the approach meant there was “nothing substantive with which to engage”.
“This business is not for sale,” she told the media after the company said “it will not engage with Wesfarmers on the terms outlined in the indicative and highly conditional proposal”.
SBS News, 1 Apr 19, As the federal election approaches, new polling shows how public attitude to climate change are shifting. Only 13 per cent of Australians believe the Morrison government is doing a good job in addressing climate change, according to a new poll.Results from an Ipsos poll released Sunday framed public perceptions of climate change in the leadup to the federal election, due in May.
It found almost half of Australians now feel that “honouring the Paris Climate Agreement should be a key priority” for this country.
And many Australians want to go even further. Forty per cent said they would like to see an emissions reduction target set that goes beyond reducing emissions by 26 per cent – 28 per cent on 2005 levels by 2030 as set out in the Paris agreement.
In a statement, Ipsos said the poll “uncovered a growing momentum for action on climate change and acceptance of the role of humans in causing it”.
Echo Net Daily, March 2019, Radioactive soil will be removed from Byron Bay Public School after testing showed higher-than-normal levels during upgrade works.
According to a statement from the education department, preliminary testing of soil during early construction works for the upgrade to the school has identified ‘quantities of naturally occurring radioactive material’.
‘The department has engaged an environmental consultant to assist with the management of remediation works in consultation with the school principal, NSW Health, NSW Environmental Protection Agency and Byron Shire Council,’ the statement says.
‘The health, safety and well-being of students, staff and the school’s neighbours are the highest priority for the department.’
Works are currently being planned to remove soil from the school work site with dates and times still to be advised.
Clive Palmer will promise to build a nuclear reactor in SA, United Australia Party defector claims, The Advertiser MARCH 30, 2019
Building a nuclear reactor in South Australia will be Clive Palmer’s final pitch to voters on the eve of the Federal Election, a man who was selected to represent him has told the Sunday Mail.
The bold project has been revealed by Adrian Cheok, who was selected to run as the second Senate candidate for Palmer’s United Australia Party.
Professor Cheok has quit the party, in part because he says the mining magnate is not the Donald Trump-like figure he wanted to represent.
The awarded University of Adelaide alumnus, who has specialised in human-computer interfaces, has also told the Sunday Mail:
CANDIDATES elected to parliament who then leave, or breach party rules, have to repay $250,000 as a reimbursement for the costs and expenses of the party.
TRUMP’S chief strategist Steve Bannon and Mr Palmer had a meeting to discuss political tactics.
CEASE and desist notices are used as a tactic to stop party members talking to each other about policy.
PALMER kept asking the professor to get a haircut to match a picture, taken from social media and used on party promotions, from 15 years earlier.
AGREEMENTS were made for him work as chief of staff for the party’s lead candidate, former Adelaide United soccer player Kristian Rees, for three years and then take over the Senate spot.
The party did not deny the claims when contacted by the Sunday Mail but said that Professor Cheok had resigned because he “wasn’t happy” being the number two Senate candidate.
Professor Cheok said the party’s big idea to woo South Australian voters would be something that has never been done in Australia, would require expertise from overseas and would not employ “a single worker from Salisbury”.
“He said to me that ‘one week before the election we are going to announce South Australia is going to have a nuclear reactor’,” he said.
“He said ‘it is going to win us the election in South Australia’. I think everything is related to mining in his mind.”…..
Kim Mavromatis Fight To Stop Nuclear Waste Dump In Flinders Ranges SA, 31 Mar 19, Everywhere in the world, spent nuclear fuel is classified as high-level nuclear waste and it will remain radioactive for eternity. After 30 yrs, spent nuclear fuel is still 10,000 times more radioactive than uranium ore and will take 10 million years to reduce to the same radioactivity as uranium ore (Canadian Nuclear Authority). Yet the Australian govnt and ANSTO classify spent nuclear fuel from Lucas Heights as intermediate-level nuclear waste.
The Federal Liberal govt want to use South Australia as a dumping ground for high-level nuclear waste from Lucas Heights (and I suspect from around the world) and are using low-level nuclear waste as a smoke screen. We know how radioactive high-level nuclear waste is thanks to the Canadian Authority, but no one has told us how radioactive low-level and intermediate-level nuclear waste is? https://www.facebook.com/groups/344452605899556/
Kazzi Jai Fight To Stop Nuclear Waste Dump In Flinders Ranges SA, 29 Mar 19,
Guess when this was written (answer at the end)…..and also is a poignant reminder of the role Nick Minchin played in all of this!
“Claims that a low-level radioactive waste dump will be the thin edge of the wedge are not “scare-mongering”, as Nick Minchin has repeatedly claimed. Numerous government reports make it clear that the proposed low-level dump could be followed by an above-ground store for long lived, intermediate-level radioactive wastes (including wastes from thereprocessing of spent fuel from the nuclear reactor in the Sydney suburb of Lucas Heights). In addition, the federal government plans to dismantle nuclear reactors at Lucas Heights and dump them in SA.
The Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO), which operates the Lucas Heights reactor, has said that if overseas reprocessing contracts fall through, spent fuel could be sent to SA for “extended interim storage”. In the event of reprocessing contracts falling through, the federal government might also attempt to establish a spent fuel reprocessing/conditioning plant in SA.
If the federal government succeeds in establishing a dump in SA, then Pangea Resources, the company which wants to dump high-level waste in Australia, can be expected to try its luck in SA.
James Voss, president of Pangea Resources, visited Australia in 1998. Voss offered to operate the proposed low-level waste dump.
Later that year, a leaked corporate video revealed that Pangea, with funding from British Nuclear Fuels Limited, was scheming to dump 75,000 tonnes of high-level radioactive waste in Australia. In 1999, Minchin apologised in the Senate for falsely claiming that no federal minister had met with Pangea.“…..
“The federal government asserts that the plan for a centralised waste dump and store are driven by scientific and safety considerations. The real agenda is political: moving radioactive waste away from Lucas Heights to reduce local opposition to the planned new reactor.
The proposed new reactor would generate another 1600 fuel rods, and according to ANSTO documents, annual generation of radioactive waste would increase up to 12-fold depending on the waste category.
Minchin’s mantra is that South Australians should accept the waste because they will benefit from medical radioisotopes produced. However, the lie that a new reactor is needed for medical isotope production has been exposed from an unlikely source — Dr Barry Elison, president of the Australian and New Zealand Association of Physicians in Nuclear Medicine.
Elison issued a press release in June saying a new reactor was “vital” for isotope production. Yet a month later, when asked how doctors coped during the February-May closure of the Lucas Heights reactor, Elison admitted he was not aware that it had been down!”…… The year – August 2000! An excerpt from an article by Jim Green….”South Australia says No to N-dump
John Howard, Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard, Malcolm Turnbull and even Tony Abbott were all, to an extent, brought down by their response to climate change. And if Scott Morrison is defeated at next month’s election there’s likely to be a mention of the issue in his political epitaph.
Which means Bill Shorten is well aware of the dangers around Labor’s latest climate change approach, which is being made public in the shadow of the federal budget and just six weeks out from an election.
Hence the absence of a carbon tax, the use of safeguard mechanisms which were introduced by Turnbull, the exclusion of agriculture except for where farmers and landholders may be able to turn a buck, handouts to trade-exposed businesses and credits to firms that over-achieve.
By targeting vehicle emissions, Labor is tapping a worldwide trend which already has countries such as China and Britain effectively outlawing the sale of new petrol-driven vehicles from 2040.
Labor isn’t even going this far. Instead, it is setting a target of 50 per cent new car sales being electric while also looking to lift overall vehicle emission standards.
The demise of the Australian car manufacturing industry means any fight against the proposed changes will have to be led by the government if it dares.
But arguing against tighter emission standards would run the risk of the Coalition looking like those who bemoaned the removal of lead from petrol in the 1980s.
Not that the government won’t try. While the $100 lamb roasts may be gone, it’s already trying to claim that a snag at the local school fete could go through the roof under Shorten.
Labor’s policy is as much an effort to neutralise the political attack as to find ways to truly reduce Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions.
Bill Shorten doesn’t want his name added to the list of those MPs claimed by Australia’s climate wars.
