Mark Parnell outlines The Greens environment policy for the coming South Australian election
At the South Australian State Election Leaders’ Forum on the environment “South Australia: Our Future”, I outlined the Greens vision for an environment that is clean, healthy and resilient.
Protecting South Australia’s environment means:
• 100% renewable energy by 2025
• A healthy River Murray
• Valuing our wildlife and biodiversity
• Protecting the Great Australian Bight
• Opposing destructive and polluting industries
• Marine sanctuaries
• Investing in our National Parks and Reserves
• No nuclear waste dump
• Enhancing urban open spaces and landscapes
Nuclear waste canisters will themselves eventually become toxic radioactive trash
Paul Richards No Nuclear Waste Dump Anywhere in South Australia, 20 Feb 18, Even if they were the to last not 4, 40, or world’s best practice type with the limited liability guarantee of a 100 years;
The canisters after any time period, create yet more nuclear waste, along with their toxic radioactive contents, that all have to be repackaged creating more nuclear material to be stored.
This process, of repackaging, whether it’s 4, 40, or a 100 years, goes on indefinitely.
To add another layer of complexity to this utterly illogical process, this waste grows exponentially over this indefinite timeline of essential care.
As nothing but steady decay into volatile, life-damaging radionuclides occurs, phasing from one type to the next. A process that literally is indefinite, unimaginable in human governance terms. Even ‘if’ no nuclear waste and unspent fuel are created by the nuclear cycle, of mining, milling, rod construction and the reactor outcomes, including decommissioning reactors.
The pretense that Lucas Heights nuclear spent fuel rods are an “asset”. No, they are wastes
Steve Dale Nuclear Fuel Cycle Watch South Australia If France and others stop reprocessing our spent nuclear reactor fuel, some organisations will no longer be able to call it “an asset”.
“‘The spent fuel rods at Lucas Heights can only sensibly be treated as high level waste. The pretence that spent fuel rods constitute an asset must stop” from the Research Reactor Review, Future Reactions: Report of the Research Reactor Review, 1993
Australia’s shocking cruelty to Aboriginal people with disabilities: Solitary confinement
‘The abuse of Aboriginal prisoners with disabilities in Australian jails is confronting, and ongoing.
‘In Part 3 of this special series for New Matilda, Michael Brull looks at the use of
solitary confinement against disabled Aboriginal prisoners,
exposed in a report written by Human Rights Watch‘
‘Human Rights Watch (HRW) observes that under international law, solitary confinement means
confining a prisoner for 22 hours or more per day “without meaningful human contact”.
Prolonged solitary confinement occurs when solitary confinement is extended past 15 consecutive days.
‘HRW documents in its report that various specialists on international law
from various United Nations human rights organisations have found that under international law,
it is unacceptable to impose solitary confinement on people with disabilities
under any circumstances. … ‘
Read Part 3 of MichaelBrull‘s interesting, thought-provoking, comprehensive, compassionate & concerned article
focusing on the SolitaryConfinement of AboriginalPeopleWithDisabilities:
newmatilda.com/2018/02/19/behind-bars-part-3-australias-shocking-cruelty-aboriginal-people-disabilities-solitary-confinement/
Eleven members of the Turnbull Government openly support nuclear power for Australia
In March 2017, eleven members of the Turnbull Government were listed as openly supporting the prospect of nuclear power in Australia. Listed politicians were: Andrew Broad, James Paterson, Tony Pasin, Tim Wilson, Chris Back, Craig Kelly, Eric Abetz, Andrew Hastie, Warren Entsch, Bridget McKenzie and Rowan Ramsey.[34] http://everything.explained.today/Nuclear_industry_in_South_Australia/
To Feb 19 these are all the published comments on ARPANSA’s site about Code for Radioactive Wastes
Amy Koch I am from Kimba and I say NO!!
If there is no issue with this effecting our business then there is no reason that we can’t get a guaranteed from our industry representatives that our profitable farming business will not be effected by the proposed sight?
A clear indication of “Broad community support” is a must. Minister Canavan stated support of 65% was needed to go forward into phase two and yet he put kimba through with Only 57% there is a huge difference there. Clear guidelines needed!
Brett Burnard Stokes I denounce the covert administration of radioactive poisons to pregnant Australian women and their children.
I demand that production of radioactive poisons cease and that the perpetrators of these poisonings be brought to justice.
I challenge the perpetrators to actually measure the effects of their covert administration of radioactive poisons to pregnant Australian women and their children.
I denounce the current use of junk science to justify these covert poisonings.
Anonymous I am strongly against this and this whole process. It has made my Community divided, my family stressed and finally my decision to leave this town.
Anonymous ATLA Adnymathana Traditional Lands Association voted unamiously against the Radioactive Waste Dump proposal at Wallerbedina in the Flinders Ranges.ANSTO ignored the Media release by ATLA in 2016
Anonymous Particle accelerators are providing a cleaner (no highly radioactive, long lived waste) alternative to nuclear reactors for producing medical isotopes.Download PDF
Justine Major There is no mention of the impact of this facility upon existing industries when undertaking site selection. I feel there needs to be an inclusion of a clause (perhaps at 3.1.29 of the Code) along the lines of “sufficient evidence is provided that the cohabitation of this facility with existing industries will have minimal negative impact on existing industries”. This evidence needs to be relevant to Australia, not international equivalents.
Denise Carpenter ( member of the Barndioota Consultative Committee. This Committee’s role is to help determine which is the best site for a National Radioactive Waste Dump.) I am confident, after a lot or research on the subject, that ARPANSA is a regulatory body that will ensure that world best practice procedures will be stringently followed and adhered to and I am happy for a repository to go ahead in our area.
ARPANSA’s stringent regulations will ensure safety is paramount both for nuclear storage and the wellbeing of everyone working or living in the vicinity.
ARPANSA draft Code for Disposal of Solid Radioactive Waste – Comments deadline postponed to 2nd March
This process is about determining the nature of the material to be dumped in the proposed x3 SAust radioactive suppositories.
Currently there is no official determination about what is actually to be accumulated there – hence the delay in remediating the leaking drums @ Woomera & failure to properly inform the local communities.
Also thereby wrongfully expecting them to sign off on an unknown quality/quantity.
ARPANSA is engaging in public consultation on the draft Code for Disposal of Solid Radioactive Waste (Radioactive Waste Disposal Code).
to – Senate Standing Committee -Stop nuclear waste threats in South Australia
Stop nuclear waste threats in South Australia https://www.facebook.com/StopNuclearWasteThreatsInSouthAustralia/posts/398850867208130to – Senate Standing Committees on Economics
via email economics.sen@aph.gov.au
Subject – Selection process for a national radioactive waste management facility in South Australia
Terms of Reference addressed:
e) whether wider (Eyre Peninsular or state-wide) community views should be taken into consideration and, if so, how this is occurring or should be occurring;
======================================
Dear Committee Members
I am one of hundreds of South Australians who have signed the following Online Open Letter calling for police action against illegal threats to import nuclear waste and to establish nuclear waste dump(s).
Please take note of this community rejection of nuclear waste importation into South Australia.
Please take note of this community support for the laws which prohibit nuclear waste importation into South Australia.
Please cease this process which threatens present and future South Australians and shows contempt towards South Australian law.
Best wishes
from Brett Stokes
Dear Commissioner of Police,
We are citizens of Australia who want action taken to enforce the law, including the South Australian Nuclear Waste Storage Facility (Prohibition) Act 2000 (abbreviated herein as the NWSF(P) Act 2000).
We are sick and tired of being threatened with illegal importation of nuclear waste.
We are sick and tired of public money being spent illegally to plan and promote illegal importation of nuclear waste.
We want action now to stop current threats of illegal importation of nuclear waste. We want action now to deter future threats of illegal importation of nuclear waste.
It is clear that the NWSF(P) Act 2000 has been breached.
During 2015 and 2016, s13 has been breached by spending of public money on many promotional and planning aspects of illegal nuclear waste importation, as briefly described in Appendix A.
Since early 2016, there has been an open conspiracy to breach s8 and s9, with planning and promotion of importation and storage of nuclear waste into South Australia, as briefly described in Appendix B.
There are ten year imprisonment penalties and multi million dollar fines for offences – these are very serious penalties, in accord with the gravity of the threat.
As well as these offences against the NWSF(P) Act 2000, there are also other offences, including fraud, which may become more apparent as your investigation proceeds.
Please act now to enforce the law.
Please act now to end this illegal threat.
Please act now to “protect the health, safety and welfare of the people of South Australia and to protect the environment in which they live”. (Quote from s3 Objects of Act of the NWSF(P) Act 2000)
Thank you for your attention to this important matter.
Signed (Name and Postcode)
1 Tim Baker 5081 signed on 2016-11-24 at 20:30 (ACDT)
2 Brett Stokes 5118 signed on 2016-11-24 at 21:15 (ACDT)
3 John Mcgovern 5472 signed on 2016-11-24 at 22:35 (ACDT)
4 Zac Eagle 5159 signed on 2016-11-24 at 23:29 (ACDT)
5 James DeAth 5155 signed on 2016-11-25 at 00:13 (ACDT)
6 Paigen Hunter 5433 signed on 2016-11-25 at 01:04 (ACDT)
7 Daryl Gibson 2430 signed on 2016-11-25 at 06:19 (ACDT)
8 Greg Waldon 5481
signed on 2016-11-25 at 06:27 (ACDT)
9 Tanya Hunter 5000 signed on 2016-11-25 at 06:38 (ACDT)
10 Paul Levai 5433 signed on 2016-11-25 at 07:31 (ACDT)
11 Fernando M. Gonçalves 5022 signed on 2016-11-25 at 07:54 (ACDT)
12 Edi Carlos de Oliveira 5085 signed on 2016-11-25 at 08:06 (ACDT)
13 Patsy Laver 2573 signed on 2016-11-25 at 09:30 (ACDT)
14 Ty Haddrick 5230 signed on 2016-11-25 at 09:37 (ACDT)
15 Mark Wallman 5013 signed on 2016-11-25 at 10:38 (ACDT)
16 Louise McCauley 5166 signed on 2016-11-25 at 10:42 (ACDT)
17 Brett Derschow 6722 signed on 2016-11-25 at 11:08 (ACDT)
18 Paddy Tobin 2663 signed on 2016-11-25 at 11:11 (ACDT)
19 Susan Thiselton 5690 signed on 2016-11-25 at 11:20 (ACDT)
20 Letitia Kemister 2777 signed on 2016-11-25 at 11:21 (ACDT)
,,, continued ,,, >https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Economics/Wastemanagementfacility
Confusion about what types of nuclear waste are at Woomera, and planned for Kimba area
Steve Dale “The mixture of water and concentrated radioactive material inside some of the drums also had the potential to produce explosive hydrogen gas, inspectors found.” There is now great risk to workers having to deal with this stuff. The nuclear lobbyists and pronuclear politicians won’t be the ones putting their life span at risk cleaning this radioactive mess up.
Paul Waldon Fight To Stop Nuclear Waste Dump In Flinders Ranges SA It would be a grave risk to endure a banquet blindfolded, with a food allergy. Yet the promotion of a deadly radioactive waste dump which the DIIS has “failed” to defined the different qualities, grade, and product sources of radiation would be a fatuous advance. Thus, the risk is “Paramount.” https://www.facebook.com/groups/344452605899556/
A renewable energy jobs boom is sweeping across regional Australia
Renewable energy: powering Australia in more ways than one http://www.examiner.com.au/story/5229330/renewable-energy-is-powering-jobs-in-the-regions/?cs=97 James Wright 18 Feb 18 A jobs boom is sweeping across regional Australia and there’s one industry to thank – the renewable energy sector. From places like Gordon in southern Tasmania to Pindari in north-east NSW, new solar installations, windfarms, battery arrays, solar towers and pumped hydro facilities are springing life into regional towns. How are they doing this? By injecting desperately needed investment and job opportunities into remote locations.
In Far North Queensland, the Kidston solar array and pumped-hydro project will create 588 jobs this year. At the other end of the country in Port Augusta, Sundrop Farm’s first-of-its-kind solar tower for Australia creates another 200 jobs. Meanwhile over the border, Stawell in western Victoria is preparing for an influx of 1300 jobs from Nectar Farms combined windfarm, battery storage and 10-hectare hothouse facility.
This is great news! But despite the steady stream of new developments in regional areas, we’re actually being short-changed. Policy uncertainty due to ongoing internal squabbles in the Federal Government is strangling the growth of this sector and costing regional Australia the true jobs boom it deserves.
Australia has the richest renewable energy resources in the world. We have enough to power the nation 500 times over, yet we have some of the least ambitious renewable energy targets in the developed world.
If politicians could simply commit to a modest and achievable 50 per cent renewable energy target, this would create 28,000 new jobs. The vast majority would be in regional Australia where they are greatly needed to breathe new life into struggling local economies.
A renewable energy investment boom is a light on the horizon for many regional towns, we can’t let backwards politics spoil this once in a generation opportunity. James Wright is chief executive officer of the Future Business Council.
New schemes may help renters get solar panels on their roof – Australia’s solar energy boom
Solar boom: New schemes may help renters get solar panels on their roof, ABC Science, By Anna Salleh, 18 Feb 18,
Despite local opposition, Australian government still planning for nuclear waste dump in rural South Australia
Planning is continuing for a nuclear waste disposal site in the South Australian outback, despite opposition from local residents. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-02-17/barndioota-nuclear-waste-site-planning-outrages-locals/9456052
ABC North and West By Gary-Jon Lysaght 17 Feb 18 The Federal Government has shortlisted two sitesat Kimba on the Eyre Peninsula and one at Barndioota, south of Lake Torrens, near Hawker. The site that is chosen will become a permanent facility for low-level nuclear waste, and will temporarily hold intermediate-level waste.The intermediate-level waste is currently being held at Lucas Heights, in Sydney’s south.
Barndioota is a gazetted area, and was a town between 1883 and 1929. Locals from Quorn and Hawker, the two communities closest to the Barndioota site, have been vocally opposing the site since planning began in 2015.
“We can see no reason why you’d bring stuff that’s temporarily stored somewhere else … to a completely new site that hasn’t even been built,” resident Greg Bannon said.
Mr Bannon is chairman of the Flinders Local Action Group, a community based organisation aimed at highlighting the problems with a nuclear waste storage facility in the Flinders Ranges.
He said the facility would have a significant impact on tourism, which was a chief economic driver for the Flinders Ranges.
“It’ll create a perception from tourists that they don’t want to go there,” Mr Bannon said.
“We think this facility is totally at odds with anything that’s promoted for the Flinders Ranges.”
Sacred women’s site in area The Adnyamathanha are the traditional owners of Barndioota, and have a sacred Aboriginal women’s site in the region. Enise March is the site’s custodian and said she had been astonished to hear the region was being considered for a nuclear waste disposal facility. “I received that message at 2 o’clock in the morning and I was shocked, extremely shocked,” she said.
“I felt as though I’d been hit in the back of the head with an axe.”
Region seismically active, ‘worst place’ for facility
The Barndioota site, and the entire Flinders Ranges, is considered seismically active.
Flinders University emeritus professor in geology Chris Vonderborch said because of this, it was the worst place to put a nuclear waste facility. “It seems to tick all the wrong boxes for a safe disposal site,” he said. “If you look at past earthquakes around Australia, they’ll line up and down the front of the Flinders Ranges. “It’s an area that can have earthquakes.”
Professor Vonderborch said if the facility was built, the nuclides from it could form a surface sediment on Lake Torrens. “Anything that goes in there comes to the surface, or gets washed in to the surface, and then it’s got a very good chance of blowing who knows where, towards Port Augusta or whatever,” he said.
What nuclear waste will be stored?
Low-level waste Emits radiation at levels that generally require minimal shielding during handling, transport and storage
Examples include paper, plastic, gloves, cloths and filters which contain small amounts of radioactivity
Could include items, such as test tubes, that have come into contact with nuclear medicine
Intermediate Waste Emits a higher level of radiation and requires additional shielding
Generated from radiopharmaceutical production and reactor operations
For example, steel rods that come from the reactors Source: ANSTO
So far, 4 pro nuclear Submissions to Senate Committee on nuclear waste dump selection.
M
y advice to those writing submissions is to take your time, and do it properly.
I have skimmed through the 4 submissions already published, and they are pretty crummy, repetitive pro nuclear stuff – all emphasising that the writer thinks that the Federal Nuclear Waste Dump is really a matter for the local, not the wider, community
The writers are: Denise Carpenter, Ian Carpenter, Chelsea Haywood and Janice Alex McInnis
Nuclear waste dump? A new abuse for Brewarrina’s Aboriginal people?
Brewarrina, or “Bre” as it is known, is an historic and fascinating town on the Barwon-Darling River. New South Wales.With 68% of the local population identifying as indigenous it is essentially an Aboriginal town. ….
It is hard to underestimate the importance of the Aboriginal stone fish traps which, at 40,000 years old, may be the oldest man-made structures on the planet.
Brewarrina was the scene of a huge massacre of Aboriginals. “They rounded them up like cattle, old and young, on the Quantambone plain, and shot them. It is said that there were about 400 and that was how Hospital Creek got its name”
No Nuclear Bundabunda at Brewarrina – bad poison [SIGN THE PETITION] https://www.thepetitionsite.com/513/682/502/no-nuclear-bundabunda-at-brewarrina-bad-poison/?taf_id=51207201&cid=fb_na#bbfb=750086702
If Nuclear waste was so safe why is it taken over 35years to find a site, why are they seeking to build in isolated communities with the majority off the population being Aboriginal?
Brewarrina is known worldwide for the oldest man-made structure in the world with Baiame’s Ngunnhu Fish Traps and we want to keep it that way, not to be known as a nuclear waste facility.
The local Council approached the Federal Government for this proposal without consultation with the community and without negotiation with the Local Land Council or the Ngemba Community Working Party or other local councils.
We believe the health of the community will be at risk. We are being promised 15 jobs, what is 15 jobs compared to the health of the community and the land and water.
There are other options available to boost the economy of the town such as solar power, tourism and the abattoirs.
No Nuclear Bundabunda at Brewarrina – bad poison
(please note; 7 out of 9 Councillors have supported this proposal)
The Greens will table our petition in Federal Parliament.
South Australia a global leader in clean energy: Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA)
IEEFA: South Aust among world leaders in transition to wind, solar, ECO News, By David Twomey -February 14, 2018
1 This month.
PETITION – To: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and the Australian Labor Government
Chernobyl: The Lost Tapes – A good documentary on Chernobyl on SBS available On Demand for the next 3 weeks– https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/tv-program/chernobyl-the-lost-tapes/235274195556
19 May – Webinar- Webinar: No Nuclear Weapons in Australia
Start: 2026-05-19 18:00:00 UTC Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney (GMT+10:00)
End: 2026-05-19 19:30:00 UTC Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney (GMT+10:00)
20 May – Webinar – The dangerous world of AUKUS, US, military occupation and suppression of dissent
National Webinar, 20th May, 2026, 6.30pm AEST. Confronting laws restricting/suppressing protest speech and action
Speakers: Former Sen. Rex Patrick, Lawyer Nick Hanna ,Arthur Rorris ,Jorgen Doyle, Sen David Shoebbridge,
Facilitator Kelley Tranter.
of the week – Australians for War Powers Reform (AWPR)
To see nuclear-related stories in greater depth and intensity
Antinuclear 