Antinuclear

Australian news, and some related international items

Darkinjung Local Aboriginal Land Council stopped proposed Wallarah 2 longwall coal mine

judge-1Darkinjung Local Aboriginal Land Council did what the O’Farrell and Baird Governments were averse to doing – it stopped the proposed Wallarah 2 longwall coal mine in its tracks, North Coast Voices, 13 June 14 Early in 2014 the Darkinjung Local Aboriginal Land Council took Wyong Coal Pty Ltd (First Respondent), Minister for Planning and Infrastructure (Second Respondent),Planning Assessment Commission NSW (Third Respondent) and  NSW Aboriginal Land Council (Fourth Respondent) to the NSW Land & Environment Court.

The judgment does not appear to have been published yet.

However, The Daily Telegraph reported on 13 June 2014:

THE controversial Wallarah 2 coal mine, which ICAC target Nick Di Girolamo lobbied for on behalf of Korean mining company Kores, has been put on hold and may never go ahead after a Land and Environment Court decision.

The decision was a win for the local Aboriginal Land Council, which had fought the mine on its land.

Planning Minister Pru Goward made clear last night she would not intervene in the matter, releasing a statement saying: “I have considered the judgment and I accept the decision of the court.”….

The proposed Wallarah 2 longwall coal mine put forward by the Korean-owned mining company Kores Australia Pty Ltd and, its joint venture partners Catherine Hill Resources Pty Ltd, Kyungdong Australia Pty Ltd, SK Networks Resources Australia (Wyong) Pty Ltd, SK Networks Resources Pty Ltd and progressed by Wyong Coal Pty Ltd (T/A Wyong Areas Coal Joint Venture), had already failed basic environmental and risk management standards as the 4 June 2014 NSW Planning and Assessment Commission Final Report summary indicates:…..http://northcoastvoices.blogspot.com.au/2014/06/darkinjung-local-aboriginal-land.html

June 14, 2014 Posted by | aboriginal issues, legal, New South Wales | Leave a comment

Auxstralia’s investments in nuclear weapons, via the Future Fund

Australia One Of Ten Nuclear Horns (Daniel 7:7) June 9, 2014 ~  Australia investing in nuclear arms May 26, 2011 THE federal government’s $74 billion Future Fund is investing Australian taxpayers’ money in foreign companies that make components for nuclear weapons.

Records obtained under freedom of information laws show the fund has $135.4 million invested in 15 companies involved in the design, production and maintenance of nuclear weapons for the United States, Britain, France and India.

About $3.8 million of this is invested in Larsen & Toubro, a Mumbai-based company involved in building a fleet of nuclear-armed submarines for India. The company has also helped test a launch system for India’s nuclear missiles.Any investment involving the production of nuclear weapons for India is particularly controversial because New Delhi is not a signatory to the nuclear non-proliferation treaty.

The Future Fund has also invested taxpayers’ money in global defence industry behemoths Boeing, BAE Systems, Northrop Grumman and Thales, all of which are involved in the manufacture ofnuclear missiles for the US, Britain or France.……..

The Future Fund was set up in 2006 with the proceeds of Telstra’s privatisation to cover the Commonwealth’s superannuation obligations in coming years. Its board is appointed by the Treasurer, but is independent of the government.

Its policy is to invest only in companies ”whose economic activity is legal in Australia and does not contravene international conventions to which Australia is a signatory”……..

logo-ICANBut activists from the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons claim the investments contravene the fund’s policy because the manufacture of nuclear weapons is illegal in Australia. ”The Future Fund has a policy not to invest in activities that would be illegal in Australia and it’s absolutely clear that it would be illegal in Australia to do what these companies are doing,” the group’s Tim Wright told The Age.

”For the fund to be saying it’s not inconsistent with their investment policy is completely wrong.”

The group also claims the fund might be contravening the Australian law that prohibits assistance to anyone involved in the ”manufacture, production, acquisition or testing” of nuclear devices both inside and outside Australia. And it argues that the investments contravene the spirit of the international convention, which calls on nuclear weapons states to pursue ”good faith” action on disarmament.

”Conducting simulated nuclear tests and building new nuclear-tipped missiles and nuclear-armed submarines, which will mean that nuclear weapons are around for many more decades, are contrary to this good-faith obligation,” he said…….http://andrewtheprophet.wordpress.com/2014/06/09/australia-one-of-ten-nuclear-horns-daniel-77/

 

 

June 14, 2014 Posted by | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Australia’s carbon price has greatly reduced carbon emissions

carbon-tax-factsFall in greenhouse gas emissions biggest in 24 years,  SMH,  June 13, 2014 – Environment Editor, The Sydney Morning Herald Australia posted its biggest annual reduction in greenhouse gas emissions in 24 years of records in 2013 as the carbon tax helped drive a large drop in pollution from the electricity sector.

The latest greenhouse gas inventory, released online without fanfare by the federal government, showed annual emissions excluding changes in land use were estimated at 538.4 million tonnes of carbon-dioxide equivalent in 2013, down 0.8 per cent on the previous year.

While the final figures may be revised, the annual drop is likely to exceed the only two other years of emissions falls – in 2009 and 2010 – since the tally began in 1990.

The electricity sector reported emissions fell 5 per cent last year, with all but one other sector showing an increase. The carbon tax has its most direct impact on power generators, which account for about one-third of Australia’s emissions outside changes to forest cover.

The carbon price, now at $24.15 a tonne, will rise to $25.40 a tonne from next month and will apply until its likely scrapping when the new Senate votes on the Abbott government’s repeal bills, expected soon after July 1.

The government’s climate policies have been in the spotlight as Prime Minister Tony Abbott headed to Washington this week, soon after President Barack Obama introduced the most ambitious emissions cuts in US history – forcing power plants to slash 2005-level emissions 30 per cent by 2030.

Mr Abbott, forced to defend the government’s alternative policy to a carbon tax based on paying polluters to curb emissions, said he would avoid climate action that would “clobber the economy”.

But Greens leader Christine Milne said: “The price on pollution is working and it is time Prime Minister Tony Abbott and Environment Minister Greg Hunt stopped lying to Australia and the world.

“The government is trying to hide the fact that the price on pollution is the cheapest and most effective way to do something about global warming, and mitigate the future extreme storms, droughts and floods that will ravage Australia over the coming decades.”……..

John Connor, chief executive of the Climate Institute, said the drop in 2013 emissions indicated existing policies were doing the intended job.

“We have a stable, set-and-forget default mechanism, that’s going to work,” Mr Connor said.

By contrast, the government was “ripping away” at other policies curbing emissions, with plans to scrap the Australian Renewable Energy Agency, the Clean Energy Finance Corp, and energy efficiency programs.

Any weakening of the Renewable Energy Target, now under review by a government-appointed panel led by climate change doubter Dick Warburton, would also undermine emissions reduction efforts, Mr Connor said. On current settings, the mandatory clean energy goal will cut emissions by another 70 million tonnes by 2020, he said………http://www.smh.com.au/environment/climate-change/fall-in-greenhouse-gas-emissions-biggest-in-24-years-20140613-zs7be.html

 

June 14, 2014 Posted by | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, climate change - global warming | Leave a comment

Never mind federal and state govts – Melbourne City is set for zero carbon emissiosn

City of Melbourne aims to become carbon neutral leader June 12, 2014 SMH, Tom Arup and Aisha Dow As the conversation turns to the death of Melbourne’s trees the city’s influential head planner, Professor Rob Adams, chokes up. He takes a moment, then continues. “The evidence is so obvious,” he declares, “You don’t have to go to the scientists, you just have to look at the trees in Melbourne.”

Adams is talking about climate change. And despite its wealth and culture Melbourne’s city heart is not immune to its impacts. Nor is its contribution to the problem insignificant.

In response Melbourne City Council has set perhaps the most ambitious climate change goal in Australia – to produce zero net emissions from the CBD and surrounding suburbs under its oversight by 2020.

Needless to say it is a level of ambition not matched by state and federal governments.

In fact Adams – credited with revitalising the CBD over recent decades – is upset about what he describes as the federal government’s retreat on the issue.

“Why don’t I get depressed, when I look at my little grand daughter who is eight months old?” he says.

“I think they are going to be shamed into action, I think it is going to be so embarrassing to be in the space they are in, with the assets and the ability they have got, they’ll have to move out of that space and back into the real world.”

“And I feel that strongly. We see it. The reason we have an urban forest strategy is I watched our trees dying. And, and …”

Without intervention 27 per cent of Melbourne city trees are expected to be lost in 10 years due to heat, disease and old age. But they are not the only element of city life threatened by a warming planet.

Council research on the impact of January’s record-breaking heatwave – which scientists project will occur more frequently as climate change worsens – found city retailers lost $37 million over four days as shoppers stayed out of the 40-plus degree heat. Last year flood modelling, based on end of century sea-level rise of 0.8 metres, found average annual inundation bills in Southbank could alone rise from $3 million in 2011 to $20 million by 2100 if prevention is not taken.

With high stakes and high ambition city council this year updated its plan for the zero emissions goal. It is a document of many concrete measures, plenty of promises and the occasional motherhood statement. An implementation plan is due later this year.

Chair of Melbourne’s environment portfolio, Cr Arron Wood, says one option to meet the target would see Melbourne switch to 50 per cent renewable energy. Most of that power would be fed into the city from large solar and wind farms located in regional Victoria, he says.

About 1500 megawatts of renewable energy would have to be generated, enough for 480,000 average homes. To do this it would take 15 massive solar plants of the type currently being built on 250 hectares of farming land near Nyngan in regional NSW.

It is Cr Wood’s goal to eventually have some of the city’s biggest energy users – hospitals, universities and sporting precincts – directly powered by renewable energy farms located far beyond the city edge. A much smaller amount of energy, enough to power 10,000 houses, could be generated from solar panels on warehouses and commercial buildings inside the municipality of Melbourne………. http://www.smh.com.au/environment/climate-change/city-of-melbourne-aims-to-become-carbon-neutral-leader-20140613-zs5xy.html

 

June 14, 2014 Posted by | climate change - global warming, Victoria | Leave a comment

Solar energy a winner for homes in Caloundra and Iswich, Queensland

solar-rooftopCaloundra and Ipswich tops for solar: Energex   BRISBANETIMES.COM.AU  SENIOR REPORTER, 13 June 14  The retirees, holiday makers and young families of Caloundra and the working class city of Ipswich have Southeast Queensland’s highest proportion of solar systems according to a breakdown of Energex data.

The breakdown from Energex figures shows some remarkable variations from conventional thinking.

There are fewer solar systems in West End (295), Highgate Hill (210) and South Brisbane (70), than in Inala (982) or Durack (645).

There are more in Carindale (1523)  and Rochedale South (1465) than in Premier Campbell Newman’s home suburb of Ashgrove (691).

Queensland Treasurer Tim Nicholls sparked a massive outcry last week when he described some solar energy users as part of the “champagne sippers and the latte set.”

Jeremy Rich, from one of Australia’s longest-running solar energy companies, Energy Matters, said Mr Nicholls’ comments were simply wrong. “It is obvious those statements are emotional statements, without looking at the data,” Mr Rich said. “Because when you look at the data it shows that it is totally the opposite,” he said. “It is the low to middle income areas of Australia that are hurting the most.”

Their company data is similar to the Energex breakdown, showing a major interest in solar energy in Ipswich, Capalaba, Browns Plains and Cleveland in four of the top five spots.

Central Ipswich – home to Swanbank power station – has 50 per cent solar energy penetration, Mr Rich said.

Ipswich homes under the postcode of 4305 – including the suburbs from Raceview through to Brassall – have 5197 solar installations.

Caloundra’s postcode of 4551 – including Caloundra, Caloundra West, Currimundi and Dickey Beach –  has 6311 solar installations up to May 2014………

A quick top 10 of Energex’s solar hot spots and their postcodes are:

1: Caloundra 4551: 6311 solar installations

2: Ipswich central east 4305: 5197 solar installations from Raceview to Brassall

3: Advancetown/Gold Coast hinterland  4211: solar 4941 installations

4:  Buderim 4556: 4379 solar installations

5: Beenleigh 4207: 4363  solar installations

6: Bray Park 4500: 3931 solar installations

7: Ipswich south-west 4300: Goodna/Camira to Springfield: 3930 solar installations

8: Amberley, Barellan Point and Blacksoil 4306: 3910 solar installations

9:  Mt Cotton and Redland Bay 4165: 3810 solar installations

10:  Gympie and its surrounds 4570: 3678 solar installations.  http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/caloundra-and-ipswich-tops-for-solar-energex-20140612-zs66n.html#ixzz34fZsRL6G

June 14, 2014 Posted by | Queensland, solar | Leave a comment

Nuclear waste Dump Court Case – Day 6 – hearing at Tennant Creek, Northern Territory

justiceMuckaty Court Report Day 6- June 9    Day 6 – Federal Court comes to Muckaty  Beyond Nuclear Initiative, By Padraic Gibson, 10 June 14,  The nuclear waste dump trial traveled to the Muckaty Aboriginal Land Trust on Monday June 9, to hear testimony from Traditional Owners opposed to the nomination of their land.

First, a convoy of ten vehicles traveled out to the nominated site. The site is located about 12 kms west of the Stuart Highway, on the southern boundary of the Land Trust. It can be reached along a bituman “haulage road”, built to cart manganese from the Bootu mine out to the Adelaide – Darwin railway line. Having the dump on this well developed road, with access to two major transportation routes – the highway and the railway line – would be perfect for the government, helping explain why they are fighting so hard to defend the Muckaty nomination.

Senior Warlmanpa man Dick Foster, one of the applicants challenging the waste dump, gave the court (and a throng of journalists) a short explanation of the dreaming stories that are significant to the nominated site and how these impact on the rights and responsibilities of different clan groups. His account is in sharp contradiction with the anthropology relied upon by the NLC to justify the waste dump nomination. His traditional knowledge and cultural authority is respected by all sides of this dispute. Mr Foster will give detailed evidence next week.

The convoy then proceeded further north into the Land Trust, stopping at an outstation about 5kms from the Stuart Highway to set up properly to hear evidence.

There was only time to hear the start of evidence from Bunny Nabarula, an 84 year old Warlmanpa Elder who has been a leading spokesperson in the campaign against the dump for 7 years now……….

Evidence from more Traditional Owners opposed to the dump will be given in the court house at Tennant Creek for the rest of this week. For many people, who feel they have been pushed aside and ignored through this whole process, they are eager to put their case to the court. It’s important to note that both the Commonwealth and the NLC argued strongly against the Court coming to the NT. Both parties strongly defend their consultation process. But they also argue that whether or not this nomination was put forward with genuine consent should not actually matter legally, due to draconian provisions in the Commonwealth Radioactive Waste Management Act passed in 2005. http://beyondnuclearinitiative.com/muckaty-court-report-day-6-june-9/

June 13, 2014 Posted by | aboriginal issues, AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, legal, Northern Territory | Leave a comment

Tony Abbott’s plan for alliance to block climate action has already come to grief

climate-changeBritain, New Zealand reject Tony Abbott’s idea for alliance to block action on climate change  Age Abbott-in-hot-panJune 12, 2014 – National political reporter The UK’s conservative climate and energy minister has rejected suggestions his government could form an alliance of “like-minded” nations with Australia to oppose carbon pricing.

Greg Barker has put an end to Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s dream that a group of five countries could be formed to undermine global moves to install carbon pricing and challenge a push by US President Barack Obama for stronger international regulation of climate change.In moves that show Australia is increasingly isolated on the subject, New Zealand’s Prime Minister John Key has also said he was caught off-guard by the idea of an alliance and signalled his government has no intention of walking away from its emissions trading scheme.

The comments leave Canada, with its anti-carbon tax prime minister Stephen Harper as Australia’s only likely ally on the subject.

Mr Barker told British media on Wednesday that the UK would not be joining Australia to challenge international regulation of carbon emissions. ”I think you can take it the UK won’t be joining an alliance against regulation. We are engaged with Australia and New Zealand, encouraging them to take a responsible proactive part in seeking an ambitious global treaty on climate change,” he said……..

Earlier this year, Mr  Cameron said he believed that ”man-made climate change is one of the most serious threats that this country and this world faces”.And earlier this week, Mr Obama and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon said political leaders had to recognise that climate change was the number one priority for governments as the most significant issue the planet faces…..

Mr Abbott’s stance on climate action has also drawn criticism from retiring US politician Henry Waxman, who was at the forefront of clean energy bills in America.

Mr Waxman said Australia, along with Canada, risked being ”behind-the-scenes laggers” rather than leaders on climate policy.

Both nations risked being out of sync with Europe and the US. ”I hope Australia doesn’t turn its back on its leadership role and become a drag on what we need to all be doing around the world,” Mr Waxman told ABC’s 7.30 on Wednesday.

The retiring senior Democrat also criticised the Coalition government’s ”voluntary” direct action policy as ineffectual. ”That never worked anywhere,” he said.  http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/britain-new-zealand-reject-tony-abbotts-idea-for-alliance-to-block-action-on-climate-change-20140612-39yws.html#ixzz34Ya5sywb

June 13, 2014 Posted by | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, politics international | Leave a comment

Western Australia’s changes to Aboriginal Heritage Act will benefit miners, disadvantage Aborigines

handsoffAboriginal Heritage Act changes help miners, but do little to protect sacred sites: Greens ABC News By Katrin Long 12 Jun 2014 The Greens have raised concerns over a WA Government proposal to amend parts of the Aboriginal Heritage Act, which sets out the way in which sacred places and objects should be preserved.

The Act has not had any major changes since it was introduced 42 year ago.

One of the changes would see control of major decisions regarding potential and established heritage sites handed from a committee to a single CEO. The Chamber of Minerals and Energy (CME) has said the proposed changes would improve efficiency in the mining and energy sector.

Greens MP Robin Chapple said the changes would aid mining companies, but would constitute a “complete desecration” of an Act that has already been watered down since its inception.

“They’ve taken away what was left of a shell of an Act and just trashed it,” he said…..http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-06-12/concern-over-proposed-changes-to-aboriginal-heritage-act/5518244

June 13, 2014 Posted by | aboriginal issues, Western Australia | Leave a comment

More USA military to be based in Australia

map-Australia-targets-US to extend Darwin marine base as Tony Abbott meets Barack Obama to push G20 agenda,  DAVID CROWE IN WASHINGTON  THE AUSTRALIAN  12 June 14
AUSTRALIA has struck a defence agreement with the United States that prepares the ground for more American troops, aircraft and ships to operate from Australian bases to ward off threats in South East Asia.
      The outcome will give the two countries the capacity for “additional reach” into the region as a result of talks in Washington overnight between Tony Abbott and US President Barack Obama…….the agreement means Australia is open to hosting more US Marines in Darwin over time and may also consider the use of a Western Australian naval base as a port for US destroyers…….

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/policy/us-to-extend-darwin-marine-base-as-tony-abbott-meets-barack-obama-to-push-g20-agenda/story-fn59nm2j-1226952627611

June 13, 2014 Posted by | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Victoria’s community Hepburn Wind farm at risk as government reviews Renewable Energy Target

Renewable Energy Target review sparks fears for wind farm http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-06-11/renewable-energy-target-review-sparks-fears-for/5514354 11 Jun 2014,  Investors in Australia’s first community-owned wind farm near Daylesford say the venture could fail, if changes are made to the Renewable Energy Target. The Federal Government has ordered a review into the pledge of producing 20 per cent of power from renewable sources by 2020. People involved in the Hepburn Wind project met members of the review panel in Daylesford yesterday. Hepburn Wind’s founding chairman, Simon Holmes Court, says scrapping the target would cost locals thousands of dollars. “I can’t sugar-coat it – the project will not be able to continue in its current form,” he said. wind-Hepburn-community-farm Hepburn has operated turbines since 2011. Director David Perry says the cost would not just be financial. “Perhaps the most painful thing would be to have all that time and passion over the years lost,” he said. The panel toured the wind farm and congratulated Hepburn Wind on its work.

June 13, 2014 Posted by | Victoria, wind | Leave a comment

Business Council of Australia pushes for nuclear power and against renewables

Let’s not forget that Tony Shepherd and the Business Council are keen lobbyists for the nuclear industry. nuke-spruikersSm https://antinuclear.net/2011/03/01/business-council-of-australia-joins-nuclear-lobbys-marketing-push/

Business council push to cut renewable energy target, SMH, 12 June 14, “……The Business Council of Australia says the government should scale back the target to a point where renewable energy will account for a ”true” 20 per cent of Australia’s electricity generation by 2020. In a submission to the Abbott government’s review of the target, the council also calls for the scheme to cease in 2030.

The 17-page submission describes the target as ”poor public policy” that is ”no longer relevant to Australia’s circumstances”……The council’s submission contrasts to last month’s submission from the Australian Industry Group, which pressured Prime Minister Tony Abbott to retain the targets and argued that reducing the target would not lead to a fall in power prices.  http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/business-council-push-to-cut-renewable-energy-target-20140612-3a0cw.html#ixzz34YLl7VyO

June 13, 2014 Posted by | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, politics | Leave a comment

Queensland govt to intervene on the side of wind power opponents?

astroturf-windWind farm opponents welcome intervention ABC Rural    By Charlie McKillop, 12 June 14, Queensland Deputy Premier Jeff Seeney will determine the fate of a controversial wind farm proposed on the far north’s Atherton Tableland.

Mr Seeney has informed the Mareeba Council he’s decided to ‘call in’ the development application to establish 75 wind turbines at Mt Emerald, about 100 kilometres west of Cairns.

The move has been welcomed by both the mayor of Mareeba, Tom Gilmore, and opponents of the wind farm, who agree the size and complexity of the assessment is beyond the technical and financial resources of the council.

But Steve Lavis, from the Tablelands Wind Turbine Action Group, admits he has reservations about the decision being taken out of the local community…….http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-06-12/wind-farm-opponents-hopeful-about-intervention/5519106

June 13, 2014 Posted by | Queensland, wind | Leave a comment

Barack Obama and Tony Abbott at odds over climate change

Obama-and-windClimate change gulf looms between Barack Obama and Tony Abbott, Guardian, 11 June 14,   US president’s call for action in US TV interview stands in stark contrast to the attitude of the Australian prime minister Climate change may be the most significant long-term challenge facing the planet, Barack Obama has said in a newly aired TV interview, emphasising the growing differences with Tony Abbott who insists it is certainly not the most important issue facing the world.

Abbott-fiddling-global-warmAs Obama and Abbott prepare for their first formal meeting in Washington on Thursday, the differences between their positions on global warming are clearer than ever, and according to diplomatic sources the president will not seek to downplay them.

Obama’s remarks in an interview broadcast on US television on Tuesday night come as his administration increases its diplomatic push to achieve a successful new international agreement on greenhouse reduction efforts next year and unveils the detail of tough new rules to force reductions in emissions from US power stations……….

Abbott has downplayed the link between climate change and extreme weather events. For example during severe bushfires last year he said: “Climate change is real, as I’ve often said, and we should take strong action against it … but these fires are certainly not a function of climate change – they’re just a function of life in Australia.” When the executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, Christiana Figueres, said the fires showed the world is “already paying the price of carbon”, Abbott said “the official in question is talking through her hat”……….

The Coalition’s Direct Action policy is designed to meet only the minimum target of a 5% reduction by 2020 – despite advice from the independent Climate Change Authority that preconditions for a higher target, which previously had bipartisan agreement, have been met. The Coalition has said it will participate in the Paris meeting but has not given any indication of what Australia’s post-2020 target will be, or how it will be determined.

Australia’s policy is entirely voluntary. Companies can choose to bid into a series of “reverse auctions” for government funding. The new US policy requires power generation to reduce emissions by 30%, with states determining the mechanism by which they achieve this. States such as California which have emissions trading schemes will use them to achieve the goal……..http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/jun/11/climate-change-gulf-looms-between-barack-obama-and-tony-abbott

June 11, 2014 Posted by | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, climate change - global warming, politics international | Leave a comment

Muckaty Aboriginal landowners don’t want money: they want clean non-radioactive land

handsoffMuckaty Station: Traditional owners reject $12 million compensation offer for nuclear waste dump  June 11, 2014, Traditional owners who have opposed a nuclear waste dump on Muckaty Station in the Northern Territory say they had no interest in a $12 million compensation package offered by the Commonwealth……..Traditional Owner Ronald Morrison said current generations were guardians who inherited the land from long family lines.

justice“From our ancestors and our elders, from our elders down to us and from us we’d like to pass it on to our young ones,” Mr Morrison said.
Another traditional owner, Jeannie Sambo, said the money would run out, but the land would be there forever.

“Our land is more important than the money that we live on because as aboriginal people we have more food than buying things from the shop.”
Bunny Nabarula, a Milwayi woman, earlier described the compensation package as “dirty money”, telling the special sitting on country that she was passionate about keeping her land pristine. https://au.news.yahoo.com/a/24209801/muckaty-station-traditional-owners-reject-12-million-compensation-offer-for-nuclear-waste-dump/?source=wan

June 11, 2014 Posted by | aboriginal issues, AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, legal, Northern Territory | Leave a comment

Northern Land Council threatened Aboriginal opponent of nuclear waste dump?

justiceNLC threats over Muckaty waste dump: court, 9 News 10 June 14
If Aboriginal clans at Muckaty wouldn’t accept a nuclear waste dump on their land, the Northern Land Council threatened to decide for them, the Federal Court has heard.
The court is sitting in Tennant Creek this week to hear evidence from four clans who are against the radioactive waste storage facility being placed on their land, 120km north of Tennant Creek in the Northern Territory.

The clans say their will was overruled by a fifth clan who worked with the NLC to approve it……

Yapa Yapa traditional owner Dianne Stokes told the court on Tuesday that she had had a loud disagreement with Kwementyaye Lauder, who drove the decision to accept the site nomination and has since passed away.

She said the NLC’s principal legal officer Ron Levy threatened to take the decision out of her hands.

“(He) said, ‘if youse don’t do this, we’ll do it for you’,” Ms Stokes said, alleging that Mr Levy said he would sue her for going to the media about the issue…….

Outside court, researcher Paddy Gibson, of the Jumbunna House of Learning at the University of Technology Sydney, called on the federal government to drop the nomination after eight years of struggle.

“The Commonwealth government needs to face up to what it’s done to this community, pushing forward this incredibly divisive proposal, and it needs to back off,” he said.  http://news.ninemsn.com

June 11, 2014 Posted by | aboriginal issues, Northern Territory | Leave a comment