Unpopularity of USA missile testing in Australia
US missile tests backfired for PM BY: BRENDAN NICHOLSON The
Australian January 01, 2013 WHEN Bob Hawke gave the nod to an American
plan to fire some of their new MX intercontinental ballistic missiles
into the ocean 220km east of Tasmania, the Labor leader made one of
the biggest miscalculations of an illustrious career.
His decision triggered a wave of renewed anti-American feeling,
protests and, cabinet documents reveal, a carefully planned backdown
by the Labor government.
In 1981 the Fraser government had told the Americans it was fine for
them to carry out the tests but, probably not wanting to startle the
Tasmanians, Malcolm Fraser’s team neglected to tell anyone about this
undertaking. Continue reading
Background to Australia’s story of uranium sales to India
The Lowy Institute’s dangerous nuclear propaganda, Online Opinion, Jim Green, 28 December 12 The Lowy Institute portrays itself as an independent think-tank. But a close looks at the Institute’s work in relation to uranium sales to India suggests it is a dangerous, reactionary propaganda outfit.
First to briefly recap the debate over uranium sales to India (as discussed in Online Opinion earlier this year). India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea are the four nuclear weapons states outside the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). Five countries are ‘declared’ nuclear weapons states within the NPT − the USA, Russia, UK, France and China. The declared weapons states are obliged under the NPT to seriously pursue nuclear disarmament, though none of them do so and nothing is done to hold them to account.
For many years it was bipartisan policy in Australia to permit uranium sales to NPT states (including declared weapons states) but not to countries outside the NPT. The Howard government reversed that policy in 2007, the Rudd Labor government held firm on the principle of refusing uranium sales to non-NPT states, but Julia Gillard orchestrated a policy reversal at the 2011 ALP National Conference. Bilateral uranium export negotiations are slowly progressing between Australia and India. Continue reading
Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) looks to renewed nuclear agreement between USA and Australia
Nuclear Energy Agreements With Russia, Australia Open Door for Expanded Trade, Nuclear Energy Institute, 12/10/2010
WASHINGTON, D.C.—With the completion of the congressional review, the
way is clear for the Obama administration to enact a civilian nuclear
energy cooperation agreement with Russia and renewed another with
Australia, commonly known as “123 agreements.”
The bilateral
agreements with the two nations will open the door for new nuclear
trade, research and technology transfers. Following is a statement
from the Nuclear Energy Institutes President and Chief Executive
Officer Marvin Fertel:
“These agreements are important to the United States to allow for the
supply of nuclear technology, fuel and services with other countries….
“The agreement with Australia renews and strengthens a long-standing
accord with an important partner. ….
“With these agreements, American nuclear technology companies and
suppliers will have broader global market access.”
Lynas rare earths company DOES have a radioactive waste problem
Lynas was attracted to Malaysia because it was offered tax free status for 10 years.
there was little mention of the waste — or “residue”, as Lynas prefers to call it.
Lynas and its supporters assert its operations are completely safe, but as NM reported on Monday, others — including scientists — are less confident.
The IAEA also recommended that Lynas proceed no further until it had filed comprehensive plans for the permanent disposal of waste, decommissioning of the plant and remediation of the site at the end of its life.
Lynas’ waste plans a toxic pipe dream Aliran, 19 December 2012 Scientists and community leaders are concerned about radioactive waste from Lynas’ Malaysian plant but the company representative who took Wendy Bacon’s questions brushed off the criticism. This is the second of two articles about Lynas by Wendy Bacon. Read the first here.http://aliran.com/11005.html Australian rare earth company Lynas has always known it had a waste problem.
It plans to process rare earth concentrate, imported from its mine at Mount Weld in Western Australia, at its Lynas Advanced Materials Plant (Lamp) in Malaysia. It will not only produce rare earths for export but also a huge amount of waste, including more than a million cubic metres of low level radioactive material.
Lynas was originally going to build its Lamp plant in China, which produces more than 90 per cent of global rare earths. But according to its 2007 annual report, it decided to move to Malaysia, because the Chinese government was increasing its control over production, including applying environmental standards more strictly. Continue reading
Lynas in Malaysian court tomorrow over its confused and contradictory radioactive wastes plans
Lynas will be in court in Malaysia on 19 December. The Save Malaysia Stop Lynas (SMSL) campaigners will be appealing against the Kuantan High Court decision to lift its stay on the company being able to exercise its rights to proceed under the temporary licence.
The toxic waste that’s not in Australia’s backyard http://aliran.com/11005.html 18 Dec 12,
Australian-owned company Lynas is quietly shipping rare earth to a processing plant in Malaysia – without a firm plan in place to dispose of dangerous radioactive waste. Wendy Bacon reports.
If a manufacturing plant involving radioactive materials moved into your community, one of the first things you would ask is, “what’s going to happen to the waste?”
This is exactly how residents of Kuantan on Malaysia’s east coast reacted when the Australian company Lynas announced plans to build Lamp, the world’s biggest rare earth processing plant in their area.
Several years later, they have no clear answer. Indeed last week, while the plant that will use concentrate imported from Lynas’s rare earth mine at Mount Weld in Western Australia was finally ramping up for production, the Malaysian government and the company were in direct conflict about what would happen to the waste. Continue reading
Malawi govt was urged to get a better deal from Australian uranium miner Paladin
Malawi told to renegotiate Paladin uranium deal http://en.starafrica.com/news/malawi-told-to-renegotiate-paladin-uranium-deal.html December 7, 2012 The African Forum and Network on Debt and Development (AFRODAD) Executive Director Collins Magalasi told journalists in the capital Lilongwe on Friday that the government of Malawi had made a bad choice of project given the absence of transparency and accountability in the deal.
“Government needs to look back at the contract and renegotiate for a better deal which can benefit the nation including the communities where the project takes place” he said. He therefore urged Malawi MPs and civil society organisations (CSOs) to take up the issue and bring pressure to bear on the government to return to the negotiating table.
A representative of the CSOs Moses Mkandawire said they are ready to take up the issue to government to renegotiate for a better deal with the Paladin Company.
“We would like Paladin to declare all what it has sold. The government should also declare all what it has received from the uranium project since it started” he said, adding that the company has paid little in terms of royalties to the state.
He said they had also performed poorly in the area of corporate social responsibility. As CSOs, he said, another deal should be made possible for the benefit of Malawians who are the real owners of the resources.
Malaysian MP explains why Malaysians are opposing the Lynas rare earths plant
Why should we allow anything less in terms of safety standards than Australia? Does the BN government feel that the Australian Government is being too fussy? Or that Malaysians can take more radiation than the Australians?
The Anti-Lynas movement: Are we being unreasonable? – Jeyakumar Devaraj, The Malaysian Insider , 13 Dec 12 Dr Jeyakumar Devaraj is a PSM central committee member and MP for Sungai Siput.“……..Vastly Differing Standards First, a brief overview of the industrial process of separating the rare earths from the rest of the ore.
Lynas actually has the license to operate a refining plant in Australia itself. Lynas acquired this license upon buying over Aston, the company that owned the mine in Mount Weld. In the mid 1990s, Ashton applied for a license to refine the ore, and in the process of consultations with the public in the region, agreed to a set of specific performances. If Lynas wants to use the refining license that came with the purchase of Ashton, it is committed to observing all the procedures agreed to by Ashton earlier.The table below compares requirements that Lynas would have to observe in Australia with the requirements for it in Malaysia.
The government has said in Parliament that Lynas is keen on operating a plant here because the total cost in Malaysia is only 30 per cent of the cost of refining the ore in Australia! (Despite the fact that it has to be transported from Mount Weld to Freemantle Port, loaded on ships and then brought some 4000 km to Kuantan for refining!) That means safety precautions in Malaysia are so much more lax than those required in Australia.
This point alone makes me uncomfortable. Continue reading
Concern that Australian aid money is going to support Australian mining firms in Africa
AID MONEY USED TO SUPPORT MINING CSR PROJECTS http://acan.org.au/2012/10/aid-money-used-to-support-mining-csr-projects/ A group of Australian and international civil society groups, lead primarily by AID/WATCH, have written an open letter to Foreign Minister, Bob Carr, expressing concern that Australian aid money is supporting the CSR initiatives of Australian mining firms, particularly in Africa.
The Foreign Minister recently announced at a mining conference that funds from the Development Assistance Program (DAP), administered by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) but financed by AusAID (Australia’s state foreign aid agency), are being used to co-finance (with various mining companies) the community projects used by mining companies to garner their ‘social license to operate’.
The civil society groups have raised concerns in their letter that mining is not an effective approach to spurring community development – noting that actually mining tends to harm the lives of people in developing countries rather than improve it, a phenomenon commonly referred to as the ‘resource curse’. The letter also alleged that some recipients of the aid money are not reputable, noting the Paladin corporation has been linked to corruption in Malawi.
The signatories of the letter urged the Australian Government to revise their approach to delivering aid for the purpose of supporting mining as a means of community development. There has been no response from DFAT or Minister Carr’s office.
Lawyers acting for Paladin have been in contact with AID/WATCH. Their correspondence laid out that AID/WATCH’s letter potentially damaged the reputation Paladin’s CEO and the company overall. Paladin demanded the withdraw of the letter from Aid/Watch’s site, commit in writing to never publishing similar statements in the future and publish a letter prominently on their site apologizing to Paladin and their CEO. The lawyers noted that should AID/WATCH fail to abide by the terms “Paladin and John Borshoff reserve their rights in this matter”.
The threats made in the letter are hollow since Australian law does not provide to corporations a cause of action to sue for defamation, and John Borshoff was not named in the letter to the Foreign Minister. However, AID/WATCH has since removed the letter from their site, but it can be accessed on Mines & Communities website here. http://www.minesandcommunities.org/article.php?a=11978&l=1
Malawi group calls off its anti-Paladin protest – what is going on?
Malawi group gets Paladin’s K0.9 million to publicize aborted protest … The Maravi Post-14/11/2012 Malawi group gets Paladin’s K0.9 million to publicize aborted … MZUZU–Paladin (Africa) Limited has provided funds amounting to K900, 000 … subscribers only
Paladin accuser recants threat allegation; Kyungu’s point man ... The Maravi Post-26/11/2012 MZUZU–Karonga Youth for Justice and Development (KYJD) has recanted the allegation made against Paladin (Africa) Limited, owners of … subscribers only http://www.maravipost.com/malawi-news/society/2331-paladin-accuser-recants-threat-allegation-kyungu%E2%80%99s-point-man-praises-mining-firm.html
Malawi call for Paladin uranium company to “walk the talk” on transparency and accountability
Wake up call for Paladin, The Times Group, 27 nov 12 A few weeks ago, I published on this column a letter I sent to Paladin Energy’s Managing Director John Borshoff in which I complained about the company’s lack of respect for Malawians through their non-responsiveness to media queries from Malawi.
A few weeks ago, some two courageous community groups in Karonga, where Paladin Africa operates the Kayelekera Uranium Mine, organised protests against the company’s unfulfilled social responsibility promises as well as its failure to support local businesses and farmers through its preference for imported items for its food and other provisions.
To put the record straight, Kayelekera is an important project in the country which every Malawian should be proud of as it is significant not only for job creation, government revenue contribution and foreign currency earnings but also as a flagship foreign direct investment in the country which can encourage other international corporations to consider investing in Malawi.
However, the perception about the company among Malawians is not positive not because the people just don’t like the investment but because of the way management of the company has conducted itself since their establishment.
Despite their profile as an established company from a developed and democratic country, Australia, where corporation operates based on acceptable corporate governance principles such as transparency and accountability, Paladin Energy’s image in Malawi is that of a closed, secretive, agrarian and mysterious giant that has ring-fenced itself as a foreign island within Malawi.
For example, apart from employees and senior government officials, which other Malawians can claim to have set their foot in the Kayelekera Mine complex in Karonga?…..
The protest which failed to take place against the company a few weeks ago should serve as a wake-up call to the company about the intense negativity of its business among Malawians.
Their stated commitment to uphold transparency and accountability about the Kayelekera Uranium Mine is not enough. They need to demonstrate that actively and walk the talk. Otherwise, they should expect more resentment and civil action in the coming years as Malawians are no longer a passive society that sits back and watch helplessly when other people are exploiting their resources over their heads in the name of foreign investment. Thumbs down Paladin Energy. http://www.bnltimes.com/index.php/daily-times/headlines/opinion/12628-carlsberg-paladin-limbe-police-subject-of-the-thumb
Lynas accused of deceiving Malaysian authorities on radioactive wastes
However the Temporary Operating License approved on 7/2/2012 allows Lynas to start operations even before they present their proposed plan for comprehensive management of the solid waste – the TOL only requires them to submit the waste management plan within 10 months of starting operations!!
Ten months have passed, and a safe permanent depository has yet to be identified and agreed upon by all parties. Instead Lynas is still talking of rendering the waste “safe”. Continue reading
Australian rare earths company Lynas may lose its Malaysian operating license over the radioactive waste issue
Four Malaysian cabinet MPs (responsible for trade, science, natural resources and health) have now released a joint statement, saying the temporary licence granted to Lynas requires it to remove “all the residue” from the plant out of the country.
They also warned that if Lynas does not comply, the Government can suspend or revoke the licence and order it “to immediately cease operation”.
Malaysia orders Lynas to ship out waste http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-12-11/an-malaysia-orders-lynas-to-ship-out-waste/4422084 Dec 11, 2012 . Australian mining company Lynas and its plans to process rare earths in Pahang state have caused local communities and environmental groups to raise concerns over the management of radioactive byproduct waste
Malaysia has ordered the Australian miner Lynas Corp. to ship out all the waste from its new rare earths plant, because of environmental and health concerns. Continue reading
Russia receives first shipment of uranium from Australia
The deliveries are being made under the agreement on nuclear cooperation for peaceful purposes signed by President Vladimir Putin and then-Prime Minister John Howard in Sydney in 2007.
Russia receives first uranium shipment from Australia http://www.panarmenian.net/eng/news/136667/
December 10, 2012 PanARMENIAN.Net – Russia has received the first shipment of uranium from Australia under a 2007 bilateral nuclear cooperation agreement, a spokesman for Russian uranium enrichment concern Siberian Chemical
Combine said, according to RIA Novosti. Continue reading
Confusion about Australian company Lynas’ plans for managing radioactive wastes
Hello, didn’t Lynas say wastes to be exported? Malaysiakini Dec 10, 2012
‘Now is the time to ask the court to suspend the TOL because AELB has said that they will enforce Lynas pledge to export the waste.’
Wastes won’t be exported out of Malaysia, says Lynas
Odin: Lynas Malaysia managing director Mashal Ahmad, you have been reported to have said no residues from your plant would be exported out of Malaysia, as your company needed to abide by international conventions that prohibit the export of hazardous wastes to other countries.
This means that the residues which your plant will produce are toxic. All this while, however, we have been told that the residues would be safe to humans and the environment.
Does this not mean that your company, and those outside it but who support your operations, have been lying? Continue reading
Some Malaysians not happy with Lynas’ tax free status
Hello, didn’t Lynas say wastes to be exported? Malaysiakini Dec 10, 2012 Xabiso: Do the people know about the 12-year tax free incentive gifted to this foreign company listed in Australia? Why am I not surprise that they are keeping the toxic waste in Lynas?
I remember someone giving an assurance last time that the waste will be exported back to Australia. We are talking about the toxic waste from processing rare earth, not the raw material (if the raw material is radioactive, Australian can’t even send it to Malaysia).
Before plant operation – apa pun boleh (everything can be done). After start-up – dah tunjuk belang (show true colours). http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/216281
1 This month.
20 September –National Day of Action in Melbourne on the International Day of Peace
Help Aunty Sue Protect Her Land and Sacred Sites From Destructive Rocket Testing.
.
Australians deserve the truth
about
AUKUS – https://aukuspublicinquiry.com/
PETITION – To: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and the Australian Labor Government
of the week – Australians for War Powers Reform (AWPR)
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