Minister Matt Canavan is a real dill: doesn’t know what he’s talking about re nuclear wastes
Steve Dale Fight To Stop Nuclear Waste Dump In Flinders Ranges , 2 August 18, SA Canavan was also on ABC radio 891 Make sure you continue to listen to Victor Gostin. I have to re-listen but Canavan claims that the Vitrified Waste returning from France is “Low level”!
Here is Canavan talking about the Vitrified waste that returns from France
“when it comes back here the radioactivity of that material is not materially higher than the low level waste it does have a longer half life though, it will take thousands of years for that radioactivity to disappear… ” http://www.abc.net.au/…/prog…/mornings/mornings/1003697
Brett Burnard Stokes calling out just one of the lies involved in this massive bribery and deception operation led by Con Job Canavan.
In Queensland where Canavan comes from, they make nuclear medicines without making waste … and Con Job Canavan pretends that does not happen … Con Job Canavan says the waste is an essential byproduct from production of nuclear medicines.
Petition to South Australian Premier to block nuclear waste dump
State government urged to block nuclear facility https://www.transcontinental.com.au/story/5562602/petition-pushes-for-nuclear-block/, Marco Balsamo 2 August 18 A petition calling on the state government to block the National Radioactive Waste Management Facility has attracted over 10,000 signatures.
The Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) submitted the petition to state Member for Stuart Dan van Holst Pellekaan at a recent meeting.
The act was established to “protect the health, safety and welfare” of South Australians by prohibiting nuclear waste storage facilities in the state.
ACF Nuclear Free Campaigner Dave Sweeney urged Premier Steven Marshall to “stand up, honour and represent the state” by opposing the national facility.
“We wanted the South Australian government to know that there’s strong support and an expectation that they will respect and reflect about the existing Waste Prohibition Act,” Mr Sweeney said.
Wallerberdina Station near Hawker is one of three nominated sites for the national facility, with the other two both based in Kimba.
The selection process is coming to the pointy end, with a postal ballot commencing on August 20 to measure the community support for the three nominated sites.
Representatives from ACF, Conservation Council SA and the Adnyamathanha community attended the meeting with Mr van Holst Pellekaan.
Mr Sweeney described the sit-down as “constructive and respectful”, giving the groups an opportunity to present their concerns to the MP.
“This is being presented by the federal government as if it’s a local economic development issue, but it is Australia’s first ever purpose-built national radioactive waste dump,” he said.
“What it would receive is materials, some of which needs to be isolated and managed for 10,000 years. It is a national responsibility that has long-lasting implications that need a national approach, so we conveyed that to Dan and he understood that.
“We also conveyed our concerns about the process, how divisive it has been and how much stress it has caused on communities.”
Mr van Holst Pellekaan said he has spoken with federal Minister for Resources and Northern Australia Matt Canavan about local concerns regarding the facility.
“As a local MP, I believe it is important to meet with many people with a wide range of views on this topic and have been doing exactly that,” he said.
“I’ve had regular contact with federal Minister Canavan, have shared the opinions of our local people with him and will continue to do so.”
Mr van Holst Pellekaan confirmed the petition has been passed on to the Premier as promised at the meeting.
In South Australia pro nuclear people have been seeded into positions of power
Regina McKenzie Fight To Stop Nuclear Waste Dump In Flinders Ranges SA, 2 Aug 18
99% of South Australians are excluded from vote on nuclear waste dump for South Australia
Susan Craig Fight To Stop Nuclear Waste Dump In Flinders Ranges SA, 24 July 18
• The proposed site is for an ABOVE GROUND temporary facility, stored in above ground bins, 40kms from Wilpena Pound and in our wheat farming land at Kimba.
• Both low level and INTERMEDIATE radioactive waste will be stored.
• INTERMEDIATE level is classified HIGH GRADE in France and has a half- life of TENS OF THOUSANDS OF YEARS. The containers proposed for storage only last for a few hundred years.
• ANSTO have the capacity (500 hectares) and the expertise to continue storage at Lucas Heights for another three decades.
• We should use this time to prepare a PERMANENT UNDERGROUND intelligent and cohesive solution to Australia’s burgeoning nuclear waste.
• Not just move it from one site to another.
• Mr. Canavan said and I quote: “It’s perfectly safe”. So why move it?
• ANSTO currently store 10 tonne of intermediate level nuclear waste at Lucas Heights NSW.
• Another similar quantity of intermediate level nuclear waste is arriving from Britain in a few years and proposed for South Australia.
• Current nuclear medicine using isotopes can be replaced with new technology using Cyclotrons which have a half-life of just hours rendering the waste benign. Awesome!
• Many countries around the world are moving to Cyclotrons for nuclear medicine and Australia should investigate this!
*ANSTO are developing a nuclear waste storage system called SYNROC it’s a synthetic casing for nuclear waste. However, this will only be used at LUCAS HEIGHTS and there is no intention of using SYNROC for the storage of nuclear waste proposed for South Australia.
The Federal Government is showing total disregard, disrespect and contempt for the people of South Australia, including the Adnyamathanha community of the Flinders Ranges. https://www.facebook.com/groups/344452605899556/
Nuclear industry bigwig Jim McDowell now boss of South Australia’s public sector
JimMcDowell, most recently CEO of BAE Systems Saudi Arabia, now chair of Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation
South Aust gets new public sector boss,
Former BAE Systems chief executive Jim McDowell has been appointed to head up South Australia’s Department of Premier and Cabinet.
Premier Steven Marshall described Mr McDowell as a talented leader with decades of international business experience in industries critical to South Australia’s future prosperity.
“Mr McDowell is well placed to guide the South Australian public sector as we seek to take full advantage of the Commonwealth’s naval shipbuilding program and other defence contracts based in South Australia,” Mr Marshall said on Thursday.
Scrutiny on Hansard reveals the Australian government’s confusion about nuclear wastes
South Australia’s Liberal government now happy with progress towards 75% renewables target
South Australia on track to meet 75% renewables target Liberals promised to scrap, Guardian, Adam Morton , 26 July 18
Liberal energy minister, who inherited policy criticised as a mix of ‘ideology and idiocy’, says he’ll ensure it does not come at too high a price
South Australia’s energy minister says the state is on track to have 75% of its electricity from renewable sources by 2025 – the target set by the former Labor premier Jay Weatherill and once rejected by his Liberal government. And Dan van Holst Pellekaan pledged to ensure it does not come at too high a price.
But several expert analyses have found the state is likely to meet or nearly meet the aspirational target, which was not tied to a policy mechanism. The Australian Energy Market Operator has projected South Australia would have 73% renewable power by 2020/21 while consultants Green Energy Markets found it could reach 74% by 2025 without any additional policies being introduced.
The South Australian energy and mining minister, Dan van Holst Pellekaan, said that was also his understanding. “That’s what the reports I’ve read are saying,” he said. “We need to harness it properly so consumers aren’t paying too high a price along the way.”
Van Holst Pellekaan has responsibility for shaping the future of energy in a state that already gets about half its electricity from variable sources such as wind and solar – a situation that Weatherill described in 2015 as “a big international experiment”. The new minister has inherited some of Labor’s proposed solutions, including a giant lithium-ion battery, a 20-year power purchase contract to underwrite a solar thermal plant with built-in storage and a “virtual power plant” of solar and batteries across public housing sites. ……..
Speaking in his electorate office in Port Augusta, home to the state’s coal power until the last plant closed in 2016, and now with up to 13 clean energy at varying stages of development including the solar thermal project, van Holst Pellekaan said the shift from coal to more clean energy in South Australia had been messier than it needed to be, but was inevitable.
“We must transition away from fossil fuels towards renewable energy,” he said. “There’s no doubt about it. And we need to do it sensibly.”
……… South Australia is also backing small-scale storage. Under a deal signed by Labor, the government is installing a “virtual power plant” – initially 1,100 solar panels and Tesla batteries in public housing backed by a $30m loan from taxpayers.
Van Holst Pellekaan announced last week an initial trial had been a success, increasing supply and the reliability of the network and lowering cost at times of peak demand. He said delivering Labor’s full promise of 50,000 public housing systems depended on private-sector financing and Tesla and the government signing off on the final program design.
The Labor scheme will sit alongside a Liberal-pledged $100m plan to subsidise batteries at 40,000 private homes. Details are promised in coming months………
He stressed the importance of improved connection between the states, particularly a long-mooted link between South Australia and New South Wales, to improve grid efficiency and reliability. The transmission company ElectraNet has recommended a $1.5b interconnector between South Australia’s mid-north and Wagga Wagga.
Van Holst Pellekaan, a National Basketball League player in the 1980s with the Hobart Devils, said South Australia’s energy policies were in line with recent advice from the Australia Energy Market Operator and the competition and consumer watchdog…..https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/jul/25/south-australia-to-hit-75-renewables-target-by-2025-liberal-energy-minister-says
South Australians do not want nuclear waste dump
South Australia rejects Liberal Government’s nuke waste dump
Australian Greens nuclear spokesperson Senator Sarah Hanson-Young has slammed the Liberal Government’s bribe to the Hawker and Kimba communities as they tries to find a home for their nuclear waste dump. Polling commissioned by the Greens shows that the majority of South Australians want to stop the nuclear waste dump from being built in their state.
“Resources Minister Matt Canavan should be ashamed of himself for trying to bribe the community in return for dumping radioactive waste on them. Putting money on the table, just weeks before the Kimba and Hawker communities vote on whether they want a nuclear waste dump in their front yard smacks of desperation and bribery,” Senator Hanson-Young said.
“Polling shows the majority of South Australians want our state to put a stop to this project. Nuclear waste is not welcome in Kimba or the Flinders Ranges, and the rest of the state is behind these two communities in their fight against this proposal.
“The tourism industry in the Flinders Ranges and South Australia’s export gain market is all at risk if this dump goes ahead, along with the destruction of sacred aboriginal land and special women’s sites.
“A lack of community consultation and transparency cannot be forgotten just because the Minister pulls out his chequebook.
“While the community is being offered at one off $31m bribe, the Government is keeping secret how much money the individual owners of the chosen site, including former Liberal Senator Grant Chapman will personally pocket. This is poor form, the neighbours deserve to know how much profit Mr Chapman and others will get from selling out the rest of the community.
“Why won’t the Government reveal how much their Liberal mate will pocket from taxpayers ahead of the community ballot next month?
On Saturday it was revealed the Lucas Heights nuclear waste facility was rife with safety hazards, and today, Matt Canavan is tripling the offer to pay a community off so he can dump nuclear waste out of sight, out of mind. This is despicable, contemptuous behaviour from a Minister desperate to find tick something off his to-do list.”
Senator Hanson-Young visited the Flinders Ranges and the community of Hawker on Friday. She spent time talking with local business owners and tourism operations and was taken on a site visit by the local aboriginal leaders.
“The Flinders Ranges community has been put through extreme stress through this long, divisive process. The Flinders Ranges is one of the jewels in South Australia’s tourism crown – that would be lost if it is turned into a nuclear waste dump,” Senator Hanson-Young said.
“The Flinders Ranges is a pristine, untouched wilderness. We should be investing in tourism which would benefit our whole state, not dumping radioactive waste in the middle of it.
“It is horrifying that the Federal Government is planning to build a nuclear waste dump on a sacred women’s site. The brave Adnyamathanha women fighting to protect this site are standing up for preserving thousands of years of cultural significance, and they must be listened to.
“The Greens stand with those fighting this nuclear waste dump plan and commend their bravery for standing up to the Government to stop it.”
Sarah Hanson-Young – a politician who cares
The Adnyamathanha and Flinders Local Action Group would like to thank Senator Hanson-Young for coming to The Flinders Ranges and meeting with us. You listened to everyone with kind empathy and understanding and it was a pleasure to be with you. Thank you Sarah.
#nonuclearwasteintheflindersranges https://www.facebook.com/groups/344452605899556/
Australian government ‘s $31 million bribe to Kimba or Hawker, South Australia to host nuclear waste dump
$31 million in incentives offered to SA community that hosts national radioactive waste repository Adelaide Now, 23 July 18 THE Federal Government wants to lock in support for a radioactive waste facility in rural South Australia by tripling the incentive package for the community that hosts the repository to $31 million.
As two SA communities prepare to vote on August 20 whether to support the radioactive waste management site going ahead, Resources Minister Matt Canavan will on Monday announce an increased community development package.
Two sites near Kimba and one at Barndioota, near Hawker, have been shortlisted for the facility to host low- and intermediate-level radioactive waste.
The Government had promised to spend in excess of $10 million on job-boosting projects in the district where the facility is built.
Senator Canavan said the Government was now willing to provide:
$20 MILLION to deliver long-term infrastructure projects.
$8 MILLION to train locals and businesses to benefit from the construction and operation of the facility.
UP TO $3 million over three years for indigenous skills training and cultural heritage protection.
“As well as a brand new industry with around 45 new jobs, this enhanced package will ensure the successful community is ready and able to take advantage of the benefits of hosting this facility both during construction and the lifetime of its operation,” he said.
Senator Canavan said the new package had been developed after consultation with the local communities on how best to support people and industries near the waste management dump.
Funds could be used to support agriculture, tourism or other industries the community wanted to prioritise.
The proposal for the radioactive waste dump has divided neighbours and families in the short-listed districts.
The Government wants to choose a preferred site before the end of the year.
The two shortlisted communities have already been rewarded with Government development grants worth a combined $4 million.
Senator Canavan said the host town would become a key part of the Australian “science ecosystem” providing new career pathways for young people.
He said it would have similar employment impact to defence centres elsewhere.
“What shipbuilding or aircraft bases do for some communities … the national radioactive waste management facility will do for its host town,” he said.
Australian governments finally admitting the dire fate of the Great Barrier Reef
Australian governments concede Great Barrier Reef headed for ‘collapse’ The Age, By Nicole Hasham, 20 July 18 , The world’s climate change path means the Great Barrier Reef is headed for “collapse” according to a plan endorsed by state and federal governments that critics say turns a blind eye to Australia’s inadequate effort to cut carbon emissions.
The federal and Queensland governments on Friday released a “new and improved” Reef 2050 Plan to save the iconic natural wonder, which explicitly acknowledges climate change poses a deadly threat to the reef.
The comments depart starkly from previous official efforts to downplay damage wrought on the reef for fear of denting the tourism industry.
Based on current climate projections, the outlook for coral reefs generally is “one of continuing decline over time, and in many regions, including the Great Barrier Reef, the collapse and loss of coral reef ecosystems”, the plan says.
It concedes that consecutive coral bleaching events and other stressors “have fundamentally changed the character of the reef”, which is one of the most diverse ecosystems on the planet. “Coral bleaching is projected to increase in frequency … those coral reefs that survive are expected to be less biodiverse than in the past,” the plan says.
The reef is the world’s largest living structure, covering an area roughly the size of Italy.
Coral reefs are particularly sensitive to the effects of climate change including higher sea temperatures, ocean acidification and more intense storms and cyclones.
The plan recognised that “holding the global temperature increase to 1.5°C or less is critical to ensure the survival of coral reefs”.
However WWF-Australia head of oceans Richard Leck said Australia’s emissions reduction efforts were not even in line with limiting warming to 2°.
He cited a 2017 report by the United Nations environment program that found Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions were set to far exceed its pledge under the Paris accord. This agreement aims to limit global temperature rises this century to well below 2° and to pursue efforts to limit the increase to 1.5°.
“It is simply not good enough for the revised plan to suggest the global community must work to limit warming when Australia is not doing its fair share,” Mr Leck said.
The Australian Marine Conservation Society’s reef campaign director Imogen Zethoven said increased recognition of climate change as a threat to the reef must be followed by action…….https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/australian-governments-concede-great-barrier-reef-headed-for-collapse-20180720-p4zsof.html
Planned nuclear dump sites – Access denied to Barngarla Native Title Representative Body.
Everybody For A NUclear Free Future, 14 July 18, After claiming there was no aboriginal heritage issues at the proposed Kimba suppositories, DIIS denies entry to Barngarla Native Title Representative Body.
“We wrote to the department on 21 February requesting access for sites, for the purposes of that assessment being carried out, and advising that the DAC would contact the department after that assessment had been complete for the purpose of working a way forward for these consultation processes. The department advised that they couldn’t provide access to the sites. You’ve been provided a redacted version of the report. The material that was provided following our initial submissions—I think that was only provided to you in the last few days—is somewhat compromised, but it has identified that there are nine confirmed sites and nine potential sites that are affected.
As part of that assessment team, which included some of the DAC board members here. Mr Brandon McNamara, who’s a Barngarla elder, invited the department to come along to a board meeting on 3 March and that invitation was declined. There were also statements made to the assessment team that the engagement of Dr Gorring to carry out the assessment was premature, which we find quite surprising. If the department has already issued statements that there’s no heritage and not provided information about what heritage assessments of its own it has made, to then make a comment that for Barngarla to carry out its own heritage assessments was premature is a bit surprising.”
ENuFF[SA]
Office Admin
https://www.facebook.com/sanuclearfree/
Labor Senator Alex Gallacher shows his pro nuclear colours at Hawker meeting on Nuclear Waste Dump Siting
Katrina Bohr No Nuclear Waste Dump Anywhere in South Australia, 6 July 18
In a conversation, he declared there is no difference between transporting uranium or radioactive waste.
He condones the continued export of nuclear medicines, which will continue to feed the waste here.
I felt during the proceedings that he wasn’t showing impartiality.
He made disparaging remarks about certain evidence presented during the day.
I like to know who. ….. https://www.facebook.com/groups/1314655315214929
Senator Rex Patrick in Whyalla – concerned that nuclear waste facility in South Australia is already a ‘done deal’
Senator talks nuclear, Whyalla News, Louis Mayfield , 6 July 18
Centre Alliance Senator Rex Patrick recently visited Whyalla ahead of two public hearings in Kimba and Hawker for the federal inquiry into the selection process for a national radioactive waste management facility.
Senator Patrick, who initiated the senate inquiry, said he was ‘very concerned’ how fair the selection process for the site had been so far.
“At these hearings we want to hear different perspectives from people in the community not so much on whether there should or shouldn’t be a facility, but on whether this process has been run fairly.”
Mr Patrick said there is a site in Western Australia which has ‘considerable support’ as a location for a nuclear waste facility, and believes it should be included in the nuclear discussion.
“We shouldn’t be holding back on that particular site. My worry is that even if we get across the line in Kimba or Hawker, we’ll have a bitterly divided community,” he said.
“It’s simply better to find a site with broad community support and recognise that as a very positive thing for such a facility That’s why I don’t want the Western Australia site ruled out.”
However Mr Patrick is concerned that the decision to establish a low-level nuclear waste facility in South Australia is already a ‘done deal’, given statements made by Resources Minister Matt Canavan……..https://www.whyallanewsonline.com.au/story/5511488/senator-talks-nuclear/
At Liberal National Party Convention, Turnbull will be urged to develop nuclear power, with popular Queensland coast sites recommended
Seaside gems eyed for nuclear power plants
The Turnbull Government will be urged to consider developing a nuclear power industry under a plan to be debated at the LNP convention, with two of the potential locations being popular seaside areas in southeast Queensland.
https://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/lnp-convention-to-debate-introduction-of-nuclear-power-plants-to-queensland/news-story/9d38d49acd7d6f6fb504f95e8183c311 July 5, 2018
THE Turnbull Government will be urged to consider developing a nuclear power industry under a plan to be debated at the LNP convention.
The controversial resolution, proposed by Fairfax MP Ted O’Brien’s branch, could lead to a plan for generators across the country if it is adopted by the party and then acted on by the government. The branch does not list possible sites for nuclear power plants in the resolution but urges the Federal Government to “consider the feasibility of nuclear powered energy generation in Australia”.
A 2007 Australia Institute study identified 17 suitable sites for nuclear power plants including six in Queensland — Townsville, Mackay, Rockhampton, Bundaberg, the Sunshine Coast and Bribie Island.
That study chose locations using key criteria including existing electricity infrastructure, centres of demand, transport infrastructure and access to large quantities of water for cooling and warned setting up a nuclear industry in Australia could prove unpopular.
“If the Federal Government decided to promote the establishment of a nuclear power industry in Australia, the siting of the power plants is likely to be one of the most politically contentious issues,” the report said.
“In Australia, approximately half of the population opposes nuclear energy and two thirds say they would oppose a nuclear power plant in their local area.”
The Fairfax LNP branch has proposed three separate resolutions on energy policy to be debated at the convention, which starts in Brisbane on Friday. Other resolutions from the branch call on the government to “reduce the high level of subsidy paid to the renewable energy industry” and “support the building of new Coal Fired Power Stations that have the capacity to produce reliable and economic power”.
Resolutions that are adopted by the LNP convention are not binding on the government. Mr O’Brien could not be reached for comment
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
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