Sound reasons for Australia to refuse to sell uranium to India
The arms control reasons for refusing uranium sales to India are serious. The first is the damage that could be done to the NPT system…..A second reason is that Australian uranium used for power generation could free other sources of uranium for use in Indian nuclear weapons, possibly fuelling a nuclear arms race with Pakistan..
We need to strengthen, not weaken, nuclear deterrent, Sydney Morning Herald, Andy Butfoy, January 21, 2011 Australia has a sovereign right to choose its customers. REPORTS that Delhi is pressuring Canberra to sell India uranium are predictable. The arguments for selling have been well rehearsed, and vested interests have long been encouraging Australia to cash in on the opportunities being dangled before it. But to understand why, one has to go beyond the spin produced by the Indian government and the nuclear industry…. Continue reading
U.S. military bases made Australia a nuclear target
the use of the Cockburn Sound base, which was not far from Perth, might increase the risk of nuclear attack………….
Australia feared nuclear attack over US ties: archives ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) Emma Rodgers 1 Jan 2011, Malcolm Fraser’s cabinet was warned in 1980 that boosting its military ties with the US could put Australia at risk of a nuclear attack and expose it to involvement it in American operations contrary to its national interest, secret cabinet documents show. Continue reading
Australian soldiers exposed to depleted uranium at Maralinga
An Australian royal commission first discovered the use of depleted uranium in atomic tests at Maralinga some 14 years ago, but the government failed to take any action at the time.
Depleted uranium used at Maralinga, Paul Langley’s Nuclear History Blog, 23 Nov 10, Australian Government Confirms Depleted Uranium Used in 1950s The Australian Federal Government announced that it will conduct a health study of Australian volunteers who worked at Maralinga, a British nuclear test site. Continue reading
Big risks in U.S. nuclear warships in Australian ports
Greens MP to quiz Gillard on naval visits | The Australian Lanai Vasek , November 09, 2010 GREENS MP Adam Bandt will request top-level talks with Julia Gillard to review plans for more US naval visits to Australia.The proposals were outlined at the annual Ausmin conference this week.Mr Bandt said it was time for Australia to show more independence from the US, and there were “big risks” in having nuclear-powered or nuclear-armed warships in Australian ports.”I will be raising my concerns directly with the Prime Minister and seeking answers to my questions about the impact and safety of increased ship visits to Melbourne,” Mr Bandt told The Australian.”We want a strong relationship with the US, but one based on our recognised independence.”I am concerned that we are making decisions like troop deployment not on the basis of our national interest but simply because another country wants us to.”…
Woomera ‘prohibited’ zone to have both uranium mining and weapons testing
The region is synonymous with the testing of long range missiles and rockets during the Cold War and is still used by the military for weapons testing. The Resources Minister Martin Ferguson said that the new recommendation is that the miners and the military would be both operating at some sections of the land on a time share basis.
Australia May Tap Restricted Area of Woomera for Natural Resources [uranium mining] Azomining, By Joel Scanlon, 9 Nov 10, The Woomera weapons testing range in South Australia’s outback will be downsized to allow mining in the region as per a federal government report recommendation. Vast restricted areas of South Australia will be opened up to mining companies including foreign investors if the review is considered favourably. Continue reading
Clinton visit digs Australia more deeply into USA war machine
Reports from the mainstream press reveal the visit is part of the Gillard government’s increasing involvement in the U.S. War machine….A new U.S. Space Warfare Base in West Australia
U.S. war criminals in Oz as Australia boosts its involvement in U.S. war machine | Indymedia Australia, 8 Nov 10, “…… The whole visit and itinerary has been kept secret, supposedly for “security” but more likely to prevent any public protests against U.S. imperialism and the U.S. Australian alliance. On the agenda for the talks include the development of new U.S. bases in Australia, Continue reading
Australia’s new greatly expanded role in USA military presence
the Australian development is part of a new U.S. strategy to step up its military presence in the Asia-Pacific region
Australia, U.S. agree to major escalation of military co-operation Continue reading
Clinton to Australia to sell spy base and military stuff
Australia’s defence planning continues to promote the interoperability of its forces with those of the US, in part through provision of secure bases such as the new tracking station but also through equipment purchases.
An alliance still in the national interests, The Age,November 6, 2010 “…The US is also concerned by China’s increasing military might, which includes a capability for satellite warfare in space. One response to that capability is a satellite tracking station being built on Australian territory. Continue reading
Clinton and Gates to Australia for Space War project in W.A.
US Defense Secretary Robert Gates is poised to announce the base when he visits Australia next week with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton,….The facility will play a major role in an emerging Cold War in space.
WA joins space race, The Age, October 30, 2010 – Australia will become a key partner in the international battle for space supremacy, Continue reading
Time for Australia to show clear support for Nuclear Weapons Convention
Greens spokesperson for nuclear issues, Senator for Western Australia Scott Ludlam, said the Government should take the opportunity to make a clear statement of support for a nuclear weapons convention.
WA Senator urges Government to take stand against nuclear weapons in UN tony serve blogs, 28 Oct 10, The Australian Greens today urged the Government to support a United Nations draft resolution calling for a ban on the production, stockpiling and use of nuclear weapons to be voted on tomorrow in New York. Continue reading
Jim Green refutes Ziggy Spinowsky on nuclear weapons proliferation
“For eight years in the White House, every weapons-proliferation problem we dealt with was connected to a civilian reactor program. And if we ever got to the point where we wanted to use nuclear reactors to back out a lot of coal … we’d have to put them in so many places we’d run that proliferation risk right off the reasonability scale.” – former US
Vice President Al Gore……It is disingenuous for O’Neil, Switkowski and other apologists for the nuclear industry to deny the links between nuclear power and proliferation.
The myth of the peaceful atom, The Punch, by Jim Green, 6 Oct 2010, The connection between power and proliferation is the inconvenient truth of the nuclear industry. Articles in The Australian in recent weeks by Ziggy Switkowski and academic Andrew O’Neil trivialise the links between nuclear power and nuclear weapons… Continue reading
Greens in Australian Parliament gives hope for nuclear disarmament movement
the election of the Australian Greens in a sweeping balance of power in the Senate in the August 2010 elections is good news for nuclear disarmament and non-proliferatio
Moving to a Safer World with a Million Pleas Campaign , Australia.to News, 02 September 2010 by Neena Bhandari SYDNEY (IDN)“.……. “It is widely recognised that the technology needed for nuclear power is not dissimilar to that needed for nuclear weapons production.” Continue reading
On Nagasaki Day – a call for Australia to help abolish nuclear weapons
There is another step that Australia could take also to help rid the world of this scourge – to refuse to supply nuclear fuel to any nation that has nuclear weapons.
(at left, a church in Nagasaki, 9 Aug, 1945)
Sixty-five years of living under the threat of the mushroom cloud – On Line Opinion, Dr Sue Wareham, – 6/8/2010 Two things pose an overwhelming threat to the planet as we know it, climate change and nuclear weapons, and neither is receiving a serious commitment to action by the two contenders for the position of Prime Minister of Australia. While effective measures of the magnitude needed to address climate change are nowhere to be seen in their policies, nuclear weapons haven’t even rated a mention in the campaigning.
Perhaps August 6 and August 9, the 65th anniversaries of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, will serve to remind Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott of the 23,000 weapons that continue to threaten the destruction of cities around the globe, including in Australia. Continue reading
Australia ‘inactive’ on Nuclear Disarmament
“At the May 2010 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference, Australia was noticeably inactive, failing to walk the talk, merely aligning itself with the United States……..
Hiroshima Day – and still 23,000 loaded weapons! « Darren Churchill: Australian Democrats Senate Candidate for the ACT 6 August, 2010 The Australian Government is playing games on the issue of nuclear disarmament says the Australian Democrats’ lead Senate candidate in the ACT, Darren Churchill Continue reading
Australia’s trade sanctions against Iran
Australia is pretty good at posturing as a leader in nuclear weapons non-proliferation. Trouble is, Australia is also a leader in selling nuclear fuel to several nuclear weapons countries.
Australia unveils unilateral Iran sanctions , PRESSTV, 15 Jun 2010 Less than a week after the UN Security Council imposed a fourth round of sanctions against Iran, Australia says it is planning unilateral punitive measures. Continue reading
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