Aboriginal resistance stopped Australian nuclear dump plan
Diet Simon | 21.07.2004 19:46 | Anti-racism | Ecology | Globalisation
The national Australian government has given up plans for a low-level nuclear waste dump in the South Australian desert – because it feared losing marginal seats in the imminent federal election.
Finance Minister Nick Minchin, who spearheaded the federal government's plans for a national dump near Woomera, guaranteed that the plans were abandoned for all time.
He gave South Australians "an absolute, unqualified, rolled-gold guarantee" that interstate nuclear waste never will be dumped in the state.
But careful: the government in Canberra is used to breaking promises. A website (
http://www.johnhowardlies.com/) was started recently listing the government lies. It’s worth a visit! And worth copying in all countries.
The minister said the federal government will now pursue the states to ensure they create dumps for their own waste.
In the 1950s and 60s more than a dozen nuclear bombs were exploded in the Woomera area, which is believed to have been exposed to further radioactive contamination by another series of tests known as the "minor trials", when at least another 300 nuclear devices were detonated at nearby Maralinga.
All of this went on without informing the Aboriginal people living in the areas. Many died and many still suffer from the effects.
There are also three uranium mines in South Australia, two of which are in close proximity to Woomera. All three have had recent radioactive accidents and spills.
All three export uranium to fuel nuclear power plants, some of which ends up in atomic weapons. Indigenous peoples concerned by the impact on their traditional lands oppose all three.
More on this in a local newspaper at http://www.theadvertiser.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,6406997%255E26839,00.html.
A group of old Aboriginal women, the Kupa Piti Kungka Tjuta – the senior Aboriginal Women's council from northern SA - have spearheaded the struggle against the Woomera dump.
Read about their joy at the abandonment of the plan at http://www.iratiwanti.org/iratiwanti.php3?page=news&id=242.
The campaign is coordinated by Nina Brown ( http://www.iratiwanti.org/iratiwanti.php3?page=photo_journal&id=86&start=15). Nina and the granddaughter of one of the Kungka Tjutas took part in the Gorleben waste transport protests last year ( http://de.indymedia.org/2003/12/69292.shtml) and said it was “an inspiring crash course” on organising protest.
A group of Gorlebeners caused quite a stir in Australia when they travelled along the route the nuclear waste would have used if the dump had gone ahead ( http://de.indymedia.org//2004/03/78577.shtml).
He gave South Australians "an absolute, unqualified, rolled-gold guarantee" that interstate nuclear waste never will be dumped in the state.
But careful: the government in Canberra is used to breaking promises. A website (
http://www.johnhowardlies.com/) was started recently listing the government lies. It’s worth a visit! And worth copying in all countries. The minister said the federal government will now pursue the states to ensure they create dumps for their own waste.
In the 1950s and 60s more than a dozen nuclear bombs were exploded in the Woomera area, which is believed to have been exposed to further radioactive contamination by another series of tests known as the "minor trials", when at least another 300 nuclear devices were detonated at nearby Maralinga.
All of this went on without informing the Aboriginal people living in the areas. Many died and many still suffer from the effects.
There are also three uranium mines in South Australia, two of which are in close proximity to Woomera. All three have had recent radioactive accidents and spills.
All three export uranium to fuel nuclear power plants, some of which ends up in atomic weapons. Indigenous peoples concerned by the impact on their traditional lands oppose all three.
More on this in a local newspaper at
http://www.theadvertiser.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,6406997%255E26839,00.html. A group of old Aboriginal women, the Kupa Piti Kungka Tjuta – the senior Aboriginal Women's council from northern SA - have spearheaded the struggle against the Woomera dump.
Read about their joy at the abandonment of the plan at
http://www.iratiwanti.org/iratiwanti.php3?page=news&id=242. The campaign is coordinated by Nina Brown (
http://www.iratiwanti.org/iratiwanti.php3?page=photo_journal&id=86&start=15). Nina and the granddaughter of one of the Kungka Tjutas took part in the Gorleben waste transport protests last year ( http://de.indymedia.org/2003/12/69292.shtml) and said it was “an inspiring crash course” on organising protest. A group of Gorlebeners caused quite a stir in Australia when they travelled along the route the nuclear waste would have used if the dump had gone ahead (
http://de.indymedia.org//2004/03/78577.shtml).
Diet Simon