Author Archive: robyn

Friends of the Earth Adelaide > Articles by: robyn

SA LABOR ON NUCLEAR: WRONG WAY, GO BACK

November 3, 2015

Members of the SA antinuclear coalition gathered outside the ALP state conference on 24 October to ask Labor to maintain the ban on any expansion of the nuclear industry.  Friends of the Earth campaigner Nectaria Calan gave interviews to the ABC, Channel 9 and 10.

MEDIA RELEASE

Friday 23rd October 2015

SA LABOR ON NUCLEAR: WRONG WAY, GO BACK

Members of South Australia’s anti-nuclear coalition will gather outside the South Australian Labor Party’s State Conference at Adelaide’s Festival Theatre tomorrow morning at 8am, calling on the SA Labor Party to keep legislation in place banning nuclear waste dumps in South Australia, and to keep the state on its path to becoming a global leader in renewable energy.

The State Government’s formation of a Royal Commission into the expansion of the nuclear industry in SA has led to concerns that a national or international nuclear waste dump is back on the cards for SA, a little over a decade after the last proposal for a waste dump near Woomera was defeated.  This followed an extended campaign opposing the project, spearheaded by senior Aboriginal women – the Kupa Piti Kungka Tjuta.

In 2000, in response to growing public opposition to the proposal, the then Liberal Government passed legislation banning the disposal of certain types of nuclear waste in the state.  This legislation was extended by the incoming Labor Government in 2003 to include all nuclear waste. The stated objective of the legislation is “to protect the health, safety and welfare of the people of South Australia and to protect the environment in which they live…”

“We are calling on the Labor Party to honour this commitment to protecting the health, safety and environment of South Australia,” said Nectaria Calan of the anti-nuclear coalition and Friends of the Earth Adelaide.  ”Nuclear waste is not a business opportunity, it’s an intractable problem.”

“SA Labour was known as the party who fights nuclear waste dumps, not the one that builds them.”

“Expansion of the nuclear industry into nuclear energy would also have an impact on the fast growing renewables sector in the state,” said Ms Calan.  “SA is already 40% renewable, and nuclear power is a poor partner because it does not have the flexibility needed to operate alongside renewable energy.  Nuclear power is also highly subsidised, and is therefore likely to absorb subsidies that could be going to the renewables sector. This is one opportunity cost of nuclear energy.”

For comment contact:

Nectaria Calan

SA anti-nuclear coalition

Friends of the Earth Adelaide

blackwallaby@gmail.com

Actions, Clean Futures, Nuclear

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Irati Wanti nuclear waste free SA exhibition 15 October

October 8, 2015

Dear Friend of the Irati Wanti campaign,

Emily Munyungka Austin, Kupa Piti Kungka Tjuta, and Karina Lester, granddaughter of Eileen Kampakuta Brown, invite you to attend a special event:

Talking Straight Out: Images and insights from the campaign that stopped South Australia from becoming a nuclear waste dump.

The Lyrics Room, Adelaide Festival Centre, Adelaide, Kaurna Land

Thursday 15 October, 2015

Doors open at 5pm, Inma, stories and speakers from 6pm

irati wanti

October 15, 2015 marks 62 years since the first atomic bomb test at Emu Junction, South Australia.  The Kungka Tjuta remember, “All of us were living when the Government used the country for the bomb.  Everybody got sick… They thought they knew what they were doing then…

In February 1998 the federal government announced its plan to build a national radioactive waste dump in the South Australian desert. In March a council of senior Aboriginal women from Coober Pedy, the Kupa Piti Kungka Tjuta, made an announcement of their own. “We say no radioactive waste dump in our ngura—in our country.”

For six years the women travelled the country, talking straight out.  They called their campaign Irati Wanti. “We all say enough is enough. Irati wanti—the poison leave it.”

They explained, they demanded, they marched and sang.  They told of extraordinary personal histories.  They worked with greenies and wrote passionate letters to politicians.

They won.

They published a book to share these stories with you. Now we are sharing them again.

There is talk again about radioactive waste dumps in South Australia. When word got to Coober Pedy, women again got together to talk, “We know the stories from the bomb. We know the history. We know the country. And it is crying for us. We will talk over and over and we won’t stop. For the kids and the land and for all the Kungkas that aren’t here. Everyone has to say no. Irati Wanti—the poison leave it”.

We hope that you can join us.

Please RSVP by emailing: iratiwanti@gmail.com or at the Facebook event here.

Clean Futures, Old_Notes

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Stop the TPP – email your Senators!

October 7, 2015

FoE Adelaide are very concerned about the recent agreement of theTrans Pacific Partnership.  GetUp are running a campaign to make it easy to email your Senators to ask them to oppose the Investor State Dispute Resolution Service (provisions that would allow foreign corporations to sue governments for making laws that could hurt their bottom line) and to formally oppose the TPP.  FoE encourages members and friends to email their Senators and the GetUp link makes it easy.

“Stop the TPP in the Senate

After a marathon round of negotiations in Atlanta, the 12 negotiating countries have reached an agreement on the monstrous Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) deal.

While widespread public opposition to the TPP, gave Trade Minister Robb little room to sell out Australians’ access to affordable medicines, we still don’t know the details of the agreement!

Even though the deal has been finalised, the details of the agreement still remain a secret – as we all know, the devil’s in the details.

We do know that the TPP still includes ISDS provisions that will allow multinational corporations to sue Australian governments, putting our health care system and environmental standards at risk.

However, it’s not over yet. The TPP legislation still needs to make it through the Senate, where Labor and the crossbench senators’ votes will be critical.

We’ve heard some strong words against ISDS provisions, but it will take more than words to stop a bad deal from getting over the line. We need to know where the senators stand.

Can you contact your senator and call on them to oppose the agreement in the Senate?

What can Labor and the crossbenchers do right now?

While it won’t be possible for Parliament to modify the text of the agreement, the Senate will have an opportunity to vote on the TPP deal at large. Labor and the crossbenchers could commit to stand against the TPP by voting against the implementing legislation in the Senate.

 

Your senator could confirm that they oppose the ISDS provisions in the TPP. These provisions, would allow foreign corporations to sue governments for making laws that could hurt their bottom line. We know that the Howard Government and the Gillard Government have stood against ISDS provisions in trade deals with the US in the past.

Your senator could formally oppose the TPP. Right now, the Australian public has few details on the deal, and what we do know tells us that the costs very likely outweigh the benefits. Your senator could come out in opposition to the TPP”.

FoE

Climate Change Strategy for SA – invitation to contribute

October 7, 2015

The SA government is inviting input into its Climate Change Strategy.  The Adelaide city workshop is on Thursday 8 October.

Details here

There are a number of ways you can have your say and help shape South Australia’s Climate Change Strategy.

1. WORKSHOPS – Come along to one of the workshops being held across South Australia. More information here.

2.  ONLINE DISCUSSION – Join the discussion:

3. SUBMISSIONS – Provide a submission directly to the project team:

  • Post: Climate Change Team, GPO Box 1047 Adelaide SA 5001
  • Online submission: upload your written or typed submission here. These submissions will be published on YourSAy – please mark your submission as CONFIDENTIAL if you do not want your submission shared.
  • For general enquiries, email: climatechange@sa.gov.au

FoE