Author Archive: Susie

Are you ready to rally? Don’t Dump on SA! Dec. 2 – 11am – Parliament House

Susie November 24, 2017

RALLY TIME! DON’T DUMP ON SA.

Saturday Dec 2, 2017, 11 am

Parliament House, North Tce, Adelaide, Kaurna Land.

Family friendly event. Bring your friends!

Twelve months ago, the Second Citizen’s Jury on the Nuclear Fuel Cycle Royal Commission soundly rejected a proposal to store nuclear waste in SA.

However, our state still faces nuclear waste dump proposal initiated by the Federal government. In the lead up to the SA state election in March, we need to send a strong message to politicians to make it clear that SA will not be the radioactive dump state. Get inspired by watching the ‘We say NO’ short film if you haven’t already.

Get even more inspired by watching this short video of Scott Ludlam (Facebook) explaining the significance of the issue and why you should come to the rally:

The rally is packed with great speakers and entertainment. We are lucky to have indigenous dancers the Dusty Feet Mob performing as well as the Rise Up Singers.

Adelaide FoE Notes, FoE, Nuclear

Social + community licence to operate is a real issue for the mining industry in Australia – BHP opposes changes to DGR regulations

Susie November 24, 2017

“We do not support changes that limit public advocacy to 10 percent of funds, or requirements to spend 25 percent of funds on environmental remediation.”

Having already rocked the mining industry’s peak lobby, BHP’s determined pursuit of an independent public affairs course in the name of renewing and enhancing corporate social licence has now triggered angry resentment within some powerful pockets of the federal government.

The fulcrum of this latest bout of BHP-fuelled anxiety is a letter from the company to a small community of charity organisations in the middle of October and that followed a meeting between management and the lobbies in late September.

In its letter, dated October 16 and written by sustainability and public affairs officer, Tony Cudmore, BHP reiterates that it is actively reviewing membership of the Minerals Council of Australia and other industry lobby memberships and then goes on to announce management’s opposition to flagged government reforms to the tax status of charitable organisations in Australia.

Cudmore opened the October communiqué by restating the breadth and intent of the already-flagged internal review of its associations and its determination to advertise points of policy difference between the company and its lobbies.

“In relation to the MCA, as you are aware we have committed to complete our review of industry association memberships by December 31 this year, including the MCA, and we will make outcomes of that review public,” he said. “This will include a list of any material differences on climate and energy policy.”

The letter was sent following a September meeting with the leadership of four community organisations, two of them leading environmental protection lobbies (the World Wildlife Fund and the Australian Conservation Foundation) and two peak councils (the Australian Council for International Development and the Community Council for Australia).

The meeting was held three days after the abrupt resignation of MCA chief executive Brendan Pearson.… Read more >>

Adelaide FoE Notes, FoE, Mining

RALLY! Don’t Dump on SA – call for organising group members

Susie September 22, 2017

YES! We’re still against a Nuclear Waste Dump and we want to demonstrate that there is a large section of the community, people from all walks of life, who still care about this issue.

Are you interested in contributing to the work of putting on a ‘no dump’ rally? Regular fortnightly meetings for this group will commence this Monday 27th September at 5:30-7pm at The Joinery.

Adelaide FoE Notes, FoE, Nuclear

Don’t let Monsanto get their way!

Susie August 21, 2017

Don’t let Monsanto get their way!

It’s been over 20 years since the introduction of the first GM crops to Australia and the majority of our food remains GM free.

However, the GM crop industry has a plan. Aided and abetted by the Federal Government they have four key objectives this year:

Ensure that new GM techniques such as CRISPR are not regulated as GMOs – so they can use them in our food with no safety testing and no labelling.
Remove the ability of states to introduce GM crop bans – so they can introduce GM wheat unobstructed.
Remove GM labelling so they can sneak GMOs into our food without us knowing – even more than they already do.
Allow GM contamination in organics – so we are really unable to avoid GMOs in food.

In the past couple of years a Government Inquiry into Agricultural Innovation and a Productivity Commission report into the Regulation of Australian Agriculture made precisely these recommendations.

Adelaide FoE Notes, Food

Yami Lester

Susie August 21, 2017

Yami Lester, Wallatinna Station (Jessie Boylan)

It was with great sorrow that Friends of the Earth learnt of the passing of Yami Lester in July. Yankunytjatjara Elder, atomic test survivor, Aboriginal rights activist, father, grandfather and great-grandfather, Yami’s voice and support will be sorely missed.

Many Friends of the Earth anti-nuclear campaigners got to meet Yami over the decades. On occasions we would stay with him at Wallatina ? in the far north of SA ? as part of our Radioactive Exposure Tours or on our way to Australian Nuclear Free Alliance meetings in Alice Springs. The last time some of us got to visit Yami at Wallatina was in September 2016 ? we were working with Aboriginal communities to stop the SA government’s plan to dump the world’s high-level nuclear waste on Aboriginal land to improve the state’s economy.

Yami lost his sight as a result of one of the British atomic bomb tests in SA in 1953. Speaking on ABC radio in 2011, he said: “I was a kid. I got up early in the morning, about 7:00am, playing with a homemade toy. We heard the big bomb went off that morning, a loud noise and the ground shook. I don’t know how long after we seen this quiet black smoke ? oily and shiny ? coming across from the south. Next time we had sore eyes, skin rash, diarrhea and vomiting everybody, old people too.”

Along with Maralinga veteran Avon Hudson, Yami was responsible for the formation of a Royal Commission in the 1980s that shone a light on the atomic crimes of the British government, the spinelessness and culpability of state and federal governments, and the ugly racism that pervaded everything to do with the atomic bomb tests.

As a young man, Yami joined the Aboriginal Advancement League in Adelaide. He was also central to the work of the Pitjantjatjara Council that led to the grant of freehold title to traditional owners in SA.… Read more >>

Adelaide FoE Notes, Nuclear