Say No to Nuclear Financing – World Bank and ADB

September 1, 2025

Until now the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) have not provided finance for nuclear energy projects.
 
However, on June 10 the World Bank’s Board decided to lift its ban on financing nuclear projects. The ADB is currently reviewing its energy policy, and indications suggest it may also move to allow support for nuclear power.
 
This international petition, which is endorsed by a large number of organisations including Friends of the Earth Australia and the Australian Conservation Foundation, is now open for individual signatures.
 
 
Please sign on.

Adelaide FoE Notes, FoE, Nuclear

AUKUS Submarine Regulations: FoE Adelaide submission

July 24, 2025

Friends of the Earth Adelaide today (24 July 2025) sent a submission in response to the government’s call for public comments on draft Australian Naval Nuclear Power Safety Regulations. These Regulations were drafted under the Australian Naval Nuclear Power Safety Act, which was passed in October last year. Our submission can be accessed here.
 
The consultation is open until 30 July 2025. Details can be found on the following web site:
 
 
FoE Adelaide’s submission can be summarised as follows:
 
— AUKUS should be cancelled. It compromises Australia’s sovereignty and is not in our strategic, economic, or environmental interests.
— If it is not cancelled, there should be a proper consultation about the Stirling and Osborne designated zones, which were declared in the Australian Naval Nuclear Power Safety Act without consultation.
— The principles of “free, prior and informed consent” should be followed in siting any site for storage and disposal of radioactive waste.
— That includes respecting laws of State and Territory governments that restrict or prohibit siting of nuclear waste facilities.
— The Regulator must be completely independent of the Defence portfolio. In the current proposal it will be answerable to the Minister for Defence.
— All submissions should be published in full, unless the submitter specifically requests otherwise. Government representatives informed us on 17 July at a public forum in Port Adelaide that they only intend to publish a summary put together by bureaucrats.
 
Philip White

Adelaide FoE Notes, FoE, Nuclear

Issues on nuclear waste storage

July 15, 2025

Recommendations by David Noonan comprise public interest disclosures that are required by Defence for an informed, transparent and accountable process on AUKUS Regulations 2025.

1. Civil Society faces federal imposition of untenable AUKUS N-sub nuclear waste storage.
Defence must respect affected Australian communities and Indigenous People’s ‘Right to Know’ the nuclear risks they face in imposed AUKUS nuclear waste storage facilities:

1.1 Defence must declare its intention to over-ride the SA Nuclear Waste Storage (Prohibition) Act 2000 to impose AUKUS N-sub reactor nuclear waste storage at Osborne, Port Adelaide.

1.2 Defence must publicly disclose which Australian regions and Indigenous Peoples are currently under consideration for imposed siting and compulsory land acquisition for an AUKUS High-Level nuclear waste storage, and which – if any – existing Defence lands are included in the regional short list that is currently being prepared across SA, the NT and WA.

1.3 Defence must become accountable over the future and fate of the Woomera Area, understood in national media to be a ‘favoured location’ for storage and disposal of AUKUS Nsub nuclear waste (“Woomera looms as national nuclear waste dump site including for AUKUS submarine high-level waste afr.com AFR 11 August 2023).

1.4 Defence must declare its reserved right to override the SA Nuclear Waste Storage (Prohibition) Act 2000 through powers in the Australian Naval Nuclear Power Safety Act 2024 Section.135 “Operation of State and Territory laws” to impose an AUKUS nuclear waste dump on outback lands and unwilling community in SA, by decree through these AUKUS Regulations.

2. Indigenous People have a UN recognised Human Right to Say No to nuclear wastes. Defence should respect the clear views of Indigenous Labor Senator Patrick Dodson and act to make the AUKUS Regulations consistent with the Recommendations of a Federal Inquiry Report (Nov 2023) into the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, stating:

“the Commonwealth Government ensure its approach to developing legislation and policy on matters relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people be consistent with the Articles outlined in the UNDRIP”.

2.1 Defence must provide a clear disclosure as to whether or not they will commit to respect and comply with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Article 29 provision of Indigenous Peoples Rights to “Free, Prior and Informed Consent”, as a Right to Say No, over storage or disposal of hazardous materials on their lands – in this case AUKUS High-Level & Intermediate Level nuclear waste storage.

3. The undemocratic AUKUS Regulations “Section 105 (3) State and Territory laws that do not apply in relation to a regulated activity” that is intended to take up powers to impose Nsub nuclear reactor wastes which are currently illegal in SA, in the NT, and in WA, must be withdrawn by the AUKUS Minister Richard Marles MP and by Defence.

David Noonan’s full submission:

Noonan-AUKUS-N-sub-regulations-to-override-SA-laws-July-2025

FoE

,

In solidarity with Friends of the Earth Palestine – Letter to Australian Government

July 4, 2025

Hon Anthony Albanese, MP              Senator the Hon Penny Wong

Prime Minister of Australia                Minister for Foreign Affairs

 

Dear Mr Albanese and Senator Wong

We are writing in solidarity with our colleagues in Friends of the Earth Palestine (Pengon) to call for the Australian government to take stronger action to stop the genocide being carried out by the Israeli government against the Palestinian people.

The Israeli army has targeted Pengon’s projects and offices inside Gaza and Pengon has lost many of its members, some of whom were targeted while being displaced.[1] The situation in the West Bank is also dire. Pengon has been fighting to save the Palestinian environment and support the people against the attacks of the settlers and the Israeli army, but they need the support of the international community.

We join with Friends of the Earth Asia Pacific in calling on the Australian government to do everything in its power “to put pressure on the Israeli Occupation to bring an immediate end to the siege of the West Bank and the ongoing blockade of Gaza, which is creating widespread starvation and preventing life-saving aid, including food and medical supplies, from reaching a desperate population.”[2]

Furthermore, we call on the Australian government to join the South African government’s case against Israel in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide and to also join the Hague Group. We request that you implement the following undertakings listed in the Hague Group’s inaugural joint statement (31 January 2025)[3]:

  1. Uphold the UN Resolution A/RES/Es-10/24 and, in the case of States Parties, support the requests of the International Criminal Court and comply with our obligations under the Rome Statute, with regards to the warrants issued on 21 November 2024; and implement the provisional measures of the International Court of Justice, issued on 26 January, 28 March, and 24 May 2024.
  2. Prevent provision or transfer of arms, munitions and related equipment to Israel, in all cases where there is a clear risk that such arms and related items might be used to commit or facilitate violations of humanitarian law, international human rights law, or the prohibition on genocide, in compliance with our international obligations and consistent with the International Court of Justice Advisory Opinion of 19 July 2024 and the UN General Assembly Resolution A/RES/Es-10/24.
  3. Prevent the docking of vessels at any port, if applicable, within our territorial jurisdiction, in all cases where there is a clear risk of the vessel being used to carry military fuel and weaponry to Israel, which might be used to commit or facilitate violations of humanitarian law, of international human rights law, and of the prohibition on genocide in Palestine, in keeping with states’ peremptory legal obligation to cooperate towards preventing genocide and other violations of peremptory norms by all legal measures at their disposal.

In its 19 July 2024 advisory opinion the ICJ found that Israel’s ongoing presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territories is unlawful. Earlier, in its 26 January 2024 order, the ICJ found that there was a plausible case that Israel was committing genocide. Since then, Israel’s actions in Gaza have become more and more barbaric. Not satisfied with killing well over 50,000 Palestinian civilians, it is now deliberately starving those who have survived until now. Amongst such massive human devastation, we hear little about the environmental destruction, but our colleagues at Pengon inform us that it is enormous. That should not be surprising to anyone who has seen the TV footage of Gaza.

It is past time for Australia to take strong action. Joining the Hague Group and South Africa’s case in the ICJ would be important first steps.

Philip White

On behalf of Friends of the Earth Adelaide

4 July 2025

[1] https://bsky.app/profile/friends-earth.bsky.social/post/3lq5n4uitak2a

[2] https://foeasiapacific.org/2025/06/20/lift-the-siege-on-the-west-bank-and-end-the-genocide-in-gaza/

[3] https://thehaguegroup.org/home/

Adelaide FoE Notes, FoE

Coalition Lost its Nuclear Referendum

May 12, 2025

Last year, after announcing his nuclear energy policy, Peter Dutton said that the next election would be a referendum on this policy. Well he lost the referendum. Let that be the end of discussion of nuclear power plants in Australia.

Instead, the lesson the Coalition should learn from this election is that it is time to end the climate wars. The Coalition’s obstruction of real action on climate change has done untold damage. Even if Peter Dutton isn’t sure if climate change is real, after severe droughts, bushfires and floods, the public wants action.

No one is saying the transition to a carbon-neutral economy will be easy. To make it work and to capitalise on the opportunities it presents requires bi-partisan support and an end to mischievous misinformation campaigns.

Adelaide FoE Notes, Nuclear, Publications