SA LABOR ON NUCLEAR: WRONG WAY, GO BACK

robyn 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 23^rd 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

Adelaide, anti-nuclear, clean futures collective, Mining

Dr Helen Caldicott at the nuclear Royal Commission

robyn November 2, 2015

Internationally known Australian pediatrician Dr Helen Caldicott testified at the nuclear Royal Commission last Tuesday on the health affects of radiation.Video and transcript are here

Helen gave an interview to FoE Convenor and 3D Environment Show announcer Roman on the health hazards of nuclear – podcast here.

Nuclear

Olympic Dam expansion – update

Nectaria October 28, 2015

Since the expansion was shelved in 2012, BHP Billiton has announced its intention to investigate heap leach mining as an alternative, cheaper method of processing mined ore.

In July 2014 the company projected that pending government approvals, construction of a heap leach demonstration plant would begin in the second half of 2015, with a 36 month trial period beginning late 2016. In August 2014 the company received Federal approval for a heap leach demonstration plant. It is yet to receive state approval, and reports suggest that it is yet to be sought, with recent comments in the media by SA Premier Jay Weatherill suggesting that even the state government is unclear about the company’s intentions regarding this project.

It’s been reported that the company has been conducting laboratory trials at Wingfield, South Australia, and that they have been so successful that BHP may skip the demonstration plant stage and progress straight to a full scale facility.

BHP has until October 2016 to proceed with an expansion under the approvals given for the expansion it shelved in 2012. Even though heap leach processing was not considered under its original Environmental Impact Statement, the Federal government approved the trial without requiring any further environmental assessment.

FoE

This Changes Everything: the Movie

roman October 18, 2015

This Changes Everything is an epic documentary by Avi Lewis (The Take) about everyday people responding to the impacts of climate change. It’s inspired by Naomi Klein’s international bestseller of the same title, and looks at the catastrophic consequences of our economic system through the eyes of seven diverse communities.

Having seen the trailer at Naomi’s talk in Sydney, I’d recommend catching the screening at the Piccadilly on Nov 2nd

This Changes Everything

Monday, November 02 6:30PM – 8:30PM

at Wallis Cinemas Piccadilly

181 O’Connell St., North Adelaide, SA, AU, 5006 (map)

$20.00 AUD General

Tickets from tugg: https://www.tugg.com/events/69380

FoE

from the mouths of babes…

roman October 18, 2015

“if you want to … cut carbon emissions … in a very substantial way to the levels that the scientists are telling us we need to do by mid-century to avoid dangerous climate change, then a direct action policy where … industry was able to freely pollute, if you like, and the government was just spending more and more taxpayers’ money to offset it, that would become a very expensive charge on the budget in the years ahead.”

Malcolm Turnbull, commenting on Direct Action on Lateline, 2011 see Lenore Taylor’s article in the guardian

FoE