Newsletter date: 6 July 2012
Contents:
* BNI: Abbott wrong on nuclear waste: NT campaign has strong national support
* Nuclear Freeways: 3,376km A long haul for nuclear waste
* ABC The Drum: Muckaty nuclear dump shows Mabo still matters
* Background to the proposed Muckaty nuclear waste dump
* Background to Mabo and Native Title
* Petition Online: Stop the expansion of Olympic Dam uranium mine
* Background to expansion of Olympic Dam mine challenge
* Gary Foley: A punter’s guide to stealing the rights of Aborigines
* BNI: ABBOTT WRONG ON NUCLEAR WASTE: NT CAMPAIGN HAS STRONG NATIONAL SUPPORT
- Media Release
Beyond Nuclear Initiative: Abbott wrong on nuclear waste: NT campaign has strong national support
http://beyondnuclearinitiative.com/2012/07/03/abbott-wrong-on-nuclear-wa...
2 Jul 12: "National environment group Beyond Nuclear Initiative (BNI) has rejected comments by Federal Opposition Leader Tony Abbott in Darwin that a nuclear waste facility should be built at Muckaty in the Northern Territory 'in the national interest.'
Under the leadership of John Howard, former Science Minister Brendan Nelson announced in 2005 that a national radioactive dump would be built in the Northern Territory. BNI coordinator Natalie Wasley said it has always been obvious that the NT proposal is based on politics and not science. ...
Ms Wasley continued, "Mr Abbott is also wrong to dismiss concern about the Muckaty dump as 'local'. The Australian Council of Trade Unions and Australian Conservation Foundation, the peak trade union and environment bodies in the country, as well as the NT government and a number of unions, health and human rights organisations have clearly stated opposition to the Muckaty proposal". ... "
- Related News
ABC Darwin: Nuclear waste dump in 'national interest': Abbott
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-07-03/abbott-on-muckaty-nuclear-waste-du...
3 Jul 12: "Federal Opposition Leader Tony Abbott says he is confident a nuclear waste dump can be built safely in the Northern Territory. The Federal Government's preferred site for a waste facility is Muckaty Station, near Tennant Creek. The plan opposed by some traditional owners and local politicians. Speaking in Darwin, Mr Abbott said a nuclear waste facility is in the national interest. ... Tony Abbott says local concerns sometimes do have to give way to the national interest."
Green Left: Muckaty traditional owners fight Ferguson’s nuclear dump
http://www.greenleft.org.au/node/51545
3 Jul 12: "Four Muckaty traditional owners - Penny Phillips, Jeannie Sambo, Kylie Sambo and Delvine Spiteri - visited Melbourne on June 25 to attend a federal court hearing concerning the nomination of Muckaty, 120 kilometres north of Tennant Creek in the Northern Territory, for a national nuclear waste dump. Legal proceedings against the federal government and the Northern Land Council began in June 2010 and a trial is anticipated in the first half of 2013. A small group of traditional owners support the dump proposal, in return for a financial package. But most are opposed and are challenging the right of the government to establish the dump at Muckaty without their consent." By Jim Green, national nuclear campaigner, Friends of the Earth, Australia
* NUCLEAR FREEWAYS: 3,376KM A LONG HAUL FOR NUCLEAR WASTE
- Statement
Nuclear Freeways: 3,376km A long haul for nuclear waste:
Lucas Heights to Muckaty - Nuclear waste transport route
http://www.nuclearfreeways.org.au/
"The Nuclear Freeways Campaign works to inform and support communities along potential transport routes between Australia’s main radioactive waste producer - the Lucas Heights nuclear reactor site in Sydney - and the NT.
The federal government plans to impose a national radioactive waste dump at Muckaty, 120 kms north of Tennant Creek in the NT. There are many concerns with the proposal, including:
* The unnecessary imposition of transport risks.
* The failure to consult local councils and communities along potential transport routes.
* The failure of the Government to establish the need for a national repository - in particular the failure to consider the option of leaving the reactor at Lucas Heights, where much of the waste is stored and where Australia's nuclear expertise is heavily concentrated. ... "
* ABC THE DRUM: MUCKATY NUCLEAR DUMP SHOWS MABO STILL MATTERS
- Analysis / Opinion
ABC The Drum Opinion: Muckaty nuclear dump shows Mabo still matters
http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/4107864.html
4 Jul 12: "The Mabo case is widely recognised as a turning point in Australian legal history, as it challenged the colonialist assumptions upon which our nation was founded and acknowledged the realities of Indigenous dispossession. ... However, 20 years on, Aboriginal land rights remain as contested and as tenuous as ever. Of particular note is the Commonwealth Government's plan to establish a nuclear waste dump in the Northern Territory at Muckaty, north of Tennant Creek." George Newhouse, an Australian human rights lawyer
* BACKGROUND TO THE PROPOSED MUCKATY NUCLEAR WASTE DUMP:
Last updated: 5 July 2012
http://indymedia.org.au/2012/04/22/background-to-the-proposed-muckaty-nu...
* BACKGROUND TO MABO AND NATIVE TITLE:
Last updated: 5 July 2012
http://indymedia.org.au/2012/07/02/background-to-mabo-and-native-title
* PETITION ONLINE: STOP THE EXPANSION OF OLYMPIC DAM URANIUM MINE
- Petition
Petition Online: Stop the expansion of Olympic Dam uranium mine
http://petitiononline.com/roxstop/petition.html
"Send To: Australian Commonwealth Government
Sponsored By: Friends of the Earth"
"We, the undersigned, ask the Australian Government and Environment Minister the Honourable Peter Garrett to halt the expansion of the Olympic Dam uranium mine in South Australia.
We hold that the risks to human health, safety, the environment and future generations are too great. ... "
* BACKGROUND TO EXPANSION OF OLYMPIC DAM MINE CHALLENGE:
Last updated: 5 July 2012
http://indymedia.org.au/2012/05/13/background-to-expansion-of-olympic-da...
* GARY FOLEY: A PUNTER'S GUIDE TO STEALING THE RIGHTS OF ABORIGINES
- Analysis / Opinion
agendaTracker: The Contrarian: A punter’s guide to stealing the rights of Aborigines
http://tracker.org.au/2012/07/the-contrarian-a-punters-guide-to-stealing...
5 Jul 12: "GARY FOLEY* presents the dummy’s guide to stealing Indigenous rights. The art of denying Aboriginal people their human rights has been refined to a science. The following is a list of commonly used techniques. Gain the Aboriginal person’s co-operation. It is much easier to steal someone’s human rights if you can do it with their OWN co-operation. So: ... " Gary Foley, an "elderly anarchist agitator", historian and lecturer at Victoria University
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