Nuclear War in the Northern Territory : Melbourne Indymedia

Nuclear War in the Northern Territory - 'NO Nuclear waste dump in the NT' - (NT ALP slogan)

by mick lambe

DARWIN: The obsession with exploding atomic bombs, mining uranium and dumping its toxic waste in remote areas of Australia with low populations (mostly Aboriginal) - http://www.iratiwanti.org/ - makes you wonder if that nuclear stuff isn't all that safe.

http://www.country-liberal-party.com/pages/Bob_Varney_Thesis.htm

Given the support by politicians for the nuclear industry and their assurances of how people-friendly it's toxic waste is, you wonder why they don't store it under Parliament House in Canberra? - http://dimc.axxs.org/?action=newswire&parentview=4829

Or better still (given some surprising opposition from the ALP) - http://www.alp.org.au/media/1005/msedusartrg130.php - farm it out to the politicians who claim it's so harmless and maybe have it buried in their backyards or stored in their garden sheds?

These pleasant fantasies aside -- the introduction of Brendan Nelson's Commonwealth Radioactive Waste Management Bill 2005 is as the ALP state, "...a draconian act by an arrogant Government that couldn't give a toss about the Australian community."

- Bullyboy tactics

The legislation would force the Northern Territory to store toxic nuclear waste from all over Australia, against the wishes of its people.

"Under the Commonwealth Radioactive Waste Management Bill 2005 and the Commonwealth Radioactive Waste Management (Related Amendment) Bill 2005, the Commonwealth will overturn a NT law specifically introduced to torpedo the plan.

It will also bar any challenges under the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Protection Act and the Environmental Protection and Biodioversity Conservation Act.

Another section allows the Commonwealth to acquire or extinguish any remaining interests in the chosen site. Yet another allows the Commonwealth to overcome any state or territory measures aimed at restricting transport of waste along their roads.

Dr Nelson said, the aim was to put beyond doubt commonwealth powers to establish the waste dump." - http://www.theage.com.au/news/National/Govt-moves-to-establish-NT-waste-dump/2005/10/13/1128796628532.html

- The pre-election lies will ensure massive opposition here

The CLP's Dr LIM (Greatorex) "For 30 minutes, you lambasted a member of parliament when he is trying to ensure and reassure Territorians that the Howard government is not going to impose a nuclear waste dump in the Northern Territory."

"That was clearly stated by minister Ian Campbell, the Minister for the Environment. He said it over and over again when he was interviewed on 30 September on 8DDD. He said very clearly that it was not going to happen, and gave an undertaking that it was not going to happen. What happens? The Labor party gets up and starts to scaremonger. I listened to the member for Lingiari (Snowden) on the ABC just recently, and he was hysterical about the whole thing. What is true is that there is not going to be one here."

"Then what? On 22 September, there was a Territory Labor Party election advertisement spoken by the NT Chief Minister, Clare Martin, in which she said:

The Territory is a great place to live and visit, with clean and unspoilt environment. That is why my government is fighting to make sure Australia's nuclear waste is not dumped in the Territory...

That is the same day when the minister (Ian Campbell) declared, unequivocally, there was not going to be a dump:

Labor's Jim Davidson will put the Territory first in Canberra and work with my government to stop any proposed dump in the Territory...

And so on and so on and so on."

The CLP's Sue Carter (formerly Pt Darwin) also chimed in, "She (Clare Martin) knows there will be no national nuclear dump in the Territory but keeps on with the furphy for political reasons." (Hansard 05/10/2004)

- http://notes.nt.gov.au/lant/hansard/hansard9.nsf/0/6DB39B115998443F69256F550080AEC1?opendocument

- Scaremongering?

Well there you have it -- an unequivocal (pre-election) undertaking from the Howard government that there would be "no national nuclear dump in the Territory" -- transmitted to the people of the NT, by their comrades in the Northern Territory Country Liberal Party.

Unless "undertaking" and "unequivocally" have taken on some new meaning, the sheer audacity of the Howard government's lies on the toxic waste dump issue (prior to the NT election) will ensure massive opposition here.

Regardless of anyone's political persuasion, people do not appreciate being lied to and betrayed in such a cynical manner.

No sane person will ever believe any assurances from the Howard government (or the pitiful remnants of the Country Liberal Party) regarding the safety of toxic nuclear waste. Not after being lied to, about whether or not the waste dump would be located here.

And let's face it the "scaremongering" accusation from the CLP implies there is something to fear from a toxic nuclear waste dump in the NT.

- Credit where it's due (with sting in tail)

As someone facing 4 months in prison for protesting against NT racism and my treatment by the NT Police under the NT Labor party - http://www.country-liberal-party.com/NAP/pages/Articles_1.htm - any praise from myself for the NT ALP would seem unlikely.

However 'separating the political from the personal' is a necessary part of effective activism and even the CLP's Mr Elferink (who has physically threatened me in the past) was given his say on my web site, in a piece about the NT ALP's disgusting increase of black incarceration rates - http://country-liberal-party.com/pages/NT-Labor-worse-than-CLP-Incarceration.htm - despite the overturn of the CLP's infamous mandatory sentencing laws.

http://country-liberal-party.com/incarc_title.htm

- Protest is now legal in the NT

The NT Labor government's exhortations to people to protest against the nuclear waste dump and in effect the 'law of the land' will comprise an important part of my sentencing appeal for my part in the 'Parliament Invasion' - http://www.country-liberal-party.com/NAP/pages/Parliament-invasion.htm - Special mention will of course be made of NT Labor MP Warren Snowdon being ejected from parliament for his interjections.

Apart from this welcome change in the tolerance levels for protest in the NT, one of the more pleasing aspects of this new regime is the utter rejection of former PM Bob 'Yellowcake' Hawke's proposal -- to turn Australia into a dumping ground for the planet's toxic nuclear waste -- by his own party.

http://dimc.axxs.org/index.php?action=newswire&parentview=4732

Bob Hawke has been relegated to the toxic wastebin of history, where he belongs.

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