DU in Australia : Melbourne Indymedia

When filmmaker David Bradbury found out last year that the United States and Australia had signed a secret treaty to allow the US military to train and test its latest weaponry here, he decided to visit the prime training areas. He soon learned of the potentially devastating environmental and health consequences for Australia. Bradbury discovered that the treaty makes Australia an integral part of the "Son of Star Wars" US missile programme with severe hidden costs.

The US military has an abysmal track record in other parts of the world where it has trained and tested its chemical and nuclear weapons. Citizens of Vieques, Puerto Rico, are outraged that the United States has used depleted uranium and other carcinogenic weapons on their island. Cancer rates amongst its children are 256% higher than on surrounding islands. Japanese and Filipino communities near US military bases are also up in arms at the poor environmental and social consequences of having the Americans on their soil. The US lied that they were not using Depleted Uranium (DU) rounds in weapons testing off Okinawa in Japan. But confronted with the facts they had to admit that there had been 'an accidental firing' of the clearly labelled and specially handled DU rounds.

The use of depleted uranium by the US military in its weaponry is a cause of grave concern to the Australian filmmaker. He concludes that the term 'depleted' uranium is a misnomer. Its use in the first and second Gulf wars, in Afghanistan and the Balkans has put us all in the nuclear firing line forever. The half-life of depleted uranium is 4.5 billion years. Bradbury seeks further insights from world authorities on depleted uranium and from Australian servicemen suffering the effects of DU poisoning from the first Gulf war. Armed with information about this new nuclear weapon, that cuts through tanks and thick concrete bunkers like a hot knife through butter, David Bradbury dares to expose the moral complicity of Australia in this war-crime, where our uranium is now ending up on distant battlefields infecting unborn children and civilians. When he discovers a deformed baby that was born last year right next to the US military training and testing grounds at Shoalwater Bay, he asks whether the chickens might now have come home to roost.

Bradbury argues that this agreement will inevitably lead to further weapons testing in various parts of Australia, including testing of weapons containing 'depleted' uranium and other heavy metal carcinogenic materials. The consequences of this will be devastating to our environment and to the health of the people of Australia.

The film argues that Australia has covertly become an unofficial US military base, with no consultation with the Australian people.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Last year Australia signed a 20-year agreement (the terms of which most Australians are yet to see or even hear), which allows the US to test its new weaponry and to use our military bases, our airfields and our naval ports.

The United States has been forced to withdraw its bases from Puerto Rico, Japan and the Philippines, where they have created a toxic nightmare that will cost billions to clean up and take a conservative 300 years to complete. But the Americans have skipped town and there is no legal obligation on them to repair the areas they have destroyed.

The facts of high rates of cancer and serious illness wherever American bases have been set up has made a number of Australians ask how this deal will ultimately benefit their country.

The agreement waives Environmental Impact Studies and carries immunity from our criminal laws.
What weapons will the US be testing here? What will be the long-term consequences for our people and for the environment in giving the Americans virtually carte blanche to intrude on our most pristine environments?

Already under the agreement, the US government has the green light to begin shelling military training grounds at Shoalwater Bay in Queensland, in the Northern Territory and at Lancelin in Western Australia.

In June of this year, 11,000 US soldiers sailed into Shoalwater Bay in their nuclear warships to join 6,000 Aussie troops in Queensland for military exercises known as "Talisman Sabre 2005". They stormed our beaches for three weeks and pounded our coastline and offshore islands with live aerial bombing and ship-to- shore shelling. No journalists were 'embedded' during those exercises, so they could not see what was used or how our most pristine environments were blasted by US warships and aircraft.

Two weeks after signing the agreement last year the Minister for Defence, Senator Hill and the Minister for the Environment, Senator Ian Campbell, came to an understanding, now formalised, that an EIS - an Environmental Impact Study - no longer has to be conducted inside a military training area, either before or after training exercises.

A basic environmental safeguard for the Australian people - that their most pristine environments have not or will not be contaminated by the Americans testing their latest weaponry - has been terminated under the guise of being in the 'national interest'.

Shoalwater Bay near Rockhampton on the Queensland coast is a jewel in the environmental crown of Australia. With its mountains and mangroves, its sweeping beaches and bays, its ancient sand dunes it is home to a wide variety of flora and fauna. It's a huge area of biodiversity. 56 % of Australia's bird species are found here. Whales, dolphins, dugongs, sea turtles and countless species of fish swim in its waters which border or include the Great Barrier Reef.

Shoalwater Bay has been home to Australia's defence forces since the Vietnam War. It has been used as a training ground for military exercises and the Army has done a reasonably good job in the past of protecting most of the untouched areas. Under this new arrangement with the US, we will allow them to come in here and test their latest laser guided weapons (the so-called smart bombs).

The locals in the nearby town of Yeppoon (where the American military will R&R) are split between those who think that the influx of Americans will lead to more jobs and economic prosperity for the townsfolk and those who don't want them there, no matter what.

"If we have a large American contingent housed in Shoalwater Bay, it's going to grow. The big question is, does this community want that? The inevitable nightclubs and bars and what surrounds large numbers of troops. I don't know anybody who came here for that sort of lifestyle."

"The Americans aren't going to ruin a perfectly good US training area by using radioactive equipment. They want to turn somebody else’s into radioactive mud."

"If people knew the US used depleted uranium here, it would decimate the tourist industry. People wouldn't want to come here. It would be like saying, we'll build a tourist destination at Chernobyl." (Paul Hoolighan, State Member, Queensland Parliament)

Get everyone you can to sign this petition, even if you never need it, someone close to you may.

To Prime Minister John Howard & Defence Minister Robert Hill

We, concerned citizens of Australia, demand that the Australian Government, and particularly the Defence Department, address the issue of Australian troops exposed to, and suffering from, the effects of Depleted Uranium (DU) munitions.

In the face of overwhelming evidence of severe health effects caused by exposure to DU, we ask that you arrange and promote independent and freely available testing for any Australian who has fair reason to believe they are at risk from contamination.

We believe the candidates should not be limited to military personnel, but also include their families, people living near training sites, and any civilian who can provide evidence of possible contamination.

We further demand that you acknowledge the severity of contamination, and make fair and adequate financial compensation available to those who have been contaminated in the line of duty, as a result of your failure to fully disclose the risks.

Sincerely,

The Undersigned