3CR
 Community Radio 855am

THE RADIO-ACTIVE SHOW

With Eric Miller and Linda Marks

Saturday at 10.00am

12th December 1998

Good morning, this is the RadioActive Show brought to you by the Sustainable Energy and Anti-Uranium Service. I'm Linda Marks and with me in the studio is Eric Miller. (Good Morning). The RadioActive Show is a weekly program bringing you news and information on Nuclear, Peace and Energy issues.

On today's show we hear from Jaqui Katona speaking at last Sunday's Stop Jabiluka rally in Melbourne. Then we go to the other side of the planet to speak to Mark Engelhardt In a Heart from Friends of the Earth, Germany, on the phase out of nuclear power over there. Eric spoke to him last week when he was in Melbourne for the Friends of the Earth International Conference. Finally we speak to David Noonan, campaign officer for the Australian Conservation Foundation in Adelaide.

But first, it has been an extraordinary week. It came to light that for the last two years the American company, Pangea, has been involved in promoting a nuclear waste dump in Australia. And a top adviser to the US President, Bill Clinton said that Australia should consider becoming the world's nuclear waste dumping ground. Special envoy to the president, Robert Gallucci said that Australia was ideally placed to help the world solve the problem of where to store nuclear waste from bombs dismantled at the end of the cold war.

The other newsworthy event this week involved Energy Resources of Australia. Apparently, the Democrat Lyn Allison asked a question in parliament. She asked if ERA were negotiating with the government to find a way out of the Jabiluka uranium mine project. There were fervent denials by the government and ERA but Lyn Allison said she had a reliable source.

Then to top it all off we can report that the National Social Justice and Human Rights Agency of the Catholic bishops came out against the Jabiluka uranium mine, saying that to proceed with the mine was morally unacceptable.

What an extraordinary week!

Last Sunday afternoon the Jabiluka Action Group organised a rally to stop the Jabiluka mine with the slogan – World Heritage in Danger, No Uranium Mining, No Theft of Aboriginal Land, No Destruction of Kakadu.

About 6,000 people marched from the State Library down Swanston Walk to the Alexandra Gardens for music and speeches. Jaqui Katona, executive director for the Gundjehmi Corporation, the Aboriginal organisation that represents the Mirrar People whose land the Jabiluka project is on, spoke at the Alexandra Gardens end of the rally.

MC: Please make welcome Jaqui Katona

Jaqui Katona: Thank you. It's so good to see so many citizens of Melbourne out enjoying the good weather and out in defence of such a good cause. Jabiluka! We know that all the people here today know that Howard can't fulfil his promises about reconciliation. This is the test that the Howard

Government has to meet. This is one of many tests that the Howard Government will fail when it comes to reconciliation. We know that the Liberal Coalition Government isn't serious and the rest of the country needs to understand that the platitudes, the mouthings, the bullshit that's coming out of the Howard government isn't going to solve the situation between Aboriginal People and the rest of the community here in Australia.

Howard can try to take our Native Title, he can legislate, he can write his words in parliament, he can speak to other international countries to say he's doing the right thing by Aboriginal People, but he can't take it away from us. Our Native Title is us. Our Native Title is inside us. They will have to kill us to take it away.

And Senator Hill, the temper tantrums, and Senator Hill, he's not the minister for the environment, he's the minister for toxic waste management. This is the future that the Liberal Coalition Government wants for Kakadu National Park. Not an icon for recognition for high unique values, outstanding values recognised around the world. That's not the plan the Liberal Coalition Government has. They talk about multi-purpose use. If you have a park and put a fence around it, you should be allowed to do anything you like in it. Including uranium mining.

Well, we've got news for the Liberal Coalition Government. It's going to stop. And it's going to stop in Kakadu National Park.

And we don't care who says we're wrong. We don't care who says there are benefits. We don't care who says we will have a better life. Those kinds of comments are irrelevant. Those comments have been cancelled out by twenty years of the Mirrar People living in third world conditions. This is the Mirrar People's choice. And we don't care if lies are being told by Blacks or Whites about what should happen at Jabiluka, this is a Mirrar decision. And the Mirrar are not going to change their minds. The Mirrar have said 'No!'

It's their land, it's our future, and it won't be compromised.

Now for all this they call us 'un-Australian.' They say we're 'bad citizens.' Well, we don't want to be 'good citizens.' We are 'non-citizens.' And it's our actions that will continue to defy the terms which define our identity, which belong to another society. We have our own society. We have our own identity and we have our right to practise our cultural obligations to protect our future.

Zip:

Uranium, my cranium can't comprehend the fact

of the way and the degree in which this land has been attacked.

Contact, settlement,

No it was invasion,

Ask the Mirrar People about reconciliation.

It isn't about colour, it's about who has the power

It's poisoning this land, don't sit back and just allow it.

The government, compassionate,

Just like a big bazooka

So are you gunna let them mine Jabiluka?

No Way, No Way, No Way, No Way,

No way, some people say it's too big,

This government can stop a bull, they're just a bunch of pigs.

Well yes to the second but no to the first,

None but ourselves can free our minds,

So burst out of our cages, out of our aviaries

Emancipate ourselves from mental slavery.

From little things big things grow,

Get your inspiration from all over the show,

From music, people, love, from land,

Take a deep breath and take a strong stand ….

Linda Marks: You're listening to Jaqui Katona, Executive Director for the Gundjehmi Corporation representing the Mirrar People at the rally in Melbourne last Sunday.

This is the first time Jaqui has spoken publicly in Melbourne since she asked the Jabiluka Action Groups around Australia to work more on human rights and indigenous rights issues and to work for the survival of the Mirrar People. Back to Jaqui …

Jaqui Katona: What's happening in Kakadu isn't the only thing happening to Aboriginal communities. You can be guaranteed, where ever a mining agreement is being negotiated, or where ever reconciliation is taking place, it's taking place because Aboriginal People are being given no choice.

This government continues, in secrecy, to lie, to trick Aboriginal People, to promise and to walk away when those agreements are signed, and leave our people to continue to live as fringe dwellers.

It's not our people who profit from development. It's mining companies. It's developers. And it's governments. And they have to stop. We need you to explain this to people. We need you to make everybody understand the hypocrisy that the Australian Government is participating in and calling it reconciliation. Reconciliation won't exist in this country unless issues like the Jabiluka issue are dealt with. Unless issues like what's happening in the Gulf of Carpentaria are dealt with. Unless issues like the occupation of Government buildings here in Melbourne are dealt with and dealt with on Aboriginal terms. Not having our solutions imposed upon us by a society that says that we don't belong.

We will fight for change. We will continue to fight. And people are joining us every day. Not only here in Australia, but now around the world. Some of the most conservative groups in the world are tying Indigenous rights to every aspect of Australian governance. Indigenous rights are the test by which Australia is being judged.

It's up to all of us. We can do it. We are powerful. We are able to change this government. We can achieve the standards of humanity which are recognised internationally. We can in fact become the leaders. There is the will in the Australian community for this path to be followed. We invite all of you here today to tell your friends, tell your family. Encourage people to apply pressure on the Australian Government. Especially about the construction activity continuing at Kakadu today. The Australian Government is going to feel pain over this issue because it's not the first one that's come along. It won't be the last.

And where I stand today, after me there will be Aboriginal People following who will tell the same stories, whose issues need to be heard. Who need your compassion, who need your humanity, who require you to urge your government to act. Join with us. Stop Jabiluka. Stop the oppression of Aboriginal People. Ensure that our rights are recognised. Ensure that we have the ability to enjoy a future on our terms, by our standards, because it's a contribution for all of us. Thank you.

Zip:

Yellow cake break, make no mistake,

They'll kill the brolga, they'll kill the Melaleuca,

Are you gunna let them mine Jabiluka?

No Way, No Way,

Are you gunna let them get away?

No Way, No Way, No Way, No Way

You see, because there's one other plan,

Mirrar control of Mirrar land.

Linda Marks: We were listening to Jaqui Katona speaking to the crowd at last Sunday's rally against Jabiluka, Jaqui is Executive Director of the Gundjehmi Corporation representing the Mirrar People. We finished the segment with Zip, singing 'No Way.'

Last week we heard that Sweden held a referendum in 1980 to phase out nuclear power by the year 2010 and Swedes are still waiting for their government to act on the result of that referendum. Now the German Government has tabled plans to phase our nuclear power. The government will negotiate with the nuclear industry on the phase out for one year. If there is no agreement then the German Government will pass laws to phase nuclear power with a fixed time line. They want to phase nuclear power out over a 10 year period. Eric Miller spoke to Mark Engelhardt from Friends of the Earth Germany.

Eric Miller: Germany has just announced that it is going to phase out Nuclear Power.

Mark Engelhardt: Yes, it's just a question of time actually. We've got a new Red/Green government for the first time in Germany. One of the major issues of this new Red/Green government is the nuclear phase out. Within the next year there will be talks with industry about how to implement the phase out plans and the government hopes that those talks will be successful and that an agreement will be reached.

Eric Miller: This has been a long campaign in Germany, against nuclear energy. There have been statements before about Germany getting rid of its nuclear energy hasn't there?

Mark Engelhardt: Yes, sure. We have been campaigning for it for as long as we have existed, (FoE Germany) it was the reason for founding our organisation and we are very proud of it and we will watch very closely how those talks will proceed. After all, if the talks with industry aren't successful then in a year the government promised to make a law for phasing out. That means, there will be a nuclear phase out, it's just a question of when exactly it will happen.

Eric Miller: Sweden promised to phase out nuclear energy eighteen years ago and nothing much has happened, I suppose that you are aware of this and guard against it.

Mark Engelhardt: Yes, we are very much aware of the situation in Sweden and we will learn from it hopefully. That's why we are proposing a law to install a concrete time line by which time nuclear power will be closed down. We are hoping that in about ten years the last nuclear power plant will be closed at last.

Eric Miller: Germany is quite dependent on nuclear energy for its electricity generation, about 30%.

Mark Engelhardt: Yes, that's it at the moment but on the other hand Germany has more energy produced than it really needs. That is one of the reasons that we don't need nuclear energy in Germany. The other reason is of course that the question of energy efficiency has to be raised in a much more concrete way by the government than it has been before. The government promised that the question of energy efficiency will be raised by several campaigns done by the government and by Friends of the Earth Germany.

Eric Miller: Apart from the dangers of nuclear energy, one of the main campaigns in Germany has been around the waste storage and what to do with the waste.

Mark Engelhardt: That remains a problem of course. That will be one of the questions that we as an environmental organisation will have to face throughout the next years. When we say phasing out of nuclear energy, it still means that there will be nuclear waste when we at last close the plants down. So far, we propose that nuclear waste should be stored in the plants themselves and where this is not possible there will be, of course, have to be a place found within Germany to store the nuclear waste. That's what will remain from the choice they made 30 years ago to step into nuclear energy. We knew that and we are aware of that.

Eric Miller: Germany was one of the first countries in the world to get into nuclear energy and it's one of the most advanced engineering countries in the world. You haven't found any satisfactory way of storing this waste?

Mark Engelhardt: Of course, there is no solution, and that's why even in Germany with a lot of industry in this field, no solution has been found to this problem. That's the major reason why we say that nuclear phase out is necessary because there is no way to get rid of the nuclear waste. That's the main problem.

Eric Miller: Thank you very much

Mark Engelhardt: Thank you

Linda Marks: That was Mark Engelhardt from FoE Germany speaking to Eric about the phase out of nuclear power in Germany.

Our last item relates to one of the uranium mines proposed for South Australia. On Friday, Senator Hill was meant to consult with General Atomics on the Beverley uranium mine's Environment Impact Statement. At Beverley there is already a pilot plant operating using acid in situ leaching and the radioactive and toxic waste is being returned back underground into the aquifer without having been treated. Beverley is in Northern South Australia in the Lake Frome area.

Eric spoke to David Noonan from the Australian Conservation Foundation in Adelaide yesterday.

Eric Miller: David, today's a special day for the Beverley EIS.

David Noonan: Senator Hill was due to give his recommendations to the proponents General Atomics in regard to the Beverley uranium mine yet the Senator has found the need to further postpone that role. He has extended that assessment period by a further two weeks making a complete extension of up to six weeks and is now due to report on Christmas Eve. We have serious concerns that Senator Hill is trying to deflect public scrutiny from his potential approval of the Beverley mine to the Christmas/New Year period just to prevent access from conservation groups and the media to what he's actually trying to get away with.

Eric Miller: This has already been extended by 4 weeks to have an assessment by a hydrologist. What's become of that report?

David Noonan: ACF have placed freedom of information claims on both the Commonwealth and the State Governments to get full access to that US consultancy report. At present the SA Government has not acknowledged our requests, and the Commonwealth and the State Government have made reference to potentially constraining whether they make a full release in terms of the commercial confidentially in the interests of the proponents.

Eric Miller: So nobody has had any input into that report, it was just an in house report.

David Noonan: Indeed, conservationists requested to be allowed to communicate with the consultant, a Ms. April Lafferty of the US, and so we were not given any assistance by the SA Government to do that.

Eric Miller: This looks like Senator Hill is trying to get this done without public scrutiny.

David Noonan: Indeed, both to prevent public access to the consultancy report, which should have been released well prior to his making of any recommendation, so we could have an informed public debate at that time. But to also now attempt to use the Christmas/New Year period to limit the public scrutiny that his role in the Beverley mine will be put under.

Eric Miller: Thank you very much for that David.

Linda Marks: That was Eric Miller speaking to David Noonan yesterday. David Noonan is a campaign officer with ACF in SA and they were talking about the Beverley uranium pilot plant.

Eric, you have some news for us.

Eric Miller: Yes. This week Russia and America tested nuclear weapons. They did sub critical tests and both these tests in America and in Russia were done on Aboriginal land. A sub critical test is where they explode the radioactive substance and before it goes critical they stop that action happening. This is to develop their nuclear weapons. So both Russia and America are still developing nuclear weapons, they still have their weapons on a hair trigger alert system and so we are still in that really dangerous state that they could blow up the world at any time. Having their weapons on alert like this is contrary to the Test Ban Treaty and to international laws.

Linda Marks: I hope that they've changed their software and they aren't going to be affected by the millennium bug.

Eric Miller: This is a real worry. We're asking them to take all of their weapons off the hair trigger, de-load the rockets, take the weapons from the rockets, take the fuel from the rockets so that if anything does happen at least it's a little bit safer than it was.

Linda Marks: We've received a letter from the North West Melbourne branch of the Movement Against Uranium Mining asking for people to donate to a fund to help those who were arrested at Jabiluka to get up to Darwin to defend their cases. One of the most famous people arrested at Jabiluka was Alvie Booth, long time anti-nuclear activist from the Movement Against Uranium Mining. She is going to go up to fight her court case. If you want to help Alvie fight her case, and all the others who are going up there to fight their cases and say we are not guilty of trespass, you can send your donations to

the Jabiluka Legal Fund c/- Jabiluka Action Group,

312 Smith Street, Collingwood, 3066.

Eric Miller: Just as we are coming up to the end of the year with this incredible news of trying to make Australia a nuclear waste dump, Senator Parer was saying the nuclear waste problem has been solved. If it is solved, why do they want to dump this radioactive waste in Australia?

That's all the time we have for the Radio-Active Show this week Linda so it's goodbye from Eric.

Linda Marks: And it's goodbye from Linda.

Transcript produced by Linda Marks - with much thanks!!!
Page last updated December 26, 1998.
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