O(October 31, 1997) n October 8, the conservative government in Australia gave the go-ahead for the Jabiluka mine proposal, ending the former Labor government's eight-year ban on the opening of new uranium facilities. The mine has been welcomed by the Northern Territory but environmental and Aboriginal organizations are preparing the largest environmental campaign in the history of Australia.
(480.4759) WISE Amsterdam/FOE Sydney -Just before the last issue of the WISE Newscommunique was supposed to be printed the news came in that the Australian government has given the go-ahead for the Jabiluka uranium mine. We decided to skip an extensive article on the beauty and importance of the Kakadu national park and we just mentioned the decision. That was the reason for that issue being only 12 pages instead of the regular 16.
Aboriginal and environmental groups are furious about the decision. They condemned the announcement, saying it preempted a federal court decision by the land's traditional owners, the Mirrar people, against the validity of ERA's mineral lease. Many organizations have threatened to wage the biggest environmental campaign in the nation's history in a bid to stop a uranium mine being built in a national park.
Meanwhile, on October 20, the Australian Senate passed the following motion, opposing the Jabiluka project. The motion calls on the government to:
- Take a decision on Jabiluka that is based on the broadest possible criteria
- Take note of the environmental, radiological, heritage, and foreign affairs ramifications of such a decision, and..
- proceed no further with the Jabiluka uranium proposal.
The Friends of the Earth has hailed the Senate motion on Jabiluka as a 'red light for yellow cake' that shows that the government may face insurmountable problems in proceeding with the Jabiluka uranium mine. According to FOE spokesperson John Hallam, "The Senate resolution on Jabiluka is a sensible move that will be supported by the whole community, and a red light for the government's pursuit of the Jabiluka project."
Jabiluka is a uranium mine in the most extraordinary spot in Australia -- a place that is not only a national park, but is one of only 19 areas in the world that are considered to be World Heritage on both natural and cultural criteria. It is a project that is totally opposed by the Aboriginal traditional owners of the Jabiluka site, whose opinion the government has repeatedly promised to respect. On February 14, 1996, prior to the last federal election, Mr. John Howard (now Prime Minister) said in relation to mining in Kakadu that "I would have thought that the environmental considerations would rule it out."
On October 16 was the annual general meeting of the Energy Resources of Australia, the company that plans to mine Jabiluka. Anti-Jabiluka activists had a busy time both inside and outside the meeting, and their activities attracted massive publicity from radio and TV. The protest started with a press conference held outside the meeting. This was followed by an impressive demonstration in front of the Regent Hotel in Sydney, where the meeting took place, as some of us who had acquired shares in the company entered the meeting to ask questions. The ERA officials inside the hotel could hear "Stop Jabiluka Mine!" being chanted outside. Then activists inside the hotel also shouted "Stop Jabiluka Mine!" while being chased by husky security persons. That was, however, only a diversion as in front of the assembled board of directors, a huge 'Stop Jabiluka' banner complete with a wonderful hand symbol, was let down 12 meters from the third-floor mezzanine of the hotel foyer.
Inside, questioning of the board of directors was very sharp, and ERA was forced to admit that the Jabiluka mineral lease was in no way inferior in terms of environmental value to the surrounding Kakadu national park. Questioned over whether ERA was willing to take responsibility for the environmental effects of its operations for very long periods of time for which tailings are radioactive (300,000-700,000 years), ERA said it was willing to take action which would ensure the safety of the tailing waste for the next 100,000 years!
The Senate resolution opposing Jabiluka does not mean the Jabiluka campaign is won. It certainly is not, and we are gearing up for a major confrontation in the Northern Territory. The government will most certainly do its damndest to ignore and circumvent the Senate resolution, and by itself the resolution does not stop anything at all. What it does do is to make it very difficult for the government to get through the Senate any legislation that might be necessary if the government fails to win the current court case on the validity of the mineral lease now being bought by the Gundjehmi Aboriginal Corporation. This would also pretty much ensure that if the government declares that in the light of a refusal by the Gundjehmi to negotiate, it is "in the national interest" for the mining to proceed, that declaration can be disallowed by the Senate. So it makes a political and legal nightmare of the whole thing, which is certainly good.
But it seems most likely that some months down the track, we will be facing bulldozers in Kakadu and getting arrested. To this end, we will be requesting help from overseas at all levels -- from the spiritual (we need your prayers) to the moral, the political, down to the economic and to people willing to participate in what will be a major civil disobedience action if it does indeed come to that point. Perhaps it won't, but indications are still that it will.
Sources:
- AFP, 9 October 1997
- Press releases and e-mail FOE Sydney, 13, 17 & 21 October
Contact: John Hallam, Friends of the Earth Sydney. Suite 15, 1st Floor, 104 Bathurst Street, Sydney, NSW, 2000 Australia.
Tel: +61-2-9283-2004; Fax: +61-2-9283-2005.
E-mail: foesydney@peg.apc.org
Action: Protest faxes still necessary! It is stillworthwhile to write to the prime minister of Australia! But the letter has to be a little bit changed from a simple "Please don't mine Jabiluka" to outrage over the horrible decision that has been made, and to a demand that the decision be changed. John Howard, Prime Minister, Parliament House, Australian Capital Territory, Australia 2600. Best to fax him: +61-26- 273-4100 (Canberra) or (Sydney): +61-2-9251-5454. Or you can fax the Minister for Resources and Energy, Senator Parer, at: +61-26-273-4134.
Do it now!