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NSW Teachers Federation rallies against potential AUKUS submarine site

, Issue 1460, News
NSW teachers fed Mel Barnes
The NSW Teachers Federation rallying against AUKUS at Port Kembla, August 12. Photo: Melanie Barnes

The NSW Teachers Federation (NSWTF) held a rally outside Port Kembla Public School on August 12 to support the campaign against AUKUS. 

The school is only two kilometres from the site of a potential base for nuclear-powered submarines, also likely to be carrying nuclear weapons.

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The crowd was made up of teachers, retired teachers, parents, students and unionists.

NSWTF deputy president Natasha Watt told the crowd that the federal government is allocating $368 billion for AUKUS, while teachers and students are still waiting for schools to be fully funded.

AUKUS Public Inquiry commissioners Peter Garrett and Karina Lester spoke to the crowd after they toured the potential site of a nuclear submarine base in Port Kembla, as part of their visit to Tharawal/Wollongong.

During a lunchtime rally outside the AUKUS inquiry, Wollongong Against War and Nukes supporters participated in a “die-in” to illustrate the danger a nuclear submarine base poses to the community.

[Melanie Barnes’ children attend Port Kembla Public School. She presented a submission to the AUKUS Public Inquiry from Wollongong Against War and Nukes on August 12.]

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