By Alison Dellit
On September 2, Warren Snowdon, federal ALP candidate for the Northern Territory, announced that Labor was unable to determine until after the election whether or not it would close the Jabiluka uranium mine if elected.
Snowdon claimed that the ALP lacked the necessary information about approvals for the mine, however, these details are reasonably easy to access.
Provisional approval has been given for the mine subject to Energy Resources of Australia disposing of the tailings in the dug-out areas of the mine, and subject to the company proving that no contamination from the site will leak into the surrounding parkland for 10,000 years.
The ALP's confusion stems, not from a lack of information about the approval process, but from its need to have a bob each way in the election campaign.
On the one hand, to openly state that if it is elected Labor will allow the mine to start operations would be very damaging electorally, since the majority of Australians oppose the mine.
On the other hand, Labor is (and has always been) committed to delivering greater profits to Australian big business, especially in periods of economic uncertainty like today. The ALP is unlikely to jeopardise its corporate backing by closing a mine which has already begun to be built.
Anti-mine campaigners' response to Snowdon's announcement was mixed.
Friends of the Earth made a statement on September 3 congratulating the ALP: "The most recent statements from [the ALP] offer virtually no hope to ERA. We are optimistic that if they win government and keep their promises, Jabiluka will be stopped."
FoE is also arguing that the anti-Jabiluka campaign should focus on running election campaigns in marginal seats to ensure the re-election of Labor.
In contrast, many Jabiluka Action Groups have reacted angrily to Labor's latest position. A spokesperson for JAG Brisbane, which organised a protest on September 4 against Labor's announcement, told the media that it offered nothing except more sell-outs.
Two days earlier, 150 JAG activists protested outside federal resources minister Warwick Parer's office to demand that construction of the mine be halted.
Sarah Peart from Resistance, which is planning a national demonstration on September 30 against racism and the mine, told Green Left Weekly that Labor's "new" position is meaningless. "Given the record of the ALP in government, it would be a disaster for Jabiluka activists to focus simply on re-electing the Labor Party", she said. "Instead, we need to build a large, forceful campaign through public demonstrations which place pressure on all parties to stop the mine."
The ALP has a long history of broken policies on uranium mining and nuclear issues. In 1983, federal Labor was re-elected partly on the basis of its formal anti-nuclear position and promise not to open any new uranium mines.
Not only did the new Labor government not close the existing mines, it allowed the opening of a new mine at Ranger in the NT, under the pretence that Ranger was an addition to an existing mine.
The fact that the ALP is unwilling to commit itself to close the Jabiluka mine indicates another sell-out is on the way if Labor is re-elected.