Kathy Newnam, Darwin
Opponents of the nuclear industry took their message to the federal parliamentary inquiry into uranium resources when it met in Darwin on October 24. Deceptively calling itself "the inquiry into developing Australia's non-fossil fuel energy industry", the inquiry's main focus is on the expansion of the uranium industry.
Twenty anti-nuclear activists gathered outside the hearing and then attended it to support the Northern Territory's Environment Centre (ECNT) during its submission.
According to the ECNT spokesperson Peter Robertson pointed out that "just about every mining company in Australia that has any interest in mining uranium appears to have been given the opportunity to appear before this inquiry, whereas ... only one group with concerns about the environment and future generations was given the opportunity to appear".
The rising price of uranium, which has spurred the Howard government's push to expand uranium mining, has also led Energy Resources Australia (ERA) to announce the extension of its Ranger mine. This mine, located inside Kakadu National Park, is due to be closed in 2008, but with ore processing continuing until 2011.
ERA announced on October 27 that it would be processing lower grade uranium oxide, extending processing operations for a further three years.
Meanwhile, opposition to the location of a nuclear waste dump in the NT continues to grow, with traditional owners of the land near Mount Everard — 42 kilometres north-west of Alice Springs — affirming their opposition to a nuclear waste dump on their land, one of the three potential dump sites proposed by the Howard government.
From Green Left Weekly, November 2, 2005.
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