[Greens-Media] ACT no nuclear

[Manderson, Roland]

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ACT Greens MLA Deb Foskey MEDIA RELEASE
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25 May 2006


ACT should not endorse nuclear 

ACT Greens MLA Deb Foskey has called on ACT Government Chief Minister Jon Stanhope to make a clear commitment that the ACT Government will not participate in the production or use of nuclear energy. 

"Mr Stanhope's comments today that it is too early to rule out the prospect of a nuclear power plant in the ACT are irresponsible and misguided. The ACT Greens call on him to oppose the production or use of nuclear energy in the ACT," Dr Deb Foskey said today. 

"Mr Stanhope's comments are in contradiction with his Federal Labor colleagues, as Mr Beazley yesterday stated that a Beazley-Labor Government would not allow the development of nuclear power plants. Other Labor Premiers and Chief Ministers have also condemned such developments." 

"Mr Stanhope is saying that it might be acceptable to set up a nuclear power plant in the ACT and then presumably send our waste to the Northern Territory or Western Australia. This would be highly irresponsible as there is no safe way to dispose of high level nuclear waste.  We had this debate 20 years ago, and environmental and public health arguments stacked up against it. They still do. What has changed is that we have a Federal Government supporting America's nuclear obsession." 

"If Mr Stanhope is concerned about Climate Change - and I hope he is - he should use this year's budget to encourage renewable and safe energy production before even contemplating nuclear."

"The non-Green political parties see nuclear power as a technological fix to avoid facing up to the moral responsibility to change our behaviours to ensure that we pass a habitable planet on to future generations." 

"Thinking that nuclear power will solve the problem of climate change and allow us to continue our unsustainable consumer lifestyles is narcissistic and childish. This is another example of the cognitive disjunction that separates personal behaviour from the ultimate consequences and products of that behaviour" Dr Foskey said.


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Roland Manderson   Media Advisor
ACT   Greens    MLA  Deb  Foskey  
Legislative Assembly for the ACT 
ph(02)62050551      m 0412241379
==== www.act.greens.org.au ===== 
  
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