[Greens-Media] Australia the global nuclear waste dump: Howard's Liberals' vision

[Hollo, Tim (Sen C. Milne)]

Australia the global nuclear waste dump: Howard's Liberals' vision

Hobart, Monday June 4, 2007  Prime Minister John Howard's real nuclear
agenda was finally exposed yesterday when the Liberal Party Federal
Council voted to support the development of a global nuclear waste dump
in Australia.

Australian Greens climate change spokesperson, Senator Christine Milne
said, "The Greens have been warning since the day Mr Howard started
promoting nuclear power that his real agenda was to turn Australia into
a global nuclear waste dump. Yesterday, we were proven right.

"Mr Howard's conversion to nuclear power crusader began last year on his
trip to India and was finalised on his trip to Washington a few months
later, when President Bush made it clear that Australia would not have a
seat at his Global Nuclear Energy Partnership table unless Australia
became more engaged in the global nuclear fuel cycle, in particular
enrichment, leasing and becoming a global nuclear waste dump.
 
"Mr Howard's subservience to the US meant that he could not bear to be
excluded from George Bush's table."
 
The Federal Council passed the following resolution:
That Federal Council believes that Australia should expand its current
nuclear industry to incorporate the entire uranium fuel cycle, the
expansion of uranium mining to be combined with nuclear power generation
and worldwide nuclear waste storage in the geotechnically stable and
remote areas that Australia has to offer.

Senator Milne said, "Hugh Morgman has been Australia's major promoter of
a global waste dump, so it is no surprise that he and Prime Minister
Howard's other friends, fundraisers and personal confidants, Ron Walker
and Robert de Crespigny, have positioned themselves to reap the massive
financial profits that would flow from Australia becoming a global
nuclear waste dump. We can expect to see the Liberal Party's coffers
grow substantially thanks to this decision.

"Amid all the talk of profits, spare a thought for the indigenous
Australians whose rights have been once again trampled for President
Bush and Prime Minister Howard's destructive agenda.

"The Howard Government has already passed laws which allow it to
nominate and approve a site for a nuclear waste dump without the consent
of the traditional owners of the land. The Howard Government has
legislated to remove procedural fairness from the reach of traditional
owners so that they will not even have the right to appeal such a
decision."

Contact Tim Hollo on 0437 587 562

Tim Hollo
Media and Communications Adviser
Senator Christine Milne
Phone: + 61 (0) 2 6277 3063
Mobile: + 61 (0) 437 587 562
Email: tim.hollo at aph.gov.au
Skype: timhollo
Website: www.christinemilne.org.au