|
|||
|
|||
|
|
August 6, 2002 |
||
|
Immediately following the election of five Greens (WA) members to the Legislative Council in Western Australia, Giz Watson MLC re-introduced the Nuclear Activities (Prohibition) Bill for a third time. Given the change of government at the last election and the State ALP's anti-nuclear platform, it is quite possible that this time the Bill will pass into law, ending the decades-long campaign to keep WA uranium in the ground. The Bill seeks to prohibit
the exploration or mining of uranium
and thorium; to prohibit the establishment of any nuclear facility associated
with the nuclear fuel chain such as
a uranium mill, enrichment
plant, nuclear reactor or waste
facility; and to prevent the transport
of any nuclear materials. Special provisions are made to exempt isotopes
for medical and scientific use. Also provision is made to exclude very
small amounts of uranium or thorium that may be mined incidentally in
other mining operations (such as in the mineral sands mining industry). The Bill also fixes up the
problems of the definition of nuclear waste and the transportation of
nuclear material in the Nuclear Waste
(Prohibition) Act. In fact it will make this Act redundant and so
seeks to have it repealed. The Bill is, we believe,
in line with ALP policies and
so should gain their support. Energetic and persistent
lobbying is going to be needed to ensure that the Bill is debated and
that it doesn’t languish at the bottom of the Notice Paper. In
the same way as community pressure was put on the Government to support
the anti-waste Bill, the same could happen with this Bill. Please send letters, a postcard, faxes, make phone calls etc. to your local members of both houses of the WA parliament (see column on right). |
Links: People to contact:
|
|
|
the Anti-Nuclear Alliance of Western
Australia
email admin@anawa.org.au |
