Cancellation
of nuclear waste seminar
An Institution of Engineers WA seminar on nuclear waste, which was to
be held on Monday 14th February and addressed by Pangea general managers
Charles McCombie and Marcis Kurzeme, has been cancelled because of “safety
concerns”.
Director Richard Usher said of the cancellation, “Our premises is very close on Murray Street [sic] and I was concerned that it is only a short pavement outside our building... if there was a protest of any significant number then one of our members or one of the people in the protest group might possibly have been involved in a motor vehicle accident. “I think West Australian engineers could have contributed to [the safe nuclear waste disposal] debate had this seminar gone ahead but unfortunately the engineers will be denied that opportunity now.”
“Ignorance is winning the day. You don’t have to look far in the Australian community to realise that sentiment, ignorance and apathy can be manipulated in a frenzy that can ultimately work against the community.” He also said that it is a sad day when freedom of speech is prevented.
Most people in WA, even the ones who hold up placards occasionally, are intelligent enough to recognise such an obvious attempt to salvage the reputation of the losing side of an argument. They are also intelligent enough not to wander aimlessly in front of oncoming traffic while standing outside a building. They might ask why Pangea and the Institution of Engineers can show such concern for the immediate safety of people attending their conference and not for the safety of those people at risk while the waste is transported, or the future generations of people at risk while it lies underground, still deadly for many thousands of years.
An opportunity has, indeed, been lost with this cancellation; the opportunity for people who have not swallowed Pangea’s line to finally be able to ask some hard questions of Messrs McCombie and Kurzeme in a public forum. STAND members and others had planned to attend the seminar with questions we have been waiting for proper answers to for some time, some of which were forwarded to the organisers beforehand as a courtesy.
We can take some comfort in the fact we even know who Pangea are. It is worth remembering that had their promotional video not been leaked to Friends of the Earth (UK), no-one in WA apart from a few on-side politicians, journalists and directors of institutions would have had a clue until it was too late. We would not have the public outrage, or local and state government legislation that Pangea have managed to inspire.
How can apathy be ‘manipulated in a frenzy’? The citizens of WA are certainly not apathetic, and Pangea knew that before they came; or else they would not have come in secret.
Paul Smith Co-Convenor, Scientists and Technologists Against Nuclear Dumping (WA) [STAND]
