Darwin anti-nuclear campaign
By Tom Flanagan
DARWIN — An information stall in Darwin's Raintree Park on July 1 collected hundreds of signatures on petitions opposing nuclear testing. This was the first of a series of public actions in response to the announcement of renewed nuclear weapons testing at Moruroa.
A common theme in discussions at the information stall was Australia's uranium mining. The Northern Territory and federal governments' half-hearted protests over nuclear testing can't hide the fact that Australia's production of uranium ore is destined for nuclear reactors, and that nuclear weapons are produced from the plutonium created by the same industry.
It is not just French plutonium, nor even the existence of nuclear weapons alone that constitutes the whole of the nuclear threat. There are no nuclear reactors that are 100% safe. And nuclear waste remains a threat to the global environment for hundreds of thousands of years.
An initial meeting of 30 people on June 24 planned the successful information stall and banner painting session to coincide with the July 1 anti-nuclear protests in France. A public meeting and rally on the issue are now being planned for Bastille Day, July 14, to be held at the Old Darwin Town Hall Ruins at 7pm. Plans are also under way for a major public event on Hiroshima Day, August 6.