Jabiluka: the struggle of the Mirrar people against the Jabiluka uranium mine
Frontline Film Foundation
Produced and directed by David Bradbury
Chauvel Cinema, Sydney on December 12-13, 7pm and Dec 14, 5pm. State Film Centre, Melbourne on December 14-15, 7pm. National Film and Sound Archive Theatre, Canberra, December 18, 7pm.
Review by Jon Land
Jabiluka begins with a scenario set in the year 2012, where an accident at a nuclear reactor in Indonesia sends a cloud of deadly radioactive dust towards the north of Australia. A radio news report advises Darwin residents to stay calm and wait indoors for further instructions.
Uranium mined at Ranger in the Northern Territory, they are informed, is where the fuel for the reactor came from. A Chernobyl-like disaster has begun to unfold.
Such a disaster is a not so remote possibility and illustrates just one of many reasons that uranium mining should be stopped altogether. Bradbury uses this "incident of the future" to introduce the power-play and process of denial that have deprived the traditional owners of Jabiluka of the right to control their land and way of life.
The Mirrar people have strongly opposed the uranium mine at Ranger and the proposed mine at Jabiluka, located just over 20 kilometres away. Bradbury highlights the pressures placed on them by mining companies, by federal and territory governments and by the body meant to represent the Mirrar's interests, the Northern Land Council.
He makes excellent use of archival video and audio recordings of negotiations which took place over uranium mining.
A particularly revealing segment covers the final negotiations for the Ranger agreement. Ian Viner, the federal minister for Aboriginal affairs in the Fraser government, arrogantly tells the traditional owners, "The question is not whether there is going to be mining, but how it is going to be carried out ... we [the government] think it is a fair agreement ... providing a strong foundation for you and your children's future."
He told them the agreement would take away the "heartache" experienced over the lengthy negotiation period.
Yvonne Margarula, the senior traditional owner, gives a candid and personal assessment of how Viner's promised "future" never eventuated. Many of her people's lives have been devastated. Uranium mining has provided little more than the destruction of her people's land and culture.
Jacqui Katona, executive director of the Gundjehmi Aboriginal Corporation, tells of the sense of powerlessness the traditional owners experience; alcohol abuse in the community is like an anaesthetic, reinforcing people's lack of control over their lives.
Despite the claims by ERA and the Northern Territory government that Ranger is the most highly regulated mine in the world, there is a great deal of evidence in Jabiluka which suggests that this "regulation" is failing to protect the environment.
Contaminated waste has been dispersed into Kakadu National Park on many occasions. Dave Sweeney from the Australian Conservation Foundation documents myriad problems which will be compounded if Jabiluka goes ahead.
The Northern Territory minister for mines and energy, Daryl Manzie, smugly claims, on film, that the impact of the Ranger mine is negligible. He also instructed the Office of the Supervising Scientist, which monitors Ranger, not to speak to Bradbury.
Dr Rosalie Bertell, a world expert on health and uranium, describes the dangers of radiation and radon gas released into the environment by the processing of uranium ore into yellowcake. She believes the protective equipment used at Ranger is ineffective in safeguarding the health of workers.
(On March 5, 100 contract workers at Ranger went on strike for 24 hours over wages and conditions. One of the issues prompting the strike was ERA's inadequate radiation and contamination procedures for contractors. Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union organiser Doug Heath stated at the time, "Some of the blokes have been on site since last year working in areas where Ranger employees are not allowed to work without a [radiation detection] badge. Ranger claim they are on the way, but we havent seen them.")
Jabiluka
This is a timely film. It and Loggerheads (about the logging of old growth forest in northern NSW) are Frontline Film Foundation's first two releases. Bradbury established the foundation to counter government funding cuts and control over film makers. Jabiluka has been broadcast in Japan, Poland and Holland.
Bradbury told Green Left that, while he is still trying, he does not have high hopes that in the current political climate Jabiluka will be screened on the ABC. This is because Jabiluka presents the facts that ERA, the Northern Territory government and John Howard don't like us to see. There is only one safe and practical way to deal with uranium: leave it in the ground.