Environment

Lynas, an Australian corporation that is trying to operate a toxic rare earth refinery in Kuantan, Malaysia, failed in its latest attempt to silence criticism from community groups opposed to the refinery.

The statement below was released by Toolangi residents on July 27. The lock-on is taking place on the corner of Myers Creek Rd and Monda Track, Toolangi. *** What do you do when you watch magnificent native forest habitat on your beloved mountain being bulldozed, loaded on to convoys of huge log trucks and carted off to the woodchippers to be turned into paper! You get angry and determined – that’s what!

On July 17 the Minister for Agriculture Joe Ludwig released the green paper for Australia’s first-ever National Food Plan. According to the minister, this plan: “[W]ill ensure Australia has a sustainable, globally competitive, resilient food supply that supports access to nutritious and affordable food.”

A nuclear war using as few as 100 weapons would disrupt the global climate and agricultural production so severely that the lives of more than a billion people would be at risk, according to research findings released in April by International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War and its Australian affiliate, the Medical Association for Prevention of War.

Malaysians calling on Aussies to Stop Lynas.

Anti-uranium protesters' peaceful message of "uranium is just not cricket" was clearly too frightening for South Australian police who mobilised on horses and attacked the protest. Thirteen activists were arrested in the music festival at Roxby Downs Olympic Dam mine.

Lizards Revenge takes anti-nuke protest to BHP's gates. Photo by Zeb Parkes.

Protesters at the Lizard's Revenge anti-nuclear protest camp near Roxby Downs, South Australia, marched to what they dubbed the "gates of hell" — the entrance to BHP’s giant Olympic Dam mine — on July 15.

Over the weekend of July 14-15, communities in 30 locations around Malaysia participated in a National Day of Stop Lynas action against a rare earth refinery project being built in Malaysia by the Australian company Lynas.

It has not even begun, but a world record has already been set for the London 2012 Olympic games. The games, which begin on July 27, are the most corporatised, militarised and draconian Olympics of all time.

One hundred people joined a Maritime Union of Australia (MUA)-initiated protest against the proposed Muckaty nuclear waste dump on July 12 at Stokes Hill Wharf. MUA NT branch manager Thomas Mayor said wharfies would stand in solidarity with traditional owners who opposed the dump. The protest was held at Stokes Hill Wharf because waste would likely be shipped through the port if the waste dump goes ahead. Mayor said that the waste presented an unacceptable risk.

The Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) in NSW has fined a coal seam gas (CSG) company $3000 after it twice polluted a creek in the Pilliga forest near Narrabri in NSW by discharging contaminated water.