On this weeks Radioactive Show, you will hear the recordings taken over last weekend at the 2019 WA State Labor Conference in which the WA nuclear free campaign held a seminar hosted by the State Secretary Steve McCartney of the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union.

The Nuclear Free Australia seminar speakers included Tjiwarl women Vicki Abdullah  who is co-chair of ANFA, the Austraian nuclear free alliance, part of the WA version – WANFA, and who is one of the Tjiwarl women applicants on the Yeelirrie legal challenge and Dave Sweeny, Australian Conservation Foundation - National Nuclear Campaigner and Piers Verstegen from the Conservation Council of WA.  

The nuclear free Australia seminar was a snapshot of nuclear issues of recent Australian developments and policy discussions on nuclear weapons, waste, power and uranium mining.

In WA the following motions were adopted on Sunday 25/8:

WA Labor is committed to implementing a best process and practise approach to uranium assessment and regulation. We urge federal Labor – and the federal government – to reflect this on a national level and retain the long standing and prudent nuclear action trigger for uranium mining and the clear prohibition on nuclear power in the federal EPBC Act (1999) during the current EPBC review process.

WA Labor commits to rigorous scrutiny of any further approvals or applications by any of the four WA uranium mine proposals approved under the previous government. WA Labor will apply the highest regulatory standards to any project and will work with affected communities and key stakeholders including trade unions and workers in order to reduce risks.

WA Labor welcomes the resolution passed unanimously by the 2018 National LaborConference committing Labor in government to sign and ratify the United Nations Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons and calls on the Australian Government to sign and ratify the Treaty as an urgent humanitarian imperative.

On July 31^st the two year legal challenge over the controversial Yeelirrie uranium project State environmental approval was handed down.

The Yeelirrie legal challenge is one of the most historic and significant actions taken for the WA environment and for Traditional Owners. The case highlighted the urgent need for environmental law reform in WA, to establish effective legal protection for all creatures and to prevent wildlife extinction.

The controversial Cameco uranium mine proposal was rejected by the WA Environmental Protection Authority based on overwhelming evidence on the grounds that it would likely cause extinction to up to 12 unique species. There was an appeals process which upheld the WA EPA’s findings and which the former State Environment Minister agreed however approved the mine despite all of this.

It was this inconsistency between the findings and the outcome that was taken to the Supreme Court of WA by the three Tjiwarl women Shirley and Lizzie Wonyabong and Vicki Ab-dul- A and the Conservation Council of WA.

For more information about the show notes, conact KA ~ ka.garlick@ccwa.org.au