Nuclear Issues

Wednesday, 7 October

WA Greens Uranium spokesperson Robin Chapple MLC said Toro Energy’s announcement last week to postpone development at its Wiluna uranium project was a sign of things to come.

“Realistically, I would like to think that this mine is unlikely to ever enter full production,” Mr Chapple said.

“Global uranium prices have been flat-lining at their current level for five years now and I just don’t see there being a surge in demand in the next five years.

“Renewable energy is only going to become more viable, and more desirable, for developing nations to invest in under mounting international pressure to act on climate change mitigation.

“Circumstance has led to nuclear power becoming unnecessary before it ever went mainstream; recent independent analysis has proven this and Australia’s policies should reflect it.

“As a developed nation we have an opportunity and a responsibility to help our neighbours take up renewable energy solutions as a part of their development

“Support for this project is coming from a cash-strapped government incapable of seeing the bigger picture; the West Australian people want nothing to do with uranium!”

For comment please contact Media liaison Tim Oliver on 0431 9696 25 or 9486 8255.

A parliamentary question has shown that the state government has conditionally supported Gindalbie Metals proposed nuclear waste dump, despite state legislation prohibiting the development.

WA Greens spokesperson for nuclear issues Robin Chapple MLC said it was shameful for this government to even consider a nuclear waste dump in this state, given the Nuclear Waste Storage and Transportation (Prohibition) Act 1999 was enacted by a liberal government.

“Terry Redman, the minister for lands, has admitted in parliament that he asked his office to draft a letter in support of Badja as a potential site for the proposed nuclear waste dump,” he said.

“They are trying to pull the wool over our eyes; this proposal is a blatant cash grab from a cash-strapped company with support from a cash-strapped government.

“Does he have support from his Liberal Party colleagues in taking this action? If so I would like to know how this government can justify such support.

“It is absolutely irresponsible to support a nuclear waste dump proposal on Aboriginal lands by Gindalbie Metals, a company heavily subsidised by the state government.

“Moreover, there has been no conversation with Widi Native Title claimants about the potentiality of such a development on their lands; a deal breaker at the very first step of such a process.”

For comment please contact Robin Chapple on 0409 379 263 or 9486 8255.

Media liaison: Tim Oliver // 0431 9696 25          

Wednesday, 13 May

The Australian Greens have raised serious concerns about the lack of notice or consultation with native title claimants or the Mid-West community around an application for a nuclear waste dump to be hosted in the region.

The application has been made by Gindalbie Metals, for an area lying within Badja Station in the Shire of Yalgoo.

"Over the last twenty years, Australia has seen a shameful succession of poorly conceived, coercive attempts to dump reprocessed spent fuel on Aboriginal lands," Senator Scott Ludlam, Australian Greens nuclear spokesperson and deputy leader said today.

"If Minister Macfarlane's site selection process is not to end up repeating the dismal failures of the past, this kind of nomination will have to be set aside."

"Media reports quote spokespeople of the Widi Native Title claimants, indicating that they had no consultation or prior notice about this application. This is a deal breaker at the very first step of the process," Senator Scott Ludlam said.

WA Greens spokesperson on Nuclear Issues Robin Chapple MLC said the proposal contradicted the Nuclear Waste Storage and Transportation (Prohibition) Act 1999, enacted by the Liberal party, prohibiting nuclear waste storage in WA.

"Western Australia's stance on a nuclear waste dump is crystal clear," Mr Chapple said.

"Federal government consideration of a nuclear waste dump proposal that overrules state-enacted legislation will create unnecessary political turmoil for Western Australia.

"This is a blatant cash grab from a struggling company who has already received millions of dollars' worth of special royalty rebates from the state government.

"The only beneficiary of a nuclear waste dump in WA will be Gindalbie Metals' balance sheet.

"The state government needs to stand up and reaffirm its position on nuclear waste and expose this proposal for what it really is."

For comment please contact Robin Chapple on 0409 379 263 or 9486 8255.

Media liaison: Tim Oliver // 0431 9696 25          

Wednesday, April 1

WA Greens spokesperson on uranium issues Robin Chapple MLC has expressed dismay at the willingness of several goldfields shires to host a nuclear waste dump.

Local governments and private landowners have until May 5 to voluntarily nominate sites for the Federal Government’s proposed nuclear waste dump facility.

Mr Chapple said local governments should seriously reconsider voluntarily nominating sites for a nuclear waste dump as it will set a dangerous precedent for Western Australia.

“There is significant public opposition to the uptake of anything nuclear-related in the state of Western Australia,” he said.

“A nuclear waste dump, along with the recent approval of several uranium mines throughout the state, will only contribute to the impression that WA is a nuclear-friendly state.

“We do not want to see these types of industries normalised here in WA; they are unsafe, they are toxic, and they are unnecessary.”

Mr Chapple said federal politicians and international groups had been lobbying for an international nuclear waste dump since the 1980s.

“If this proposal is successful it will put our state one step closer to hosting the nuclear garbage of the rest of the world,” he said.                   

“Short term economic benefits are not a good enough reason for Western Australia to become a dumping ground for the rest of the world’s nuclear waste.”

For comment please contact Robin Chapple on 0409 379 263 or 9486 8255.

Media liaison: Tim Oliver           

Mobile: 0431 9696 25

Wednesday, 4 March

Environment Minister Albert Jacob’s overnight approval of the Kintyre Uranium mine proposal was wrong on every level and should be immediately rescinded, according to WA Greens Uranium Spokesperson Robin Chapple MLC.

Mr Chapple said it was an inappropriate given the Office of Regional Indigenous Corporations (ORIC) was still investigating allegations of corruption into the Western Desert Lands Aboriginal Corporation’s (WDLAC).

“The Minister should not have made any decision until the position of the Martu people, with regards to a Uranium mine on their lands, had been absolutely clarified,” he said.

“Instead what Mr Jacob has done is slip this through quietly overnight with complete disregard for the investigation, or the mountain of appeals he has received in opposition.”

Mr Chapple said aside from potential legal ramifications the Kintyre proposal was a major environmental threat to the region’s unique desert environment and lacked the bipartisan political or broader public support necessary to validate its approval.

“This is yet another example of our government’s throwing its weight behind a rapidly ageing industry that will lock WA into an unsustainable future,” he said.

“This proposal will directly threaten the Karlamilyi National Park, the Karlamilyi River water catchment and the many threatened native flora and fauna species that inhabit this unique desert environment.

“To top it off the minister has recommended there should be no rehabilitation bonds, a move that could see liability for the clean-up of this mine fall on the taxpayer and not the company behind the proposal.

“Cameco have an appalling environmental record and are soon to face court in the USA and Canada over allegations of tax avoidance, yet we want to trust them to mine this dangerous mineral in such a fragile part of our state.”

Mr Chapple said issues raised by environmental and Indigenous groups had fallen on deaf ears.

“Appeals submitted on the basis of threats to groundwater, radiological uptake by native flora, the lack of baseline studies and commitments to monitoring in key areas have been dismissed,” he said.

“If this proposal ever wants to see the light of day it needs to be taken right back to step one and properly assessed.”

For comment please contact Robin Chapple on 0409 379 263 or 9486 8255.

Media liaison: Tim Oliver           

Mobile: 0431 9696 25

Thursday, 13 November

Whilst it is positive to see climate change becoming a more visible issue of late it is alarming to see fossil fuel and nuclear lobbyists leading the rhetoric on how best to tackle it, according to WA Greens Spokesperson on Energy and Climate Change Robin Chapple MLC.

The Business Council of Australia and the Australia Petroleum Production & Exploration Association (APPEA) have been vocal this week about the benefits, and necessity of, energy reform that includes primarily a greater reliance on gas.

Similarly, the World Nuclear Association has used the International Energy Agency’s world energy outlook report to preach the benefits of nuclear energy as a low-carbon, cost-effective means of producing electricity.

Mr Chapple said these big lobbying groups were jumping on the bandwagon to push for reform that benefitted their industry, but was not in any way a solution.

“These big lobbying groups, who exist purely for the benefit of their industries, have suddenly adopted climate change into their rhetoric,” he said.

“It’s frightening because what they are saying is very misleading, but attempts to be convincing.

Mr Chapple said repeated claims about gas as a clean energy alternative were polluting the information around climate change in Australian politics.

“I just fail to see the logic that these are ‘solutions’ to increasing emissions in Australia,” he said.

“These lobbyists have somehow managed to normalise the idea that replacing finite fossil fuel resources with different, but equally finite, fossil fuel resources is a sustainable and beneficial solution.

“The idea that renewable energy investment is not economically viable needs to be trashed; it is absolute rubbish.

“Why are we, as a nation, so determined not to be a world leader when we have so much potential to be so.”

Mr Chapple said he continued to be amazed by the general indifference, and even open resistance, towards renewable energy by both State and Federal Governments.

“I urge politicians to shake off this attitude of ‘ignorance is bliss’ and really make some noise so that those in power have no choice but to change,” he said.

‘Dialogue on the issue is completely under the spell of industry and lobbyists at the moment when the last thing we need in this country is more gas or worse, an uptake of nuclear power especially given the amazing potential we have for renewable energy generation in this country.”