Greens MPs

Thirty years after his first anti-uranium benefit gig at Sydney Town Hall, Environment Minister Peter Garret approved the expansion of the Beverley Uranium mine in South Australia.

The Beverley uranium mine is 520km north of Adelaide, deep in the heart of the South Australian desert. This is an area of low rainfall with sparse vegetation, reliant on underground water for development. Discovered in 1969, the ore body of approximately 21,000 tonnes of uranium oxide has an average grade of 0.18% and stretches four kilometres by 500 metres.

In the wake of the release Professor Garnaut's draft report this morning, Stateline WA ran a well timed piece this evening on the nuclear industry's unsightly scramble for a place at the climate change table.

The piece used clips from a film I produced last year titled 'Climate of Hope' which reviews the nuclear fuel chain and exposes the nuclear industry's reliance on fossil fuels. The alleged 'nuclear renaissance' just isn't happening. The renewable energy stats I quoted in the film are already out of date - the wind industry installed ten times more capacity worldwide last year than nuclear power. It's time Australia kicked the fossil/nuclear habit once and for all.

In the wake of the release Professor Garnaut's draft report, Stateline WA ran a well timed piece in which I was interviewed on the nuclear industry's unsightly scramble for a place at the climate change table.

I am very worried - and I think all Australians ought to be equally worried - that Australia’s rapidly growing involvement in the global nuclear industry has been shrouded in silence during this campaign. Brief mentions by Kerry O'Brien on the 7.30 Report in his leaders' interviews this week are essentially the sum total of media discussion on the issue.

Worried about global warming? Never fear! There is an easy solution just around the corner...

Senator Kerry Nettle joined Greens supporters and other protesters outside the Australian Nuclear Association conference in Sydney today. This ageing band of nuclear warriors were joined by Dr Ziggy Switkowski, Chairman of the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) as part of their campaign to support John Howard's plan for 25 nuclear reactors in Australia.

Kerry outlined the Greens plan for a Nuclear Free Australia, including keeping Sydney's nuclear reactor at Lucas Heights shutdown. Copies of the Greens new Nuclear Family post card (see picture above) were distributed to the public.