Thursday, 14 September, 2006

by Margie Lynch and Christopher Poulson
Media Release

This Thursday, September 14, a group of Traditional Owners and representatives from NT Aboriginal communities will travel to Melbourne to participate in an anti-nuclear symposium.

Organised by the Beyond Nuclear Initiative, the symposium aims to bring together people from all over the country to discuss the current nuclear push within Australia and potential impacts on communities and the environment. The seven members of the NT delegation are all from communities being targeted for uranium mining and the proposed Commonwealth radioactive waste dump.

The group intends to highlight the lack of consultation that is often involved in pushing nuclear facilities on indigenous communities.

Uncle Bindi Martin from Tennant Creek, a traditional owner for Muckaty Station said “Early this year, some members of Muckaty association were approached and asked if we wanted to have a “rubbish dump” on our land. Northern Land Council paid for a group of our elders to travel to Sydney and we visited Lucas Heights. That was when we realised that the rubbish dump they asked us about was actually for nuclear waste”.

Margie Lynch from the Arrernte Nations Campaign said “international trends recognise the importance of community acceptance of nuclear facilities, but this is not what we see in Australia. Instead there is a culture of bullying and bribery, where communities are enticed to accept nuclear facilities in exchange for the promise of basic services and infrastructure, like roads and housing, that are a given in other areas”.

Christopher Japangardi Poulson, a Traditional Owner for Pikilyi Springs (near Yuendumu community) added clearly “If you destroy the land you kill our tradition, spirit and story. We don’t want the land destroyed by mining or nuclear waste”