When Northern Territory political leaders arrive at the Alice Springs Convention Centre for Parliament in the Centre tomorrow morning, local residents opposed to mining uranium at Angela Pamela will be there with a warm welcome and a clear message: “No Alice Uranium Mine!” 

Jess Abrahams from the Arid Lands Environment Centre said “Community opposition to a mine at Angela Pamela has been steadily building as local residents face up, not just the environmental and health risks associated with a radioactive mine so close to our town, but with the social and economic impacts as well.

“With the massive consumption of our precious desert water from a mine and the threat of radioactive dust from the mine tailings blowing around, the environmental and health risks are huge. Factor in the social and economic impacts on our town of a uranium mine, and more and more Alice locals are speaking out against it.”

 “Doctors from Central Australian Aboriginal Congress recently said they will leave town if the mine goes ahead – but it is not just medical professionals who feel that way,” Jess Abrahams said. “I’ve spoken to lawyers, teachers, artists, tour guides, business owners, scientists and youth workers who say they will reluctantly leave town as well, and take their young families with them, as a uranium mining town is no place to raise healthy children.”

Isabelle Kirkbride from Families for a Nuclear Free Future said “Our members are worried about their children’s health and changes to our town if this mine goes ahead. The community is becoming more and more informed and worried about the risks associated with the nuclear industry. The risks so close to our town are too great to ignore”.

Jess Abrahams said “residents are also concerned about added stress on our transport infrastructure, especially if uranium dug from mines in the region is transported to Angela Pamela for processing before being exported from Darwin. If that happens, we will have increased water use and also additional tailings waste to deal with. This stuff remains dangerously radioactive for thousands and thousands of years. We don’t want huge piles of it dumped near our town.” 

“When Parliament sits far away in Darwin, it may be easy for Government Ministers like Kon Vatskalis to dismiss the serious concerns of Alice Springs residents. However when Parliament comes to the Centre, we will not let the NT Government ignore our opposition to a uranium mine so close to our town.”