Labour, unions, ecologists set for uranium battle

Press, 27 August 1977, Page 8

Labour, unions, ecologists set for uranium battle

NZPA Canberra The Australia Labour Party has denounced the Government’s decision to go ahead with the mining and export of Australia’s vast uranium deposits. The former Prime Minister (Mr Gough Whitlam) said I that it was a contemptuous j policy to “take the money 'and run." The deputy leader, Mr I Tom Uren, issued a statement declaring that Labour /‘will repudiate any commitment made by a nonLabour Government to the mining, processing, or export of Australian uranium. “We say to the mining companies that if you go ahead and sink your S2SOM or so into uranium mining in defiance of Labour policy (of an indefinite moratorium) then don’t expect any mercy from the next Labour Government.” More than 1000 anti-ura-nium demonstrators gathered outside Parliament House in Canberra and heard Mr Uren vow that the fight against uranium had only just begun. The Australian Movement Against Uranium Mining an-' nounced plans yesterday to start litigation proceedings aimed at disrupting the mining and exporting of uranium. M.A.U.M. is an amalgamation of several conservation and environmental groups who see the decision announced on Thursday by the Fraser Government to allow the mining and export of

a:uranium as the beginning of a long struggle. r Ms Shirley Ryan, the New e South Wales’ convenor of M.A.U.M. said at a news J conference that litigation 1 proceedings had been suct cessfully introduced by antiuranium groups overseas. r “We will launch these i proceedings as soon as we s have enough public support / and finance,” she said. i Ms Ryan said the first acr'tion would probably be; - against pro-uranium adver-, r tisements sponsored by the; - Uranium Producers’Forum. - Ms Ryan said it was one ; thing for the Government to I ■ announce the mining of ura- 1 ■ j nium but a totally different thing to implement the deci- ! sion. ) She said that M.A.U.M. had 1 already gathered the signa- [ tures of 246,000 Australians r opposed to uranium mining. “One of the main reasons r for the lack of public debate r on the question of uranium is the fact that the uranium - producers know the industry I is crumbling overseas under 1 its own financial burdens 1 and they want to get the t Australian ore out of the i ground and flog it as quickly as possible,” she 'said. The anti-uranium lobby; > said that Mr Fraser’s deci-i i-sion to leave the real con-1 • trol of the mining operation | ■ to the Australian Atomic j Energy Commission was in ■ direct conflict with a strong recommendation in Mr Jusi tice Fox’s second report on the subject. : Speakers at the conference agreed that Mr Fraser’s ’ statement, would be the

beginning of a public debate which could split the nation. A decision expected, to set the stage for a major clash with unions over the opening of uranium mines will come at the Australian Council of Trade Unions congress in Sydney, beginning on September 12. The A.C.T.U. will decide whether to give industrial muscle to the decision made by the Labour Party at its | Perth conference to impose an indefinite ban on the minI ing and export of uranium from new projects, j The ban does not affect' the operations of the only! uranium mine now oper-! ating, Mary Kathleen, near; Mount Isa, Queensland. The A.C.T.U. president! (Mr Bob Hawke) yesterday' called for a referendum on uranium, as several unions split over the issue. Mr Hawke said a referendum would allow a full public debate on the decision to allow uranium mining and export to go ahead. Mr Hawke’s referendum call already has the support of the powerful Waterside Workers Federation and Seamen’s Union. But three big unions, the Australian Workers’ Union, i the Miscellaneous Workers’ (Union, and the Australian i Railways’ Union, were al- ' ready on a collision course. ; The A.W.U. supports mining, the A.H.U. opposes it, and the M.W.U. also opposes it, but wants to retain the right it shares with the A.W.U. to represent mineworkers. Eight hundred members of an Aboriginal tribe in Arn-

hem Land stand to reap multi-million dollar royalties from the go-ahead. The Gunwinggu tribe will receive at least SIOM a year once the Ranger mine reaches full production, and there will be another SISM to come from uranium dqposits at Jabiluka. The payments from the Ranger development alone are expected to mean $6500 a year for every man, woman, and child 'in the tribe. Today the tribe lives in primitive tribal conditions in ,the hot, dry dustbowl of ; Arnhem Land. The payments i will be available for their advancement and well-being | with particular attention to (reducing dependence on alcohol.