Aust, panel calls on U.K. to pay for N-clean-up

Press, 6 December 1985, Page 6

Aust, panel calls on U.K. to pay for N-clean-up

NZPA-AAP Canberra All the costs of cleaning up radio-activity at sites of British atomic tests in Australia in the 1950 s and ’6os should be borne by the British Government, according to the report of the Royal Commission into Nuclear Tests in Australia, made public yesterday. It said that the United Kingdom should pay to clean up sites of atomic blasts at Maralinga, Emu, and Monte Bello Islands. The commission, headed by a former New South Wales Judge and Federal Labour Minister, Jim McClelland, said that the clean-up should be started immediately to allow Aboriginal people to reoccupy their traditional lands.

The report also recommended the establishment of a Maralinga Commission to oversee the exercise.

It should comprise the United Kingdom, Australian, and South Australian Governments as well as representatives of traditional owners.

The Royal Commission reports after more than a year of hearings in Australia and London into the health and environmental effects of the tests. More than 1000 Australian veterans are believed to have been affected by the tests.

The Royal Commission said that for the purposes of compensation, the onus of proof should be on the Commonwealth so that compensation applies to civilians who were at the test sites or who were affected by the “Black Mist,” as well as members of the armed forces.

It said that the compensation should be paid under the Compensation (Commonwealth Government Employees) Act, 1971. The Australian Govern-

ment should compensate Aboriginal people for the loss of the use of their traditional lands, it said.

The Federal Resources and Energy Minister, Senator Gareth Evans, making the report public, told Parliament that he would consider the report’s recommendations urgently. The British Ministry of Defence has issued a statement on the report. “Now that the full report is publicly available, we shall of course study it carefully in detail,” said the Ministry. “We are not prepared to comment until we have done so.

“Our position was set out very clearly in the written and aural submissions which Mr Robin Auld, Q.C. (U.K. counsel) made during the closing sessions (of the Royal Commission hearing in Britain).”

The seven recommendations of the Royal Commission into British Nuclear Tests in Australia are: • The benefits of the Compensation (Commonwealth Government Employees) Act, 1971, including the shifting, of the onus of proof from the claimant to the Commonwealth should be extended so as to include not only members of the armed forces who are covered by the act, but also civilians who were at the test sites at the relevant times, and Aboriginals and other civilians who may have been exposed to the “Black Mist.” • To assist the Commissioner for Employees’ Compensation in the performance of the additional duties recommended in Recommendation 1, a national register of nuclear veterans, Aboriginals, and other persons who may have been exposed to the Black Mist or exposed to radiation at the tests should be compiled.

• Action should start immediately to clean up Maralinga and Emu to the satisfaction of the Australian Government so that they are fit for unrestricted habitation by the traditional Aboriginal owners as soon as is practicable. • A Maralinga Commission, comprising representatives of the traditional owners, and the United Kingdom, Australian, and South Australian Governments should be established to determine the clean-up criteria, oversee the cleanup and co-ordinate all future range management • Action should be taken immediately to ensure that all areas of the Monte Bello Islands, where the radiation levels are above the limits recommended for continuous exposure of members of the public, are suitably signposted until safe for permanent occupation. Small pieces of debris should be collected to avoid their being removed as souvenirs. The large structures remaining on Trimouille Island that are relics of the test programmes could remain for historic interest.

• All costs of any future clean-ups at Maralinga, Emu and the Monte Bello Islands should be borne by the United Kingdom Government.

• The Australian Government should make compensation to those persons and descendants of those persons who have a traditional interest in sites at the former Maralinga Prohibited Area for loss of use and enjoyment of their lands since the beginning, and as a result of the atomic tests programme. This should take the form of technology and services which Aboriginal people regard as necessary for them to re-establish their relationships with their land as rapidly as possible and with minimal hardship.