Australia: Last chance of justice for nuclear veterans http://www.mondaq.com/australia/x/236534/Personal+Injury/Last+chance+of+justice+for+nuclear+veterans 03 May 2013 by Joshua Dale An appeal to the Australian Human Rights Commission by Australian military veterans arising from Britain’s nuclear bomb tests in the Outback is gaining momentum.
Lodged by Stacks human rights lawyer Joshua Dale representing several hundred nuclear veterans, the appeal asks the commission to find the government of the 1950s and 60s breached their human rights by ordering them to be exposed to deadly radioactive fallout. Read more »
WikiLeaks characterized the judge’s lecture as part of the Swedish government campaign against Assange, following Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt’s recent visit to Australia.
“The head of Swedish Supreme Court campaigning on a case they expect to judge with $ from the embassy in the run up to an election,” the group wrote on Twitter.
Assange legal shakeup: Prosecutor walks, Supreme Court judge to speak out on case RT March 28, 2013 The lead Swedish prosecutor pursuing sexual assault charges against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is no longer handling the case, media reports revealed. Her departure comes as a top Swedish judge is set to speak publicly on the ‘Assange affair.’ Read more »
Frank Walker, 21 Feb 13, Lawyers representing 295 military veterans and their families afflicted with terrible health problems due to the British nuclear tests carried out in Australia between 1952 and 1963 are taking the case to the Australian Human Rights Commission.
They argue the Menzies government breached their human rights by ordering them to be exposed to the harmful effects of radiation in full knowledge of the potential damage to their health.
Joshua Dale, a human rights law specialist at Stacks/Goudkamp in Sydney, said the decision to host the nuclear tests and order Australians to be used as virtual guinea pigs breached three articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that Australia signed at the United Nations in 1948.
Article 3: The right to life, liberty and security of person.
Article 5: The right not to be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
Article 25: The right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services……
“We’ve been fighting for redress for nuclear veterans and their families for years, but after the UK courts rejected an appeal for damages last year we’ve embarked on this one last avenue for justice,” Mr Dale said.
“We hope the AHRC will examine the case and recommend to the government that it right the wrongs that have been done to these people over decades, and provide compensation and the gold card for medical assistance.
“The nuclear veterans have suffered higher death rates, higher cancer rates and worse health problems than the general population. The effects of the nuclear tests are still going on today. Many effects of radiation are hereditary, and children and grandchildren of the nuclear veterans have been afflicted with health problems and deformities.”
NUCLEAR VETERANS CASE BACKGROUND INFORMATION Read more »
Australian Greens support call to Human Rights Commission, for justice for Maralinga atomic bomb test veterans
Justice for nuclear testing victims is long overdue http://scott-ludlam.greensmps.org.au/content/media-releases/justice-nuclear-testing-victims-long-overdue 21 Feb 2013 | The Greens today expressed support for the bid by Australian veterans exposed to British nuclear tests in Australia to secure compensation through the Human Rights Commission, and renewed their call for the British to compensate all victims of atomic weapons testing.
Greens spokesperson for nuclear policy Senator Scott Ludlam wrote to the office of British Foreign Secretary William Hague five weeks ago urging him to give Act of Grace payments to the victims and wrote to Mr Hague again today.
“The hopes of Australians exposed to nuclear testing were dealt a blow by a UK court ruling against compensation in January. The people exposed to the testing at Maralinga and other sites have been denied adequate compensation on onerous and fastidious technical grounds. Justice has been delayed too long,” said Senator Ludlam.
“The Menzies Government knew these people would be exposed to dangerous levels of radiation. The findings of the 1984-1985 Royal Commission support the claim that the Australian authorities, along with the British, deliberately put Australian personnel in harm’s way, and certainly showed no regard for the Aboriginal people living in the area.
“The human rights of those subjected to this treatment were violated. They and their children have paid a terrible price in terms of radiation-induced illness. The Australian personnel involved have proven to be 23 per cent more likely to have cancer than the general population, and 18 per cent more likely to die from cancer.
“The people exposed to the tests were done a great wrong and time is of the essence. They should not incur further indignity due to inability to pay medical costs, nor the further expense and delay of the legal pursuit of long-overdue justice.
“This blight on the history of both the United Kingdom and Australia has gone on too long and the opportunity to make things right will pass us by unless taken now.”
UK servicemen, Australian soldiers and civilians, including Indigenous people, all exposed to radiation as a result of British atomic weapons testing in South Australia’s outback.
“We had a skin rash, sore eyes, diarrhoea, vomiting and a lot of people got sick, and we couldn’t prove that, because we never had doctors.”
The Australian Greens’ nuclear spokesman Scott Ludlam says the dangers of radiation are well known and it’s unfair to ask Aboriginal people with scant medical records to prove a direct link between exposure to fallout and subsequent sickness.
Senator Ludlam says legalities aside, Britain should do what’s morally right, by way of an Act of Grace – a discretionary payment to remedy the suffering he says is evident.
AUDIO Aboriginal people exposed to British nuclear tests in South Australia during the 1950s are being told they have no hope of compensation. http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/1729400/Maralinga-compo-collapse-prompts-calls-for-Act-of-Grace 23 JAN 2013, – SOURCE: KAREN ASHFORD, SBS
(Transcript from World News Australia Radio
Aboriginal people exposed to British nuclear tests in South Australia during the 1950s are being told they have no hope of compensation.A British law firm says their cases cannot proceed because medical science cannot conclusively prove that fallout from the tests made people sick. But while legal arguments may not prevail, pressure for a settlement on moral grounds is growing. It’s pressure that the UK government is so far resisting, as Karen Ashford reports. Read more »
In his endeavours to protect country for non-Aboriginal people, John
Howard was unclear and ambiguous as to “which land areas should be
classified in the ‘national interest’, but (this) was done with a
clear desire to take away any rights for Aboriginal people”
Australia: Howard Knew Aborigines Had A Sovereignty Based Land Right
Indigenous Peoples Issues and Resources, 2012, 3 Jan 2013,
A prominent Aboriginal sovereignty campaigner argues that former prime
minister, John Howard, amended the Native Title Act in 1998 because he
was fully aware of the inherent power of Aboriginal peoples based on
their continuing sovereignty.
“With the passage of time it is now painfully obvious that former
Prime Minister, John Howard, fully realised that Aboriginal peoples
maintain a very powerful position in Australia,” Michael Anderson
writes. Read more »
Among other things, the Ashurst letter accused the anti-nuclear campaigner of imputing that Mr Walker was ‘’insensitive’’.
In any case, these kinds of threats to muzzle free speech are on the rise. At a time when the mainstream media is under pressure from falling revenues, lawyers are threatening and shutting down websites around the country at an alarming clip.
Anti-nuke campaigner braces for legal blast, The Age, December 19, 2012 Michael West Ashurst is at it again.
Acting on instructions from its clients, the big law firm last month was threatening a farmer who had the hide to express his opinion on electricity prices.
This month it has been instructed to threaten a 75-year old pensioner who has spoken out against the alleged
exploitation of African workers by an Australian uranium miner. Noel Christina Macpherson Wauchope, who runs the website www.antinuclear.net under the name Christina Macpherson, told BusinessDay she was not in a position to hire lawyers.
“I think they must have thought AntiNuclear Australia was a big organisation, but it is just me,” she said. Read more »
From Ashurst’s website:
- Ashurst: Nuclear – Our Nuclear Group advises on the unique issues that affect stakeholders on nuclear projects and transactions across the globe http://www.ashurst.com/expertise-detail.aspx?id_Content=6596
- Ashurst: 2013 – a year of opportunity All up, 2012 has had its ups and downs in SA but with a Government which is, in its own words, “unashamedly pro-mining” [see: www.pir.sa.gov. au/minerals/press_and_events/ news_releases/marathon_accepts compensation_for_arkaroola], http://www.ashurst.com/publication-list.aspx?id_content=1361&expandExpertiseList=true&id_queryContent=6596
- Nov 15 2012 Australia Grid Australia used Ashurst to shut up an outspoken farmer -http://www.smh.com.au/business/grid-australia-and-the-campaign-to-gag-outspoken-farmer-20121114-29cfc.html#ixzz2F1k8McI7
- Dec 13 2012 Ashurst firm has recently initiated a number of redundancies, with the firm’s energy & resources practice being particularly badly hit.
- 2009 Ashurst advised Babcock International on acquisition of UK Government’s atomic commercial operations
- Ashurst - curiously they describe the parlous state of UK’s nuclear industry - Failed Technologies http://www.ashurst.eu.org/download/grpprj/nuclear.txt
Pacific nations could challenge Australian uranium sales to India, ABC News, Stephanie March, Oct 12, 2012 Until last year, the Labor government in Australia had refused to sell uranium to India because it isn’t a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, and is a nuclear weapons producing state A move by Australia to allow the export of uranium to India could face a legal challenge from Pacific nations…….International law expert Professor Donald Rothwell has told Radio Australia’s Asia Pacific program that could lead to a challenge under a 1985 treaty which governs nuclear testing and the use of nuclear materials from the region.
“Australia therefore has an obligation to ensure that its sale of uranium mined from within Australia is dealt with consistently with the provisions of the South Pacific Nuclear Free Zone Treaty,” he said.
“To that end, there’s very much an expectation that any sale would be only to countries that meet the Nuclear Proliferation Treaty obligation and that immediately raises an issue, because India, of course, is not a party to the NPT.”
The South Pacific Nuclear Free Zone Treaty, or the Treaty of Rarotonga was signed in 1985 by 12 nations in the Pacific and Australia.
Any objection under the Treaty of Rarotonga would have to be brought by one of the Pacific Nations that are signatories to the agreement.
Mr Rothwell says due to its history, the South Pacific does have a very strong record of being anti-nuclear
“The region fiercely contested France’s nuclear weapons testing program in the 1970s and as recently as the 1990s,” he said.
“So any concerns that might be raised by Australia’s conduct could well come from within the region and given the history of the region, it shouldn’t be completely ruled out…… http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-10-12/an-australian-uranium-sales-to-india-could-face-pacific-challen/4311024?section=business
Activists and local residents have vowed to shut the plant – the biggest outside China – which has emerged as a controversial issue in the country’s national elections
opposition politicians and environmentalists have expressed fears that radioactive waste it produces can seep into the ground and water, harming the environment and people’s health.
Hearing on Lynas Malaysia plant postponed http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/breaking-news/hearing-on-lynas-malaysia-plant-postponed/story-fn3dxix6-1226488399907 THE AUSTRALIAN AAP October 04, 2012 A MALAYSIAN court has postponed until next week a hearing on a temporary operating licence granted to Australian miner Lynas Corp for a rare earths plant, an activist says.
Thursday’s decision to postpone hearing to next Wednesday further delays the start of operations at the $US800 million ($A786.82 million) facility, which has been dogged by environmental protests and concerns about radiation.
Lynas secured the operating licence in early September but Kuantan High Court in eastern Pahang state, where the plant is based, put it on hold later that month after an appeal by activists. Read more »
Julian Assange hopeful a photo could help clear him of sexual assault allegations Herald Sun, Abul Taher Daily Mail August 27, 2012 IT seems an unremarkable image: a group of friends smiling broadly. But it is the photograph Julian Assange hopes will clear his name.
The Mail on Sunday has published a photo of a beaming woman, pictured with Assange and three other people, who would later tell police that 48 hours before the picture was taken, the WikiLeaks founder pinned her down in her flat and sexually assaulted her.
If the case ever reaches court – Mr Assange is currently holed up in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London – his lawyers will argue that the photograph undermines the 33-year-old woman’s entire story. And, they claim, there is more.
In the two days after the alleged assault in Sweden, Mr Assange and Woman A, as she is known, attended a conference and two dinner parties where it is claimed they were practically inseparable. During one party, Woman A tweeted that she was “with the world’s coolest, smartest people!”…..
Assange could go to international court THE AUSTRALIAN : AAP August 23, 2012 JULIAN Assange’s legal team will likely apply to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to get the activist out of London to diplomatic asylum in Ecuador.
Former judge at Spain’s top criminal court, and head of Mr Assange’s legal team, Baltasar Garzon, says they are exploring a number of ways to guarantee his safety.
The ICJ is the world’s top arbitration body for disputes between states.
Speaking through an interpreter on the sidelines of the International Council of Archives Congress in Brisbane, Mr Garzon said the United Kingdom is bound by international law to offer his client safe passage to asylum. Read more »
Assange looks to international court THE AGE August 18, 2012, Karen Kissane, Europe WIKILEAKS founder Julian Assange will appeal to the International Court of Justice if Britain prevents him from going to Ecuador, according to a senior Spanish human rights lawyer. Baltasar Garzon, who is working on Assange’s defence, told Spanish newspaper El Pais that Britain was legally required to allow Assange to leave once he had diplomatic asylum.
“What the United Kingdom must do is apply the diplomatic obligations of the refugee convention and let him leave, giving him safe conduct,” he said. “Otherwise, he will go to the International Court of Justice.” Read more »
Olympic Dam protest has court sequel http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-08-09/olympic-dam-protest-charges-heard/4188096?section=sa August 09, 2012 Some of the protesters arrested near the Olympic Dam mine recently have faced the Magistrates Court at Port Augusta. Those who pleaded guilty were fined $150 and had no conviction recorded. Others who did not attend or pleaded not guilty will face a pre-trial conference in mid-September.
One man who was charged with interfering with a motor vehicle for allegedly chaining himself to a semi-trailer refused to enter a plea. He argued the court had no jurisdiction over him as he observed the laws of the Arabunna nation.
He also refused to stand in the dock, claiming it was where criminals stood and he was not a criminal.
Hundreds of people protested near the BHP Billiton mine, urging it be closed down rather than expanded.
Muckaty traditional owners fight Ferguson’s nuclear dump, July 3, 2012, Jim Green, Four Muckaty traditional owners — Penny Phillips, Jeannie Sambo, Kylie Sambo and Delvine Spiteri — visited Melbourne on June 25 to attend a federal court hearing concerning the nomination of Muckaty, 120 kilometres north of Tennant Creek in the Northern Territory, for a national nuclear waste dump.
Legal proceedings against the federal government and the Northern Land Council began in June 2010 and a trial is anticipated in the first half of 2013. A small group of traditional owners support the dump proposal, in return for a financial package. But most are opposed and are challenging the right of the government to establish the dump at Muckaty without their consent.
Legislation pushed through parliament by federal resources minister Martin Ferguson — the National Radioactive Waste Management Act — allows for the imposition of a dump without consultation with or consent from traditional owners. In a previous federal court hearing, lawyers for the Commonwealth argued that the Muckaty nomination was valid even if the wrong traditional owners were consulted.
The most pressing issue for the government is the return of spent nuclear fuel reprocessed waste from France and Scotland in coming years. The government is aware that its Muckaty plan is unravelling and has moved to firm up an alternative plan — interim storage of the reprocessing waste at the Lucas Heights nuclear research reactor site south of Sydney, from where the spent fuel originated. Plans are in train to increase storage capacity at Lucas Heights.
Trade unions & emergency services
Some of Australia’s most powerful unions have pledged support for the campaign. The Maritime Union of Australia’s Victorian Secretary, Kevin Bracken, attended a media event with traditional owners after the June 25 court hearing, and traditional owners briefed MUA members the following day.
In Darwin, the MUA is organising a protest at Stokes Hill Wharf on July 12, marking seven years since the NT was first targeted for a nuclear waste dump. The MUA is sending delegates from around the country to attend this event.
In May, the Australian Council of Trade Unions Congress passed a resolution expressing disappointment that the Muckaty site will continue to be pursued under the National Radioactive Waste Management Act. It affirmed that the ACTU “stands in solidarity with traditional owners and communities resisting federal government plans for a radioactive waste dump and commits to supporting trade unions refusing to cooperate with implementation of the policy.”
The ACTU Congress resolution further states that “the recent application by ANSTO for reprocessed spent fuel waste to return to the Lucas Heights facility in Sydney and acknowledges this as an opportunity to review radioactive waste management in Australia by conducting an independent and comprehensive public commission into all aspects radioactive waste transport, storage and management in Australia”…… www.greenleft.org.au/node/51545