Pangea unwelcome in Perth
PERTH — Four hundred people attended a Pangea Unwelcome rally, held at the Esplanade here on October 27. The midday rally, across the road from Pangea's new office, was organised by the Anti-Uranium Coalition of Western Australia and Greenpeace. A clear message to Pangea was "not here, not anywhere".
Robin Chapple from AUCWA said that recent legislation to stop Pangea from dumping nuclear waste in WA was not enough. He stressed that while Pangea remained, the community needed to maintain pressure on state and federal parliaments for legislation to end Pangea's attempt to build a nuclear waste dump anywhere in Australia.
Chapple claimed that Pangea had $5 million to spend solely on public relations and lobbying politicians.
Aboriginal activist Clarrie Isaacs argued that the future safety of humanity should be placed well before the needs of big business and short-term profit.
A solidarity message from Japan, issued after the recent nuclear accident in Tokaimura, said that such an accident was not an exception but a rule of the nuclear cycle. The message finished by saying, "We must end the stupidity."
Other speakers included Carmen Lawrence from the ALP, Norm Kelly from the Australian Democrats and Giz Watson from the Greens. All speakers argued that dumping nuclear waste was the wrong solution and that proposals for such a venture needed to be fought wherever the prospective dumping ground was.