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Protesters slime offices on the “Nuclear scumbags tour of Adelaide”

9 July 2010 3 Comments
Joel Filk | The Wire

The 'Nuclear Scumbags tour' was part of the week long activities during the SOS conference. Image: Students of Sustainability

Hundreds of students have protested outside the offices of the big players from Australia’s uranium industry.

The ‘Nuclear Scumbags tour’ day of action was part of the Students of Sustainability (SOS) conference being hosted by Flinders University in Adelaide on Wednesday.

“Students are bearing witness to the uranium industry in Australia. They want change. They want that end to uranium mining,” said Nuclear free campaigner David Noonan.

“They want an end to the nuclear risks and the unresolved waste management that comes from our uranium exports.”

“The truth needs to be told. People need to know that Australia has driven down environmental protection standards to suit the uranium mining industry,” he said.

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Workers at the BHP Biliton building were told that the building entrance was shut down during the protests with one protestor, a former BHP employee, pouring green slime outside the building to represent the destruction being caused in leaking uranium mines.

Police were on site to ensure safety during the event but protesters said they were not there to cause any trouble, but to highlight issues.

One protester said, “Peaceful protest definitely… hopefully we won’t be looking at Adelaide through some jail bars.”

Madeline Hudson, Anti-Nuclear and Clean Energy Collective (ACE) thinks that everyday Australians need to care about rallying together for this issue because protests have made the difference before and can make the difference again.

“The Australian public think we live in a democracy but when it comes to, and particularly uranium mines, they not applicable. They are exempt. And why should they be exempt. Especially when we need to be transitioning to safe, renewable energy,” she said.

“I think it will be an effective point-of-note when it gets in the media that he has been contacted and that we want a response from him.”

Joel Filk is a reporter for the Wire.

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  • http://www.antinuclear.net Christina Macpherson

    Good to see Reportage covering this protest.And good to see that so many students were game to get out into the streets and confront the uranium industry.
    Similar, though smaller protests, have taken place in other capital cities, usually unnoticed by media.
    This is an encouragement to all of us to pay attention to this creeping cane toad of the uranium industry. It takes over not only land, and precious water, but also, our democratic rights. The case of BHP BIlliton’s Olympic Dam expansion is a good example – as BHP is allowed exemptions from Aboriginal Heritage Protection Act, the Environment Protection Act, the Natural Resources Act and the Freedom of Information Act. BHP Billiton gets its daily `25 megalitres of water – free of charge, – in the water-scarce state of South Australia.
    It’s an encouragement to young people everywhere – to get involved in their own future in Australia.

  • http://www.antinuclear.net Christina Macpherson

    Good to see Reportage covering this protest.And good to see that so many students were game to get out into the streets and confront the uranium industry.
    Similar, though smaller protests, have taken place in other capital cities, usually unnoticed by media.
    This is an encouragement to all of us to pay attention to this creeping cane toad of the uranium industry. It takes over not only land, and precious water, but also, our democratic rights. The case of BHP BIlliton’s Olympic Dam expansion is a good example – as BHP is allowed exemptions from Aboriginal Heritage Protection Act, the Environment Protection Act, the Natural Resources Act and the Freedom of Information Act. BHP Billiton gets its daily `25 megalitres of water – free of charge, – in the water-scarce state of South Australia.
    It’s an encouragement to young people everywhere – to get involved in their own future in Australia.

  • http://insideoutsider,co.uk June Birch

    Well done to the students. Did any of you see the report in Nukewatch (wisconsin) Spring issue of their quarterly online magazine? It was about twenty doctors who resigned en mass from the local hospital in Canada in December of 2009, because of the possibility of Uranium mining. Seriously work a visit if you haven’t seen it.