Date: Thu, 24 Jun 1999 17:50:19 +1000 From: Lynette Dumble <•••@••.•••> Subject: [GSN] 1. Call for Australian and International help to stop the Jabiluka uranium mine Dear Jan and friends at the renaissance-network , Below is the first of three messages from the Women's Network for Mirrar Women [ WN4MW, a wonderfully enthusiastic group of ardent young feminists based in Melbourne] calling for worldwide help to prevent a uranium mining company from imperiling [a] the survival a small Indigenous community in Australia and [b] the World Heritage region in Northern Australia known as Kakadu. WN4MW's strategy is appropriately timed to cause maximum inconvenience to North Ltd, the parent of Energy Resources of Australia (ERA) which is set to mine uranium from Jabiluka, contrary to the wishes of area's Indigenous owners, the Mirrar, and threatening the very existence of the 29 remaining Mirrar adults, 21 of whom are women, their children, and their culture which dates back over tens of thousands of years. In addition to this message, a second [2. Women's questions for North Ltd] contains WN4MW's questions to be emailed and/or faxed to North Ltd on June 28 or soon after, and a third [3. Women's Week of Action - Don’t ask North Ltd to stop the Jabiluka mine—tell them to!] details of the activities organized by WN4MW for the week [June 28 to July 4, 1999] prior to what promises to internationally embarrass the Howard Administration and its mining cronies North Ltd and ERA, when UNESCO passes down its decision on whether to list Kakadu National Park as “World Heritage In Danger”. Already, in the past year, a number of high-profile institutional investors, including the Australian Olympic Foundation, Sydney University, James Cook University, the Australian National University, Catholic Life Insurance and the South Australian Art Gallery, have withdrawn a total of $7.5 million from North and ERA. Maintaining the pressure is essential, and your support in returning WN4MW's questions to North Ltd on June 28, and forwarding all three WN4MW messages to every other conceivable source of support, ultimately to hit North Ltd. with a tidal wave of questions on June 28, will be greatly appreciated. In solidarity and with apologies for cross post, Lynette. ===================== Women the world over will be participating in this action. With the World Heritage Committee decision imminent, your voice can be one of thousands calling for a stop to the proposed Jabiluka mine. If you require the questions to be e-mailed to you or for further information about the Women’s Week of Action please feel free to call us on (03) 9489 0937 or e-mail: •••@••.•••. You can also check out the following web sites for more information about the Jabiluka campaign www.mirrar.net.au www.acfonline.org.au www.unesco.org/whc/ Don’t ask North Ltd to stop the mine—tell them to. ======================== Date: Thu, 24 Jun 1999 17:51:53 +1000 From: Lynette Dumble <•••@••.•••> Subject: [GSN] 2. Women's Questions to North Ltd Malcolm Broomhead Chairperson, North Ltd 476 St Kilda Road, Melbourne VIC 3004 phone: (03) 9207 5111 fax: (03) 9250 1600 e-mail: •••@••.••• Dear Mr Broomhead, I am writing to ask you to answer the following questions in relation to the proposed Jabiluka uranium mine project. My details for returning the answers to these questions are provided below — I would appreciate your answer at the earliest possible convenience. __________________________________________ Question 1: 75% of Australian women are opposed to the Jabiluka uranium mine (Newspoll - June 1998). The Australian Senate and European Parliament have called for the Jabiluka project to be stopped, as has the World Heritage Assessment Mission. Over 500 people, including the Senior Traditional Owner Yvonne Margarula, were arrested in protests against the mine last year in the Northern Territory. Does North Ltd accept that there is widespread community opposition to this project? Question 2: In the Chairman’s Address of ERA Annual General Meeting in 1998, the former Chairperson, Campbell Anderson, stated, “There will be no impact by Jabiluka on traditional activities or on the cultural heritage sites in the area.” The World Heritage Committee sent a mission to Australia in October 1998. This team handed a report to the World Heritage Committee in November making a series of recommendations. One of the principle findings of this report was “The mission has noted severe ascertained and potential dangers to the cultural and natural values of Kakadu National Park posed primarily by the proposal for uranium mining and milling at Jabiluka.” (UNESCO Report on the mission to Kakadu National Park, Australia, 26/10/98 — 1/11/98) How does North Ltd explain the contradiction between the assurance of your former Chairperson and the principle finding of the world’s foremost natural and cultural heritage management authority, the World Heritage Committee? Question 3: In the event that on the 12 July 1999 the World Heritage Bureau declares Kakadu World Heritage In Danger because of the proposed Jabiluka uranium mine, will you immediately cease any further development on this project? If not, why not? Question 4: If Kakadu is listed World Heritage In Danger, what will be the implications for North Ltd both domestically and internationally? Question 5: Over the past twenty years there have been in excess of 100 incidents, spills and operating breaches at Ranger uranium mine, ERA and North Ltd’s existing uranium mine 22km south of Jabiluka. These have included contaminated water being released into the Madgela Creek and surrounding wetlands. Given over 100 environmental and Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) incidents have occurred at Ranger, how can North Ltd guarantee this level of environmental and OHS impact will not continue at Ranger uranium mine and would not happen at Jabiluka uranium mine, should it proceed? Question 6: The ERA Aboriginal Issues Policy states that it is built on four founding principles: “• respect for Aboriginal culture and connection to the land; • consideration of the aspirations of the local Aboriginal people; • maintenance of positive relationships with the local Aboriginal people; • living up to the responsibilities that arise from being entrusted with the use of Aboriginal land.” (quoted from the ERA Aboriginal Employment Strategy document) Does North Ltd share these principles? If so, how can North Ltd and ERA continue to ignore the clear position of Traditional Owners who oppose the Jabiluka uranium mine outright? If North Ltd does not share the same policy principles, what is your policy position on Aboriginal issues? Question 7: Given the current surplus of uranium stocks worldwide, the decline in the market price for uranium and the continuing drop in ERA and North Ltd share prices, can North Ltd justify this project as economically viable? Question 8: No matter what it’s use, uranium ultimately results in radioactive waste with a half life of up to 250 000 years. Tailings are the unused ore left over from the mining process. Uranium tailings contain around 85% of the radioactivity of the original orebody. Given that a recent Senate report described tailings management “as among the most serious challenges facing uranium miners and, indeed the entire nuclear industry in the future.” (Senate Select Committee on Uranium Mining and Milling - May 1997), what guarantee can North Ltd give that your tailings can be completely isolated from the monsoonal Kakadu environment for up to 250, 000 years? Personal Comment or Question to Malcolm Broomhead, Chairperson of North Ltd: ______________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ Statement: I join women nationally and internationally in opposing the Jabiluka uranium mine. I support Yvonne Margarula and the Mirrar people as the Traditional Owners of the Jabiluka area in their struggle for control of their land and culture. I call on North Ltd to stop development of the Jabiluka uranium mine immediately. signed: Print name: Organisation (if applicable): Please reply to (tick box and fill out details): my address: my fax number: ( ) my e-mail: ================================================== FROM: Women's Network for Mirrar Women <•••@••.•••> 1. Call for Australian and International help to stop the Jabiluka uranium mine World Heritage In Danger? The Mirrar people are the Traditional Owners of the Jabiluka area, located within Kakadu National Park in Australia. Their culture and existance is under threat from a large uranium mining company, Energy Resources of Australia (ERA), a subsiduary of North Ltd. The Women’s Network for Mirrar Women (WN4MW) works out of Melbourne, Australia and was set up in 1998 to encourage women and women’s organisations to support the Mirrar people through action. Our e-mail address is •••@••.••• - if you would like further information on the campaign, please feel free to contact us. World Heritage in Danger: Because of the proposed Jabiluka uranium mine, Australia has come under international scrutiny with the World Heritage Bureau sending a delegation to Kakadu late in 1998 to report back on whether Kakadu National Park should be listed as World Heritage In Danger. The findings of that delegation, who had access to all levels of business, government and community concerns relating to Jabiluka, were clear. The World Heritage Committee met in Kyoto in December 1998 and voted 20 - 1 for the construction of the Jabiluka uranium mine to be stopped immediately (the one vote opposing this was, predictably, by the Australian government). The Australian government refused to heed this call, effectively thumbing their nose at international concern over this mine. The World Heritage Bureau will meet on the 12 July 1999 in Paris to make a final decision on whether Kakadu National Park will be listed as World Heritage in Danger. You can act to support the Mirrar people in opposing this mine and the desecration of their land and culture. Because many people outside of Australia may not have heard of the on going struggle of the Mirrar people to protect their land, following is a briefing that may help put you in the picture. Kakadu and the Indigenous Traditional Owners: Kakadu National Park is located in the Northern Territory of Australia. Kakadu is an area reknown for it’s beauty and the ancient culture of it’s indigenous people’s. It is listed as a World Heritage site due both to it’s unique environment and it’s cultural values. Within Kakadu there are a number of different tribal groupings of indigenous people or Traditional Owners. The Traditional Owners of the proposed Jabiluka mine site are the Mirrar People. The Mirrar are recognised by all Aboriginal people in the region as having the right to speak for that part of the country. They are recognised by non-indigenous Australians, including the Australian government, as the Traditional Owners of that area. The Mirrar people are represented by their Senior Traditional Owner, an elder of their people, Yvonne Margarula. Yvonne’s right to speak for her country comes with many responsibilities; primary to these is the responsibility to act as custodian and protector of the country that her people have lived with for tens of thousands of years. Yvonne Margarula speaks for her country and her people when she says “No” to the Jabiluka uranium mine. She has said, “We will fight to protect our country and that is a fact of life.” Women’s Week of Action - 28 June to 4 July 1999 The Mirrar People need your help urgently. We will be sending you an e-mail that has is a list of questions that we are asking for answers from North Ltd (parent company of ERA). This e-mail will be identifiable due to to subject which will be "Women's questions for North Ltd" Women from around the world are being asked to send/forward these questions through to North (contact details are provided) on MONDAY 28th JUNE or any day within the following week. We hope to show North Ltd that women throughout the world are opposed to this mine proceeding at such great cost to the Mirrar people and to all of our natural World Heritage. Please join us by sending the list of questions and any others you may have through to North Ltd in this international Women’s Week of Action. International supporters can contact their local Australian Ambassador to ask whether the Australian Government will heed the final decision of the World Heritage Bureau should they list Kakadu National Park “World Heritage In Danger.” For further information please contact us on wn4mw@hotmail com or look up the following web sites: • www.mirrar.net • www.acfonline.org.au • www.unesco.org/whc/