Prime Minister Scott Morrison confirmed yesterday that a nuclear powered submarine base, purported to cost $10 billion, would be built on Australia’s east coast as part of the AUKUS partnership with the US and the UK.
Port Kembla, Newcastle and Brisbane have been cited as possible locations for the base.
In a statement released yesterday, Mick Cross, Secretary of the Maritime Union of Australia’s Southern NSW Branch, opposed any nuclear proliferation in the Illawarra.1
The statement emphasised that the “MUA has always stood for peace, internationalism and justice, and so condemns in any shape or form the proliferation of nuclear capability in any country, especially our own. This includes the development or proliferation of nuclear-powered defence vessels.”
Further, the MUA argued that the Coalition government ‘has resorted to war mongering and sabre rattling as a distraction from their failures, under the guise of protecting people in this country.”
As well, the statement described the “manipulation of community anxiety about global war at a time when the people of Ukraine are under attack” as “cynical, dishonest, and hypocritical since Scott Morrison and the Liberals have so far ignored the MUA’s calls for a national embargo against Russian ships and cargoes around Australia’s coastline.”
According to the MUA, if the government was serious about protecting the people of Australia, there are many other pressing community needs which require government expenditure and action before nuclear militarisation.
The South Coast has a long history of community opposition to nuclear projects and the identification of Port Kembla as a possible site for a nuclear submarine base has revived the debate.
Dr Helen Caldicott, a pioneer of the Australian anti-nuclear movement and resident of Berry, has also rejected the Morrison’s government’s plan. As the recipient of the 1985 Nobel Peace Prize for her work in raising awareness about nuclear threats, she believes the base would pose an unmanageable risk to the area.
Dr Caldicott has been quoted as saying that not only is nuclear activity at Port Kembla always dangerous, but it would become a target in the event of war, like Pine Gap.
“It is just a vote-buying gimmick, obviously, when the Prime Minister should be spending that sort of money on the people in Lismore, many of whom have lost their houses,” Dr Caldicott said. “I think it should be treated with cynicism, and for Port Kembla to understand the dangers — both with dealing with nuclear activities and making it a possible target.”2
Notes
1. The MUA’s statement opposing nuclear proliferation in the Illawarra can be read here.
2. Quoted in Tim Fernandez, ‘Port Kembla the ‘obvious choice’ for nuclear submarine base, Liberal Senator says’, ABC Illawarra, Mar 8, 2022.