Nuclear vets deserve better,

20Jan2002

Democrats tell Paris conference

The Nuclear Test Veterans Conference in Paris has been told the Australian

Government should support claims for compensation from veterans used as

guinea pigs in the 1950s atomic tests and Britain should provide funding.

Australian Democrats' Nuclear Issues Spokesperson, Senator Lyn Allison, made

the call for Britain to face up to its responsibilities today in France at a

speech marking 2002, the 50th Anniversary year of the first test.

Britain has so far only paid half the cost of the botched and inadequate

clean up.

Senator Allison said, "The Australian government must reinvent itself as an

advocate for its servicemen and the civilians affected by the British tests

instead of fighting them in the courts.

"And Britain must pay its dues - there is no justification for Australia to

bear the pain and the contamination as well as the costs."

Senator Allison said the sacrifices made by Australia in the name of loyalty

to its British motherland fell heavily on servicemen, civilians and

Indigenous people.

"It is time to reward that loyalty by declaring duty at nuclear tests to be

hazardous - All documents must now be released for public scrutiny."

Senator Allison repeated her call for survivors to be given radiobiological

blood tests immediately and compensation paid on the basis of their

radiation exposure, their illnesses and the damage they have passed on to

their children.

Senator Allison said, "The Australian experience of the British nuclear

tests has been one of serious mistakes and cover-ups at the highest level of

government. The safety of Australians... proved less important than the

race to develop an arsenal of nuclear weapons.

Around 17,000 Australian servicemen and civilians took part in nuclear tests

in Australia between 1952 and 1958 at Maralinga and Emu Field in South

Australia and the Monte Bello Islands.

 

19 January 2002

'Paris Network' for nuclear test vets

Time is running out for dying survivors

Australian veterans still battling for recognition and compensation, 50

years after exposure to nuclear tests, will have another ally in an

international network.

Australian Democrats Nuclear Issues Spokesperson, Senator Lyn Allison,

helped found the new 'Paris International Network on Nuclear Tests'.

Senator Allison said, "The founding members will work in our respective

countries to facilitate communication between nuclear veterans groups and to

coordinate campaigns".

The network is the product of a meeting with representatives of veterans

associations from French Polynesia, United States, Great Britain, New

Zealand, Fiji, France and Australia, following the nuclear test conference

in Paris on January 19.

It brings together survivors of the French nuclear tests including those at

Mururoa in the 1990s and the Sahara Desert in Algeria, US tests and British

tests at Maralinga, Emu Field, Montebello and Christmas Islands.

High on the list of priorities for members of the Network is to make the new

Dundee University blood test available to participants. This test can

demonstrate the level of radiation exposure even 50 years ago.

"Network members in each country will be urging their governments to follow

New Zealand's example and fund these state-of-the-art tests, and this should

be done before more test participants die from their radiation-related

illnesses."

Network members will also be pushing for Britain, Australia, France and the

US to release medical and exposure records vital to establishing the right

to compensation in the courts.

Senator Allison will also set up an international network of

parliamentarians in support of veterans and civilians. "I am convinced that

coordinated parliamentary action is necessary to persuade the Government to

act in the interests of veterans instead of fighting them in the courts as

Australia has done so spectacularly," Senator Allison concluded.

The 'Observatory of the French Nuclear Arms', based in Lyon (France), will

host the brand new association.

Phone : +33 (0)4 78 36 93 03 Fax

: +33 (0)4 78 36 36 83

e-mail : cdrpc@obsarm.org

<mailto:cdrpc@obsarm.org> Internet Site : www.obsarm.org

<http://www.obsarm.org>

Daele Healy

Adviser

Suite 14 B1, 7/421 Brunswick St

Fortitude Valley QLD 4006

Ph: 07 3252 7101 Fax 07 3252 8957

www.democrats.org.au