Alice Springs, Australia

View From Alice Springs, central Australia. 100 people held a carbon-free

windy vigil to call on the Australian Government to become a leader at

Copenhagen for the 350 target within a fair and binding framework. Our event

partnered the "End Discrimination and Racism" message of Human Rights Day.

In central Australia climate change is translating into widespread uranium

exploration and mining. This follows nearly 15 years of systematic neglect

and manipulation of indigenous people by the Howard government with the

hidden agenda of opening access to uranium through policies promoting

poverty, confusion, anger and division. In 2007 the national Racial

Discrimination Act was suspended to enable formal Government INTERVENTION

which has introduced wideranging State controls over Indigenous peoples'

lives.

Meanwhile, from 2000 the Adelaide to Darwin railway was built by KBR, then a

subsidiary of Hallibuton, for the transport and export of this uranium. The

long term plans of Big Energy and associates for Australia are

comprehensive: build the railway, mine the uranium, dump the waste, ensure

and control nuclear power as the next global primary energy source. This

lobby is huge and undemocratic. It explains why Australia, rich in renewable

resources, technology and expertise, is NOT DOING IT'S BEST. We call on

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to STOP subsiding fossil fuels; to STOP enmeshing

Australia in the global nuclear cycle; to LIMIT uranium mining, to VALUE

remote Australia's indigenous communities and environment, and to START

putting some REAL commitment into renewables and safe climate! NOW.

organised by Climate Action Group. photographer: Oliver Eclipse

Done