Australia is no stranger to the nuclear risk. Between 1952 and 1963 the United Kingdom tested its nuclear weapons on Australian soil in South Australia and Western Australia. Indigenous people living nearby the test sites in Maralinga and other places were affected by permanent blindness, cancer or radiation sickness. Some traditional lands continue to be uninhabitable due to contamination from the testing.

Now, the Federal Government is seeking to build a nuclear waste facility in South Australia to bury and store radioactive waste, mostly that produced by the Lucas Heights reactor in Sydney. The likely site shares a border with the Yappala Indigenous Protected Area, country which has been managed and inhabited by Adnyamathanha people for generations. Denise Champion talks about the reasons she opposes the nuclear waste dump facility.

Return to International Day of Peace 2016 Homepage