Deputy Leader of the Opposition

SPEECH BY TOM UREN, M.P. DEPUTY LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION ' IN THE ADJOURNMENT DEBATE RE DUMPING OF NUCLEAR WASTE MATERIALS

AT MARALINGA.______ ' ____________-______ : ________ 7th December 1976.

Tonight I want to refer to the recent revelations about

the dumping of nuclear waste materials at Maralinga in South  Australia.

I would argue that the facts, as they have been reported

indicate that some very serious questions need to be answered.

Therefore,. I would call upon the Government to appoint

a Royal Commission to inquire into two matters. Firstly, any  possible infringement of Australia's sovereignty which occurred

as a result of the alleged actions of the British Government.

And secondly, the health and environmental questions raised by  . -allegations.  .

There has been a great deal of confusion about these matters.  The then Minister for Supply, Mr. Garland, chose to infer in his

answers to questions on the 13 th and 14 th of September, 1972, that

-the nuclear wastes in question were radioactive debris associated

with the British atomic weapons testing of the 1950's.

But recent allegations provide a disturbing new dimension .   to this question.

A Mr. Avon Hudson, who worked at Maralinga during the

I960's, has claimed that, during the early 1960's the British

Government was secretly using the Maralinga Atomic Test site as  a burial ground for waste from nuclear power stations.

Mr. Hudson stated during an ABC interview on the 3rd December

that he was engaged in digging holes and placing .containers full

of radioactive waste in these holes after which they were filled  with sand. -

Mr. Hudson stated that on one of these containers he read the words "ex-Calder-Hall". .  .

Parliament House, Canberra, A.C.T. 2 6 0 0

Calder Hall was the first commercial nuclear power

reactor to come on tap in Britain -being commissioned in 1956.

There is evidence to suggest that Mr. Hudson's story is

true. For instance the waste, if it was dumped then, could not  have been from the debris resulting from the atomic test program

of the 1950's.

The last of the tests at Maralinga was on October 9th

1957, yet these reports suggest that radioactive waste was  buried at least three years after the last atomic test.

This indicates that the waste cannot have just been debris,  clothing and other materials associated with, the tests.

It should be emphasised also that the treatment of these  wastes as described by Mr. Hudson indicates that they were  high level wastes.

This is further evidence that nuclear power station waste  was involved. This is because in atmospheric nuclear tests high .

level wastes cannot be recovered. So these wastes must have been  from spent nuclear fuel.

But this is not all.

Mr. Hudson also claims that Bristol Brittania aircraft  came from England and that the waste was buried near the  airstrip. .

This is a further indication that Mr. Hudson's story is

true and its implications for Australian sovereignty serious.

Firstly, during this period the Royal Air Force Strategic  Transport Group flew Bristol Brittanias. .

These aircraft had sufficient range to. fly direct to Maralinga

from Singapore, thus evading any scrutiny. That the wastes were

buried, hastily and at night, indicates that this action was not

undertaken with the approval pf the Australian Government.

3 .

I am aware of certain other information concerning these  matters.

It appears that further work was done scraping up soil  and putting it under concrete after Mr. Garland gave his

answers in 1972. .

,  Also we have been secretly informed that a bomb, or material

from a bomb that failed to detonate, has been buried at Maralinga.

I have also been told that the Australian Ionising Radiation

Advisory Council had been prevented, by a lack of funds, from

studying existing and future radiation.hazards in the area caused  by the improper storage of these wastes..  '

'  These claims and the evidence supporting them are extremely  serious. They imply that previous governments have not safeguarded*

Australia’s sovereignty.

Also the extreme danger of high level nuclear wastes for

our’  environment means that these allegations and claims require

a Royal Commission, or at least a judicial enquiry. .

