Indigenous health fall-out from the nuclear industry in Australia

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Indigenous health fall-out from the nuclear
industry in Australia

• Rosalie Schultz
• Mparntwe Alice Springs
• June 2007

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Indigenous health fall-out from the nuclear
industry in Australia

• 1. Aboriginal health background
• 2. Native title
• 3. Nuclear testing and Aboriginal health
• 4. Uranium mining and Aboriginal health
• 5. Nuclear waste and Aboriginal health
• 6. Conclusion

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Aboriginal disadvantages
1. Education - qualification 4 vs 17 2.
Income - 394 vs 665 3. Financial stress - 54
vs 14 4. Employment - 43 vs 64 5. Victim of
violence - past 12 months 20 vs 9
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NT Aboriginal health

• Compared with non-Aboriginal NT residents
• Death rates 3 times higher
• Life expectancy around 20 years less

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Aboriginal health- NT cancer death rates
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Indigenous health fall-out from the nuclear
industry in Australia

• 1. Aboriginal health background
• 2. Native title
• 3. Nuclear testing and Aboriginal health
• 4. Uranium mining and Aboriginal health
• 5. Nuclear waste and Aboriginal health
• 6. Conclusion

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Indigenous health fall-out from the nuclear
industry in Australia

• 1. Aboriginal health background
• 2. Native title
• 3. Nuclear testing and Aboriginal health
• 4. Uranium mining and Aboriginal health
• 5. Nuclear waste and Aboriginal health
• 6. Conclusion

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Major British nuclear tests in Australia

• Operation Hurricane 1 bomb Monte Bello Islands 3
  Oct 1952
• Operation Totem 2 bombs Emu Field 15 and 27
  Oct 1953
• Operation Mosaic 2 bombs Monte Bello Islands 16
  May, 19 June 1956
• Operation Buffalo 4 bombs Maralinga 27 Sept, 4,
  11 and 22 Oct 1956
• Operation Antler 3 bombs Maralinga 14 and 25
  Sept, 9 Oct 1957

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Nuclear bomb test sites in Australia
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Royal Commission in British nuclear tests in
Australia, 1984

• (McClelland Report)
• attempts to ensure Aboriginal safety
  demonstrate ignorance, incompetence and cynicism
  on the part of those responsible for their
  safety

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May 2006 Dept of Veterans Affairs report into
effects of testing

• Australian participants into British nuclear
  tests in Australia
• Unexplained excess in cancer incidence (23) and
  cancer deaths (18)
• Not due to radiation exposure
• BUT all health care services related to all
  cancers now free for veterans
• Women, pastoralists and indigenous people excluded

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Indigenous health fall-out from the nuclear
industry in Australia

• 1. Aboriginal health background
• 2. Native title
• 3. Nuclear testing and Aboriginal health
• 4. Uranium mining and Aboriginal health
• 5. Nuclear waste and Aboriginal health
• 6. Conclusion

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Aborigines and uranium monitoring the health
hazards
AIATSIS Research discussion paper, Dec 2006
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Aborigines and uranium monitoring the health
hazards

• Social disruption
• Erosion of culture
• Substance abuse
• Family violence

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Uranium mines and prospective mines, April 2006
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Indigenous health fall-out from the nuclear
industry in Australia

• 1. Aboriginal health background
• 2. Native title
• 3. Nuclear testing and Aboriginal health
• 4. Uranium mining and Aboriginal health
• 5. Nuclear waste and Aboriginal health
• 6. Conclusion

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Wasteland - Terra nullius
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Nuclear waste disposal

• 80 years of nuclear waste awaiting long-term
  disposal around the world
• Scientific, medical, industrial, energy and
  military sources
• Storage and disposal involve scientific,
  environmental, health, social and political
  processes first addresses in UK in 2006
• Not yet addressed in Australia

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Indigenous health fall-out from the nuclear
industry in Australia

• 1. Aboriginal health background
• 2. Native title
• 3. Nuclear testing and Aboriginal health
• 4. Uranium mining and Aboriginal health
• 5. Nuclear waste and Aboriginal health
• 6. Conclusion

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Indigenous health fall-out from the nuclear
industry in Australia

• An important measure of society is how we treat
  those who are least well-off.
• Inspiration resides in humanity's willingness
  to restore, redress, reform, recover, reimagine
  and reconsider

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