– by Roxley Foley, introduction by Odette Shenfield
At the 2015 National Union of Students National Confernece, the Labor Right faction (Student Unity) submitted a motion supporting nuclear energy. The motion lauded South Astralian Premier Jay Weatherill’s “leadership” on nuclear energy amid his plans to dump nuclear waste in South Australia and his Royal Commission into the Nuclear Fuel Cycle.
As an ANU delegate to the Conference, in fury, I wrote a motion opposing nuclear energy which I moved from the Conference floor. I sent a message to then Fire Keeper of the Aboriginal Tent Embassy, legendary activist, and friend Roxley Foley, requesting he write a statement supporting my motion condemning nuclear energy and Premier Jay Weatherill’s pro-nuclear actions.
As a result of Roxley’s speech, the motion opposing nuclear energy was passed without a single vote in opposition—Student Unity abstained.
A message to the National Union of Students (NUS) from Roxley Foley, Fire Keeper of the Tent Embassy, Canberra.
RE: proposal to support nuclear technology for future sustainability.
Are you fucking serious?
NUS, I’m disappointed we even have to have this conversation but let us make sure we are together on the same page.
Let me get something straight from the start. I ain’t no raving “hippie” or “leftie”. Many are familiar with my father—Gary Foley’s—work, but may not be familiar with the work of my mother’s father. My grandfather Dr Dennis Matthews was a professor of nuclear physics at Flinders University. He studied in America at the height of the dream of the atomic age when the West thought the atom would save the world. What he discovered in his studies and from direct experience was quite the opposite and he became one of the lead whistle-blowers of the nuclear industry.
Iwas privileged to learn from his knowledge and to witness his example. I grew up surrounded by archives of the litany of accidents and abuses perpetrated by the industry and travelled the country to witness the destruction first hand by his side.
So forgive me, but I take this battle personally. It’s personal because it’s my communities that are removed to mine the uranium. It’s my communities that are sued when we say no to the dumps.
Why is it always the land and people that suffer so that men can circle jerk over their egos and play games of God and money?
Let us be clear, every independent report ever released has stated the same thing…Nuclear energy in Australia is a joke and a bad and dangerous joke to the extreme. Cost efficiency is a forgery. Look at the history of the industry. General Electric and Westinghouse are prime examples. Perfection of technology is myth. Go for a holiday in Fukushima or Chernobyl if you disagree. I’ll await your postcard. Safety of storage is a fiction. Just go look at the decaying and leaking facilities already in place.
My People hold ancient stories about those rocks in the ground you covert so much. It was our duty to make sure they were never disturbed, lest great sickness be delivered upon the land and people.
We have witnessed that death and sickness first-hand because we are forever on the frontlines. Cheap and dangerous extraction methods driven by profit, leaving behind poison and a land devoid of life. Weapons of mass destruction to uphold power over people that now threaten the existence of the planet. Don’t even pretend the two are not connected.
My people still suffer the fallout of those early testa in the dessert. Your soldiers are remembered etched in stone memorial. My people remembered in shadows burnt into rock.
Recently the testing sites in Maralinga were handed back to our people. We were told to build a community there and if we just turned over the dirt with shovels we would “probably” be fine.
Thanks, but no thanks. We know better, we know our lore.
There are times when you should listen to those with experience. This is one of those times.
I speak not only as a representative of my family and ancestors who still uphold our duty as custodians and guardians of the land. But also as a student of modern development, world history, and cold hard facts. My agenda is protection of land and people.
My message is simple: To support this motion is to spit in our face and stomp on everything we stand for. Do not expect us to ever walk with you if you choose this road.
I have many friends among your circle, friends I highly respect. It is now up to you to ensure you walk the right path for the future of our land and children.
I have confidence you will all make the right decision.
