Kakadu::
Government backs mining company with taxpayers' money

Last Thursday was the deadline for the Australian Government to respond 
to the United Nations' adverse report on the mining of uranium within the 
Kakadu National Park.

The report, adopted last year by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee and 
its executive arm, the World Heritage Bureau, recommended an "in danger" 
listing for the Park and requested a cessation of construction work.  

Procrastinating to the bitter end, the Howard Government finally responded 
to the report with a lengthy rebuttal which simply re-interprets the UN 
recommendations in a form which is more acceptable to the mining company 
and the Government. The UN is not likely to be impressed.

Meanwhile, construction of the mine is proceeding at full pace.  As well as 
posing a danger to the natural values of the Park, the mine construction is 
now threatening the adjacent Boymeg-Almudj sacred site complex of the 
traditional owners, the Mirrar peoples. The complex exists both on the 
surface and below ground level. The mine's underground shaft is due to 
reach the boundary of the sacred site in early May.

The mining company previously recognised the significance of the site to 
the traditional owners and gave assurances that before the start of 
construction of the mine a sacred site study would be completed. However, 
construction has now been proceeding for nine months, and the study has not 
even started! Pleas by the traditional owners to the Minister for 
Environment and Heritage to have mining construction stopped have been 
ignored. 

The Government's reply to the UNESCO report will now be considered by both 
the Bureau and the Committee after a review of the situation by UNESCO's 
specialist heritage organisations.

If the Bureau recommends that Kakadu be listed as "in danger", the 
Government is likely to challenge the right of the Bureau to do so without 
the consent of the government concerned — effectively restricting the 
right of the organisation to have or express a view as to the danger of 
development to a significant sites. Australia successfully lobbied to have 
Thailand replaced by Korea on the Bureau after Thailand argued that state 
consent is not required for an in-danger listing.

Democrat Senator Lyn Allison accused the Howard Government of attempting to 
buy off world wide opposition to the uranium mine.

She said: "The Government's strategy has been to send bureaucrats all over 
the world to find whatever tactical pressure points they can to coerce 
other nations into voting for the mine. The Government has been pressuring 
these nations to throw moral, environmental and scientific responsibility 
to the wind."

Leaked government documents confirm that it has allocated $1 million to the 
lobbying campaign.

However, the documents also show that the Government is concerned at the 
difficulties involved in this course of action. They note that: "Overcoming 
this disposition may be a difficult task, requiring a coordinated, 
resource-intensive effort across a range of portfolios and both 
domestically and internationally.".

Friends of the Earth spokesperson John Hallam agrees that the process 
adopted by the Government is fraught with difficulty. He said last week 
that: "There is just no way that reputable UN bodies are going to turn 
around and say that the incomparable World Heritage values of Kakadu are 
not compromised by a uranium mine within the external boundaries of the 
Park, directly adjacent to heritage sites that are the most ancient in 
Australia and among the most ancient in the world.

"The World Heritage Committee itself in its recommendations last year 
indicated the one decent way in which the Government can avoid an 'in 
danger' listing. That is, it can cancel the Jabiluka project."