Friends of the Earth Australia is today releasing a detailed report on the National Radioactive Waste Management Act 2012 (NRWMA). The report ‒ written by Monash University fifth-year law student Amanda Ngo ‒ comes against the backdrop of the federal government's targeting of a site near Hawker in SA's Flinders Ranges for a national radioactive waste store and repository.

This month marks the one year anniversary of Berta Cáceres death.  In solidarity for all indigenous communities around the world fighting to protect their land and water rights, and in remembrance of the life and achievements of Berta we have put a banner up on the front of our Melbourne headquarters.  We demand justice for Berta and for an end to the repression of COPINH Honduras. 

Yesterday over 100 people joined speakers from Friends of the Earth affiliate Goongerah Environment Centre (GECO) and also The Wilderness Society Victoria in a snap rally to condemn the Daniel Andrews government's decision to extend the 'regional forest agreement' which expired on the 3 February this year. Since the late 1990s the logging industry in Victoria has been exempt from adhering to federal environment laws that protect our nationally threatened wildlife. Only native forest logging gets this special exemption known as a 'regional forest agreement' (RFA).

Documents released by Friends of the Earth today reveal that: Taiwan will not pay SA to accept high-level nuclear waste if that requires investing in waste storage and disposal infrastructure. Taiwan would not send nuclear waste to Australia unless and until a repository is built and operating. Taiwan would not send nuclear waste to Australia in the face of widespread public opposition.

The Western Australian State Government is under intense community fire for allowing preparatory work to begin on the controversial Roe 8 Highway extension which would irrevocably damage the Beeliar Wetlands between North and Bibra Lakes before a High Court hearing on the issue takes place on December 16. In a shocking provocation to the community, just weeks before this hearing and only months before a state election, the Barnett government has sent in contractors under the “supervision” of a strong police contingent to begin the destruction of bushland near the Beeliar Wetlands.  

SA Premier Jay Weatherill's announcement that he plans to continue pursuing his nuclear waste dump plan is a great disappointment to many South Australians and especially to Indigenous people from across the state who said a clear 'no' to the proposal at the recent Citizens' Jury. The Community Views Report released on Sunday, reflecting a statewide consultation process, found that 53 percent of respondents opposed the plan to import high-level nuclear waste while just 31 percent supported the plan. Over three-quarters of Aboriginal respondents opposed the plan.

In September 2016 Friends of the Earth produced the report:  Pesticides in Australian Waterways Overview. The results were shocking with 89% of the almost 200 pesticides detected having no ecological guidelines under the current system. Many of the unregulated pesticides detected are known to be harmful to animals like the iconic platypus, affect their food supply and cause havoc and destruction for fragile ecosystems in Australian waterways.

Environmental organisation Friends of the Earth (FoE) today called on increased restrictions and bans on pesticides which continue to pollute Australian waterways. FoE also called for significant increases in the number of pesticide guideline levels published in ecological and drinking water guidelines in Australia. These calls are based on a review of data revealing widespread pesticide pollution across Australia.

Friends of the Earth Brisbane applauds the federal government decision to drop 5 sites, including one in Queensland, from its list of sites nominated to house national nuclear waste.  We now call on the government to remove the final site, Barndioota station, in SA from consideration and to drop the flawed site selection process immediately. After announcing a list of 6 proposed sites in November, 2015, the federal government will reportedly  announce that a site in South Australia is the only site short-listed to house a new national nuclear waste repository.  The proposed site in Queensland, at OmanAma, near Inglewoood on the Darling Downs, and 4 other nominates sites in NSW, SA and NT are reported to have been dropped from the list.

The Nuclear Royal Commission continues its investigations and will hand down the final report in May. The Commission is looking into the risks and opportunities of furthering a nuclear industry here in SA including increased uranium mining, uranium enrichment, nuclear power and dumping international nuclear waste. Three sites in South Australia, two at Kimba and one in the Flinders Rangers have been shortlisted to become a national nuclear waste dump. South Australians have a long history of opposing waste dumps and have state legislation opposing it. We are working hard to have a voice in the debate and represent many South Australians who don't want us to go down the radioactive path.