Sign this open letter below
Open letter to the Prime Minister and Defence Minister saying No to a nuclear submarine base on the east coast of Australia
Former Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced a new naval base would be built on the east coast for future nuclear-powered submarines, as part of the new AUKUS agreement between Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States.
Brisbane, Newcastle and Port Kembla have been shortlisted.
Add your name to this open letter to the Federal Government opposing a nuclear base anywhere in Australia.
We, the undersigned, oppose the government’s proposed nuclear submarine base in Newcastle, Illawarra or Brisbane because:
- Locations where nuclear submarines are based become targets if there is a war.
- Nuclear-powered submarines use highly enriched, nuclear-weapons-grade uranium, making them extremely dangerous. An accident or malfunction could result in a submarine becoming a floating nuclear bomb.
- The billions in public funds being spent on this could instead create secure jobs in benign industries, such as renewable energy systems.
- There is no safe solution to managing nuclear waste or disposing of the submarines at the end of their life.
- Nuclear-powered submarines are likely to be a trojan horse for the establishment of a nuclear industry in Australia.
- We are opposed to war because it destroys people, countries and ecologies.