Mission Statement

The munchkins believe that the press coverage of the broader issues surrounding the proposed national nuclear waste dump in South Australia is inadequate. We are aiming to increase public awareness about Australia's involvement within the entire nuclear cycle, no one wants a waste dump in `their backyard', so perhaps we should stop producing the waste.

Do you want a nulear future?

Most Australians appear to be opposed to the idea of a nulear future for their country. However, despite this rather strong negative public sentiment all of our recent governments have taken stances that support the nuclear industry in some way. In particular, Australia's involvement in the mining of uranium has contributed to the world nuclear industry, and hence to the global problem of the storage of nuclear waste. The recent plans for a new nuclear reactor in Lucas Heights, and the associated problem of where to store Australia's nuclear waste are only a small segment of this global problem.

There are alternatives:

• Nuclear isotopes can be manufactured using a cyclotron, or purchased from overseas - we do not need a new reactor.
• Nuclear waste has been safely stored in the numerous sites around Australia for decades, we do not need a dump. A dump is an out of site out of mind solution, it does not solve the broader issues of nuclear waste management.
• We do not need to mine uranium. Uranium mining leaves the surrounding areas highly contaminated, and once the uranium has been used the toxic waste must be stored until safe again - something that can take thousands of years.

Our governments have failed us. The Munchkins demand a moratorium on all of Australia's nuclear activities, and that our government hold a referendum on all of the nuclear issues that currently surround Australia. The people of Australia deserve a right to choose the extent of our involvement in the nuclear cycle, and to halt our involvement if we deem it too dangerous. Anything less will leave our descendents with a larger nuclear waste storage problem than the one that currently confronts us. This important decision cannot be left to the short sighted policies of our 3-year political system - they have proven inadequate and have left us with our current nuclear problems.