100 signatures reached
To: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese; NSW Premier Chris Minns; Alison Byrnes MP for Cunningham
Rule it out: no nuclear submarine base in Port Kembla!
My family and I have lived in Port Kembla for more than twenty years. This is my community – the beach, the port, the people. When the Morrison government first floated this suburb as a site for Australia's nuclear submarine base, people here organised to fight it. I've been part of that fight ever since.
Now secret government documents have confirmed what we've long feared: Port Kembla is the government's preferred site. And this week we learned that Australia's own nuclear safety agency assessed that an accident at a submarine base here would require evacuating most residential streets in Port Kembla.
The government hasn't announced its decision. But Premier Minns has refused to rule it out. The federal government stays silent.
Over forty local organisations have already signed the Port Kembla Declaration calling on the government to rule the base out. People here have been saying no for three years.
I started this petition because both governments need to hear and answer this community: rule it out.
Mel Barnes Port Kembla
Why is this important?
We, the undersigned, demand that Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and NSW Premier Chris Minns publicly rule out the construction of a nuclear submarine base in Port Kembla.
Secret government documents – only released after a freedom of information fight – confirm Port Kembla is the government's preferred east coast base site. Both federal and state government representatives have refused to rule it out. Delaying a formal decision is an attempt to evade accountability while locking in the plan.
Government documents show that an accident at a submarine base in Port Kembla's outer harbour would require immediate evacuation within at least 600 metres and further evacuations up to 1.4 kilometres downwind – covering almost every residential street in the suburb, including local schools and health facilities. Our community has never been consulted about this risk.
We also oppose any move to designate the base "Critical State Significant Infrastructure" – a classification that would strip Illawarra residents of their legal right to challenge the decision in court.
The billions proposed for this base should instead be invested in what our community actually needs: health, housing, clean energy, education, and environmental repair.
We stand with WAWAN, the South Coast Labour Council, ICAN Australia, and the forty organisations of the Port Kembla Declaration.
Rule it out. Not here, not anywhere.