"History teaches us that men and nations behave wisely once they have exchausted all other alternatives." - Abba Eban
The great news is that ERA have abandoned the Jabiluka mine in possibly the most incredible environmental win in Australia since the Franklin campaign. Absolutely incredible!
In case you don't know about it, in 1991 Energy Resources Australia bought the Jabiluka uranium mine from Pancontinental. They immediately set about trying to develop the mine, to enormous popular opposition amongst Australians and particularly the native traditional owners of the land. The Jabiluka mining lease is inside the Kakadu World Heritage National Park, one of the most beautiful yet fragile regions in the world.
A massive and highly popular campaign swung into action, with possibly one of the most recognisable and extensively-used logos ever used in a political campaign. Rallies, benefits and a huge blockade of the remote mine showed the massive popular opposition to the mine.
Of course Australia's government never caved to the opposition. The mine has closed due to low uranium prices and the high cost of defying the popular opposition to the project. This just goes to show the power of secondary lobbying and boycotts in these kinds of campaigns.
I wasn't enormously involved in the campaign (apart from some silly fines in 1999), but it's hard to put into words how proud I feel that we've won. It's a great day for the environment movement. Congratulations to all those who were involved.