Ranger Uranium Mine

Australians pay as Labor digs a hole for itself on tax

Blog Post | Blog of Sarah Hanson-Young
Tuesday 22nd November 2011, 8:55am

The "year of decision and delivery" is quickly coming to an end and the Prime Minister is determined to get the government's mining tax passed through the House of Representative this week before the summer break of Parliament. The Senate would then deal with the legislation when Parliament resumes in 2012.

Australians pay as Labor digs a hole for itself on tax

Blog Post | Blog of Sarah Hanson-Young
Tuesday 22nd November 2011, 8:54am

The "year of decision and delivery" is quickly coming to an end and the Prime Minister is determined to get the government's mining tax passed through the House of Representative this week before the summer break of Parliament. The Senate would then deal with the legislation when Parliament resumes in 2012.

NT uranium mine workers still not on national radiation register

Media Release | Spokesperson Scott Ludlam
Wednesday 19th October 2011, 1:17pm

Uranium mine workers in the Northern Territory are still not on the National Radiation Dose Register, five months after their exclusion was revealed by the Australian Greens.


Greens Senator Scott Ludlam exposed the information black hole during Estimates hearings in May, and today while quizzing representatives from the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency discovered that nothing had been done to fix it.

Office of the Supervising Scientist

Estimates Transcripts | Spokesperson Scott Ludlam
Wednesday 19th October 2011, 7:41am

Tuesday 18 October, Environment Communication and the Arts Committee


CHAIR: Mr Hughes, do you have an opening statement?


Mr Hughes : No, thank you.


Senator LUDLAM: Mr Hughes, it is nice to see you again. I will get straight into it because time is pretty short. Can you tell us what your role was in the approval of the Olympic Dam expansion?

Ranger Mine site rehabilitation

Estimates Transcripts | Spokesperson Scott Ludlam
Friday 5th August 2011, 5:35pm

Senate Standing Committee on Economics
Resources, Energy and Tourism Portfolio
Budget Senate Estimates
Question: BR7

Senator Ludlam asked:
Senator LUDLAM: I appreciate that. Has a uranium mine the size of Ranger-anything of that order of magnitude-ever been rehabilitated before anywhere in the world?
Ms Constable: Mines certainly have. Again, I would have to take on notice that specific question as it relates to uranium mines.
Senator LUDLAM: Yes.

Bad news for uranium sector, good news for Kakadu National Park

Media Release | Spokesperson Scott Ludlam
Thursday 4th August 2011, 4:54pm

The Australian Greens today welcomed the news Energy Resources Australia have abandoned plans to introduce acid heap leaching at the Ranger Uranium Mine within Kakadu National Park.


Greens Senator Scott Ludlam said the decision by ERA - majority owned by Rio Tinto - to ditch the plan at their board meeting yesterday was welcome news, and casts a long shadow over the viability of the controversial mine.


"The plan to build a heap leach plant on the Ranger lease was opposed by Traditional Owners, shareholders, business analysts, environmental advocates and mining experts. This is a win for good sense.

WA Government blows one million on dangerous, dead-end uranium industry

Media Release | Spokesperson Scott Ludlam
Wednesday 8th June 2011, 2:02pm

The Barnett Government's costly support for uranium mining in Western Australia will leave the state littered with long-term environmental disasters, the Greens warned today.


The State Government has thrown away more than one million dollars encouraging uranium mining in just the first three quarters of 2010/11.

Senator for Western Australia Scott Ludlam said the ongoing problems plaguing Ranger mine in the Northern Territory and the decades-long multi-million dollar clean up of the defunct Rum Jungle mine illustrated the danger of uranium mining.

Dept. of Resources and Energy on uranium mining & radioactive waste dump

Estimates Transcripts | Spokesperson Scott Ludlam
Monday 6th June 2011, 11:31am

Economics Committee - 31 May 2011


Senator LUDLAM: Yes. I might stay on the subject that I was on. It is mainly around the Rum Jungle Mine. I understand that we are still spending about $1.2 million this year and $2.4 million next year on the Rum Jungle remediation up in the Alligator Rivers Region of the Northern Territory. Can you update the committee on the work that taxpayers are still funding to remediate a small mine 40 years after it closed?

Uranium workers left off radiation radar

Media Release | Spokesperson Scott Ludlam
Tuesday 31st May 2011, 4:56pm

Uranium mine workers in the Northern Territory have not been included in the National Radiation Dose Register, the Australian Greens revealed today.


Senator for Western Australia Scott Ludlam uncovered the loophole during Senate Estimates hearings today while quizzing representatives from the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPANSA).


"On July 1, 2010, the register began collecting data on the radiation doses to which workers had been exposed. Covering five years, the register now has 16,000 individuals on the database but has no information on the radiation workers have been exposed to at the Ranger Mine in the Northern Territory," said Senator Ludlam.

Rum Jungle’s toxic legacy: a multi-million dollar warning

Media Release | Spokesperson Scott Ludlam
Tuesday 31st May 2011, 12:19pm

Seven million dollars of taxpayers' money will be spent on finding a way to clean up Rum Jungle uranium mine 40 years after its closure, the Australian Greens revealed in Senate Estimates hearings today.


Senator Scott Ludlam said the $7million would be spent over four years just to determine how to deal with the defunct uranium mine's toxic legacy.


"The government can't tell us yet what the final cost will be. The multi-million dollar publicly-funded assessment is just the beginning. Forty years after this mine closed, it continues to be an environmental graveyard for the Northern Territory. How many decades and how many millions of dollars will it take to clean up Ranger mine, or Olympic Dam?"