BY ADAM BAKER
BRISBANE — "I've never been to a public meeting where so many politicians have given so many apologies", stated Drew Hutton from the Queensland Greens. He was addressing an April 20 public meeting in Narangba, 30km north of Brisbane. Narangba is the proposed site for a food irradiation plant, to be constructed by the Steritech company.
Organisers estimate that 600 residents attended the meeting at the Narangba Community Hall. The list of apologies from invited politicians was extensive. Among them were Brisbane mayor Jim Soorley and state environment minister Dean Wells.
Food irradiation was banned by the federal government in 1989, but the ban was quietly lifted in August 1999. Jim Elder, former ALP deputy premier now disgraced by the Shepardson inquiry, invited Steritech to invest in Queensland. The Caboolture shire council approved Steritech's plan to built a food irradiation plant at Narangba.
The Labor state Minister for Health Wendy Edmond has already indicated that she is likely to grant a licence to the company to use cobalt-60 to irradiate food at the proposed plant. The proposal is now waiting on the approval of federal environment minister Senator Robert Hill.
One politician who did turn up was Mal Brough, the local Liberal federal MP for Longman. When asked, he refused to say whether or not he personally supported the construction of the plant. He only said he would tell the federal parliament what the residents views were.
Matthew Smith from ENUFF (Everyone For a Nuclear Free Future) outlined the process of food irradiation whereby the cobalt-60 rods would be shielded behind concrete metres thick, and the shield would be lowered to expose food on a conveyor belt to direct radiation from the cobalt rods. Smith noted that after 10 years of testing irradiated food on its own infantry during the 1950s, the US Army decided it food was unfit for human consumption.
One truck driver at the meeting reminded people that the cobalt-60 would likely be transported by road after arriving at the Fishermans Island Brisbane port. He mentioned that there is at least one truck accident per week on the stretch from Fishermans Island to the first Â鶹´«Ã½ of the Bruce highway.
In a vote taken before the conclusion of the meeting, 600 of those attending expressed opposition to the proposed plant, while those in favour numbered three. It was resolved to continue the campaign against Steritech and its food irradiation plant, through writing letters to the local papers and the local politicians.