STORY: Residents in Australian coastal town protest against AUKUS nuclear submarine base
SHOOTING TIME: May 4, 2024
DATELINE: May 5, 2024
LENGTH: 00:01:44
LOCATION: WOLLONGONG, Australia
CATEGORY: MILITARY/SOCIETY

SHOTLIST:
1. various of the protest
2. SOUNDBITE 1 (English): ALEXANDER BROWN, Founding member of Wollongong Against War and Nukes
3. SOUNDBITE 2 (English): ARTHUR RORRIS, Secretary of the South Coast Labour Council in New South Wales
4. SOUNDBITE 3 (English): ALEXANDER BROWN, Founding member Wollongong Against War and Nukes

STORYLINE:

Some local residents rallied in a town on Australia's eastern coast on Saturday to protest against possible plans to establish a local base for nuclear submarines as part of the AUKUS agreement.
   
Members and supporters of the local activist group Wollongong Against War and Nukes (WAWAN) joined the annual May Day March in Wollongong, some 85 km south of Sydney, to voice their concerns.
   
SOUNDBITE 1 (English): ALEXANDER BROWN, Founding member of Wollongong Against War and Nukes
"I don't think AUKUS is a good idea for a number of reasons. Firstly, it's an outdated security pact that ties Australia to declining powers. And we need to have strong, peaceful diplomatic relationships with all of our neighbors. Unfortunately, AUKUS is more like some kind of war-mongering, kind of an agreement that threatens the regional stability. Another aspect of it is that AUKUS will mean Australia increasingly comes under U.S. military control."

Port Kembla, some 10 km south of Wollongong, along with Newcastle and Brisbane, were named by former prime minister Scott Morrison's government as potential sites for a nuclear submarine base on Australia's east coast.
   
After the plans met fierce resistance from Australian unions and environmental groups, the current Labor government has said it had not decided on the location and a decision would be made "late in this decade."
   
Arthur Rorris, head of the South Coast Labor Council, which represents 50,000 workers through its affiliated trade unions and organizes the annual May Day March, said a nuclear submarine base "is a very strong moral issue for this region and a very strong community concern."
  
SOUNDBITE 2 (English): ARTHUR RORRIS, Head of the South Coast Labor Council
"Australia has had a long position against not just nuclear proliferation and nuclear weapons, but also the nuclear industry. We want to keep it that way, and we do not want to be part of a military machine, and basing nuclear assets in our port."

Plans for a base are part of the tripartite AUKUS pact that centers around Australia's acquisition of nuclear-powered submarines from the United States and Britain, costing up to 368 billion Australian dollars (243 billion U.S. dollars).
  
The AUKUS pact is diverting resources away from addressing the causes of the climate crisis as well as education and health services, said Brown.

SOUNDBITE 3 (English): ALEXANDER BROWN, Founding member of Wollongong Against War and Nukes
"Australia is also facing a big crisis in education (and) health. Our education system is underfunded. And so they're (teachers) fighting to try and get those resources while we're spending money on American armed manufacturers."

This year's May Day March in Wollongong, which attracted about 500 people on a rainy Saturday, was more of a general focus and dealt with issues such as local health and education services and the humanitarian situation in Gaza.

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Wollongong, Australia.
(XHTV)