SA: Union backs calls for compensation for Maralinga victims

AAP General News (Australia)
08-04-2001
SA: Union backs calls for compensation for Maralinga victims

ADELAIDE, Aug 4 AAP - The trade union movement has backed the push for compensation
for people involved in the Maralinga atomic tests in the 1950s and '60s.

The United Trades and Labor Council of SA (UTLC) has organised a public meeting on
the issue in Adelaide tomorrow.

UTLC secretary Chris White said it was time the issue was put firmly on the public agenda.

He called on the federal government to deal with the issue of compensation for those
suffering for their involvement in the Maralinga bomb tests.

"The UTLC takes the Maralinga cover-up seriously and in the public interest we are
joining with other groups to pressure all political parties for an answer," Mr White said
in a statement.

"It is simply not good enough to say sorry to the people who suffered, it is about
justice and paying fair compensation."

Mr White said Dr Roger Cross, author of the book Fallout that helped expose the secrecy
surrounding the British tests, would be a speaker at the meeting.

The meeting will be at Trades Hall, in the city, at 1.30pm (CST).

AAP nc/cdh a

KEYWORD: MARALINGA

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