Evidence to the public inquiry into AUKUS is exposing risks around nuclear accidents, sovereignty, jobs, waste and Australia’s role as a US military base.

I have been watching and listening to the livestream broadcast of the Public Inquiry into AUKUS. Truthfully, I have been doing more than watching. As a board member of the Australian Peace and Security Forum, which is supporting the Inquiry, I have been hanging on every piece of evidence, every presentation, every media story.

The presentations and evidence offered have been nothing less than extraordinary and deeply disturbing. For instance, when former Defence Minister, Linda Reynolds, was asked at the hearing in Fremantle – good on her for appearing – whether she thought having nuclear submarines stationed near Fremantle would make Fremantle more of a nuclear target, her answer was clear. “Of course it would.”

When, later in the day, Dr Colin Hughes, former head of Public Health in Perth, spoke about what would happen in the event of a nuclear accident, he described how the tanks holding contaminated water would be breached, with radiation spewing into the ocean, poisoning the seagrass beds and the ecology for thousands of years.

In his scenario some victims are found alive close to the blast zone. Workers who survived the explosion emerge dazed and bleeding. Others suffer traumatic injuries from collapsing structures and flying debris. Ambulances begin transporting casualties, but many patients arrive faster than they can be processed. The regional hospital is overwhelmed within the first hour.

This is the stuff of nightmares. At his conclusion, Hughes reminded the audience of local Fremantle people that there was, so far, no plan in place to evacuate the people of Fremantle........

© Pearls and Irritations