Support was given by Auckland City Councillors at the Council meeting on February 22, to a protest fleet which is sailing to meet two ships, the Pacific Pintail and the Pacific Teal, transporting radioactive material through the Tasman Sea to Japan. The protests, planned by Greenpeace, will include four New Zealand vessels and three Australian vessels.

The transport is the first of up to 30 such shipments planned in the next decade. It is the fourth shipment of plutonium waste through the Pacific region and the New Zealand Government strongly opposes the route, which may pass through its exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

Auckland City Council has a long history of leadership in the area of disarmament and against nuclear proliferation, making its first declaration in 1983. In 1995 Council took a stand against the resumption of French nuclear testing in the Pacific and in 1997 resolved to call upon the governments of the nuclear states to begin negotiations on a convention to eliminate nuclear and chemical weapons.

Local artists Fatu Feu’u, Denys Trussell and Luc Tutugoro have planned to paint a billboard-sized mural in Auckland City as a protest against the shipments route through the ‘Nuclear Free Pacific’ and will be discussing their plans with the Eden Albert Community Board on February 28.

ENDS

For further information, please contact:
Councillor Maire Leadbeater, Partnerships Committee chairperson,
tel: 378 9098 or 025 436957.

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