Activists still at large inside Shoalwater Bay Military Training Area

Peace Convergence organisers are concerned that the Australian Defence Forces (ADF) are not taking seriously securing the safety of seven peace activists who went inside the Shoalwater Bay military training area yesterday.

Statements released to the media by the military indicate they don’t believe activists actually penetrated and went inside the military firing zone .

Peace Convergence spokesperson Treena Lenthall said, “This is not a stunt. These people have made a personal decision based on their moral convictions  the only way they can stop the war exercises is to risk their lives. They feel strongly about the war in Iraq and stopping the environmental damage to Shoalwater Bay from these military exercises.
 
“Their lives are on the line and we want a commitment from ADF that according to normal Defence protocols live firing will cease until they are found,” Ms Lenthall said.

“Their safety should be of prime concern to the military. At least two of the activists have young children under the age of two, and their partners as with the families of all those risking their lives, need assurance that their loved ones won’t be accidentally killed or injured,” Ms Lenthall said.

The group includes 66 year old great grandmother, June Norman, who has taken this personal action because she is ashamed of our government’s role in Iraq.

“War is not a game. I feel for the children of Iraq who are being killed by the actions of the US and our military,” Mrs Norman said before she disappeared behind the barb wire fence yesterday of the military training area.

“ The military has upped the ante with these military exercises and I felt I had to respond accordingly,” said the Brisbane great grandmother.

Peace Convergence organisers have contacted politicians hoping questions will be raised in Federal parliament before it rises for the winter recess at the end of this week.

“So far, the silence from the parliamentary benches from both major parties regarding the safety of these seven has been deafening,” says Ms Lenthall.

“The politicians seem more intent on awarding themselves a $20,000 plus pay rise than they are about seeing that these people are not killed by our forces or the US military,” she said.

Those contacted include the Minister for Defence Brendon Nelson, Joel Fitzgibbons (Labor’s spokesman for Defence), Peter Garrett Shadow minister for the Environment (who has a personal connection to Shoalwater Bay having fought for its protection from sandmining in l991 and Kirsten Livermore federal member
for Capricornia).

Contact Treena Lenthall: 0432563967.