PM Howard helps US military subvert quarantine laws

MEDIA RELEASE
June 22, 2007

*US Military avoid quarantine standards with help from PM Howard*

An unnamed Australian Quarantine Service (AQIS) whistleblower has alleged
that the US military received a waiver of Australia strict quarantine
process because it was taking too long.

Spokesperson for the Wildlife Protection Association of Australia, Pat
O’Brien, says he received information from an AQIS worker that the
American military were impatient with the slowness of quarantine process. 
The military brass applied to the Prime Minister, John Howard, who
allegedly gave them a special waiver to the process.

O’Brien says, “This alleged avoidance of the quarantine process puts our
precious environment at risk from introduced pests like crazy ants, fire
ants, foot and mouth disease, invasive weed seeds and the eggs of pest
species that our quarantine process is designed to prevent.  It is highly
likely that heavy vehicles like tanks and humvees the US military bring
with them will be contaminated with foreign soil, and the ballast of their
ships similarly so.”

Environmental Spokesperson for the Friends of the Earth and the Peace
Convergence, Kim Stewart says,  “This week US navy PR is talking up the
great job the USS Juneau is doing adhering to our environmental laws,
saying they have taken ‘all the necessary steps’.”

“I find it shocking that the Prime Minster would have a hand in this.  The
US military should be beholden to the same laws as the rest of us.  On top
of the relaxing of Environmental Impact Statement conditions, a Public
Environment Report that only treats of some of the environmental issues,
and the US Navy’s current court case over the use of sonar where whales
live, this is yet another event that undermines the credibility of the
military’s environmental claims.”

Peace Convergence,  Kim Stewart 0413 397 839

Wildlife Protection Association of Australia, Pat O’Brien  0408 711 344