THE MARALINGA ABORIGINES AND THEIR TRADITIONAL LANDS

That this House notes that a recent BBC2 nature programme, Secrets in the Sands, and the visit of a delegation of Maralinga Aborigines to London have drawn attention to the effects of the British atomic test programme in Australia at Maralinga and Emu between 1953 and 1963 on the Maralinga Aborigines; is seriously concerned about the deterioration of their health and cultural heritage as a result of being kept away from their traditional lands for 30 years after the commencement of the test programme and that a portion of their lands will remain dangerously contaminated by plutonium for the next 250,000 years; and calls upon Her Majesty's Government to accept joint responsibility with the Australian Government for decontaminating the Maralinga lands so that they are in a fit state for Aboriginal habitation and further to compensate the Aborigines for the loss of any land which, on environmental grounds, cannot be safely decontaminated.