Mururoa Nuclear Tests, RNZN protest Veterans

NZ - Media release

The following is a press release sent to the media tonight (Sunday 29th March)

MURUROA VETERANS SOCIETY

27 March 2009

MEDIA RELEASE – FRENCH NUCLEAR TESTING COMPENSATION

New Zealand Navy veterans sent to Mururoa Atoll to protest against French atmospheric nuclear testing in 1973 have appealed to the New Zealand Government to follow the example of the French Government.

France has drafted legislation to set aside $13.5 million to compensate military personnel and the peoples of French territories in the South Pacific who suffered health consequences including leukemia and other forms of cancer.

The Mururoa Veterans Society, representing navy personnel who served on the protest frigates Otago and Canterbury, and their dependants, has applauded the French decision, saying France has finally recognised the after-effects.

“Now it is up to the New Zealand Government to show the same honesty by providing specific funding assistance for those Mururoa veterans and their dependents who are still suffering from exposure to atmospheric nuclear testing,” says Society president Peter Mitchell of Tauranga.

In the process of developing its own nuclear capability, France exploded 38 nuclear devices in the atmosphere above Mururoa Atoll.

New Zealand opposed the testing programme and in1973 the Labour Government led by Norman Kirk sent the Otago and then the Canterbury on voyages to provide a focus international condemnation.

The voyages, later regarded as New Zealand’s most successful act of international gunboat diplomacy, mobilised world opinion and forced the French to stop atmospheric nuclear testing and move to underground sites.

Each frigate monitored single nuclear blasts upwind at the edge of the 12-mile territorial limit around Mururoa Atoll.

The Society estimates 90 percent of the combined crews of 500 have since complained of health consequences and many have died of cancer-related diagnoses.

“Successive New Zealand Government have never taken them seriously – and yet these are the men they sent to Mururoa to force France to stop atmospheric nuclear testing.”

Mr Mitchell says “France’s admission that there were after-effects for its military personnel and civilians in the French territories in the South Pacific makes it hard for the New Zealand Government to deny there were consequences for our sailors.”

He says just as the Agent Orange effects on New Zealand veterans of the Vietnam War were swept under the carpet by successive Governments for 40 years, the effects of atmospheric nuclear testing at Mururoa have been ignored for 36 years.

Mr Mitchell says the Mururoa Veterans Society will write to the Prime Minister and Minister of Veteran Affairs Judith Collins to ask for justice.

Further Information:

Peter Mitchell
President, Mururoa Veterans Society

07-5799150 or 021-1792136

A downloadable copy is available here

Then: If you smoked, you had an ashtray on your desk.

Now: If you smoke, you get sent outside and treated like a leper.

Then: Mail took weeks to get to the ship.

Now: Every time you get near land, there's a mob on the flight deck/quarterdeck checking to see if their mobile will work.

Then: You wore bell bottomed trousers.

Now: Bells are gone and 14 year old girls wear them everywhere.

Then: You had one hat for stepping ashore and one hat for Divisions. Usually it was one and the same.

Now: You have a selection of hats to wear, ball cap, sailors cap and an AKUBRA.

Then: The dress of the day was Number 10a's optional shirts and sandals. The Stokers were the only ones to wear "overies".

Now: Everyone wears grey overalls. Commonly know are either "ralls or CC's" (Combat Coveralls) not allowed to call then overies anymore, now that women are on ships.

Then: The ships office had a typewriter on a desk for doing daily reports.

Now: Everyone has a computer with internet access and they wonder why there is no work going on.

Then: We painted pictures of pretty girls on the planes.

Now: We put girls in the cockpit.

Then: Your girlfriend was at home praying for your safe return.

Now: She is on the same ship as you, praying that the condom worked.

Then: If you got drunk off duty, your mates helped you back onboard and made sure you were up in the morning.

Now: If you get drunk off duty, they counsel you and then send you to rehab and ruinyour career.

Then: Our top officers were professional sailors first. They commanded respect.

Now: Our top officers are politicians first, they beg not to be given a wedgie.

Then: They collected enemy intelligence and analysed it.

Now: They collect our urine and analyse it.

Then: If you didn't act right, they'd put you on !st Lieutenants report until you straightened up.

Now: If you don't act right, they start a paper trail that will follow you forever.

Then: Medals were awarded to heroes who saved lives at the risk of their own.

Now: Medals are awarded to people just for turning up for work most of the time.

Then: You ate in the Scran Hall, it was free and you could have as much as you wanted.

Now: You eat in the Dining Facility and you get one serve and you pay for it.

Then: If you wanted to relax, you went to the Wets and played pool, smoked and drank beer.

Now: You go to the Community Centre and maybe you can play pool, but no smoking or drinking.

Then: If you wanted to get on the turps, you went to the Wets and had as much as you waanted at a good price and generally had a good time.

Now: The beer will cost the same as ashore, and someone will be watching to see how much you are drinking.

Then: The Canteen had bargains for sailors who didn't have much money.

Now: You can get the same things ashore for a better price.

Then: If an Admiral wanted to do a presentation, his Secretary scibbled down some notes and had a Subby or Mid produce some charts for him.

Now: Sixteen people spend a week preparing a PowerPoint Presentation, that is probably wrong and the Admiral doesn't understand what is in it.

Then: We called the enemy things like "Commie Bastards, Gooks and Slopes" because we didn't like them.

Now: We call them things like "Opposing Forces and Aggressors" so that we won't offend them.

Then: We declared victory when the enemy was dead and we had destroyed all his things.

Now: We declare victory when the enemy says he is sorry and won't do it again.

Then: A Commander would put his butt on the line to protect his crew.

Now: A Commander will put his people on the line to protect his own butt.

I am writing to thank you for bouncing my cheque with which I endeavoured to pay my plumber last month. By my calculations, three nanoseconds must have elapsed between his presenting the cheque and the arrival in my account of the funds needed to honour it. I refer, of course, to the automatic monthly deposit of my Pension,an arrangement, which, I admit, has been in place for only thirty eight years. You are to be commended for seizing that brief window of opportunity, and also for debiting my account $30 by way of penalty for the inconvenience caused to your bank.

My thankfulness springs from the manner in which this incident has caused me to rethink my errant financial ways. I notice that whereas I personally attend to your telephone calls and letters, when I try to contact you, I am confronted by the impersonal, overcharging, pre-recorded, faceless entity which your bank has become. From now on, I, like you, choose only to deal with a flesh-and-blood person.

My mortgage and loan payments will therefore and hereafter no longer be automatic, but wll arrive at your bank by cheque addressed persononally and confidentially to an employee at your bank whom you must nominate. Be aware that it is an offence under the Postal Act for any other person to open such an envelope. Please find attached an Application Contact which I require your chosen employee to complete. I am sorry it runs to eight pages, but in order that I know as much about him or her as your bank knows about me, there is no alternative. Please note that all copies of his or her medical history must be countersigned by a Solicitor, and the mandatory details of his/her financial situation (income, debts, assets and liabilities) must be accompanied by documented proof. In due course, I will issue your employee with PIN number which he/she must quote in dealings with me. I regret that it cannot be shorter than 28 digits but, again, I have modelled it on the number of buttons presses required of me to access my account balance on your phone bank service. As they say, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

Let me level the playing field even further. When you call me, press buttons as follows:

1.. To make an appointment to see me.

2.. To query a missing payment.

3.. To transfer the call to my living room in case I am there.

4.. To transfer the call to my bedroom in case I am sleeping.

5.. To transfer the call to my toilet in case I am attending to nature.

6.. To transfer the call to my mobile phone if I am not at home.

7.. To leave a message on my computer (a password to access my computer is required. A password will be communicated to you at a later date to the Authorized Contact.)

8.. To return to the main menu and to listen to options 1 through to 8.

9.. To make a general complaint or inquiry, the contact will then be put on hold, pending the attention of my automated answering service. While this may, on occasion, involve a lengthy wait, uplifting music will play for the duration of the call.

Regrettably, but again following your example, I must also levy an establishment fee to cover the setting up of this new arrangement.

May I wish you a happy, if ever so slightly less properous, New Year.

Your Humble Client

Beat around the bush

Wade through the morning paper

Make mountains out of mole hills

Hit the nail on the head

Jump on the Band Wagon

Run around in circles

Advise the Prime Minister on how to run the Country

Pull out all the stops

Add fuel to the fire

Put my foot in my mouth

Start the ball rolling

Bow my head in thanksgiving

Uplift my hands in praise

Hug someone and encourage them.

Whew! What a workout!

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