May Day March Against AUKUS
Port Kembla and the Illawarra can claim a proud militant history stretching back over a hundred years. The workers of the port, coal mines and the steel mills organised in unions often lead by members in the Communist Party or left factions of the ALP, were always staunch in the battles for wages and conditions. In the 1930’s, they led the fight against Japanese imperialist aggression in China by refusing to load scrap iron onto Japanese bound ships. The Peace Movement in the Illawarra has always been strong as it has been well integrated with trade unions and progressive parties there.
This year together with local First Nations groups, the South Coast Labor Council and Anti-AUKUS groups, the May Day rally focused on opposition to the proposal to build a nuclear submarine base at Port Kembla.
Speakers addressed the issues from making Wollongong a target, to the danger of nuclear radiation, as well as the problems it posed for future wind farms off the Illawarra coast. However the best response came from the Electrical Trade Union speaker who informed the meeting that the the base would never be built by his members.
