Maritime Union of Australia: General: Beach theatre: Local kids protest oil slicks

A group of three local youngsters will show first hand what it would look like to survive an oil slick, at Wintersun Festival, Coolangatta Beach, Saturday June 12 at 12.00 pm tomorrow.

The young beach lovers are protesting against the Federal Government's failure to protect our coast from sub-standard, foreign flag shipping. They will do this by dousing themselves in oily slick.

"Our young people want to save the beaches from rustbuckets," said organiser Bruce Doleman. "They want to be able to come out here and surf in clean waters."

Mr Doleman said the demonstration was to raise public awareness of the dangers. "People need to know our beaches are at risk," he said. "We should be promoting Australian ships because Australian seafarers care about keeping our beaches safe and giving our kids a future. Instead the government is letting in shonky ships and exploited guest workers. These days there's also the danger these ships could be used by terrorists."

The OECD Maritime Transport Committee last year warned that global shipping had been infiltrated by terrorist networks that had used vessels as a floating bomb in the past (the suicide attack against the USS Cole and oil tanker Limberg) and could do so again in the future. As well they are using ships to smuggle weapons and operatives from one country to another.

The Maritime Union and the International Transport Workers' Federation are the major sponsors of the Tweed Coast Old Malibu Club who competed in the surfing contests last weekend.

Contact	:	Maritime Union of Australia
Phone	:	+61 2 9267 9134
Fax	:	+61 2 9261 3481
Email	:	muano@mua.org.au
WWW	:	http://mua.org.au/

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