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An ongoing investigation by the Socialist Equality Party |
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Return to Record of the Workers Inquiry Public meeting launches new stage of Workers Inquiry Commissioners present plan to answer cancer crisis The Workers Inquiry commissioners presented a far-reaching plan to tackle the Wollongong leukaemia and cancer crisis at a public meeting in Port Kembla on September 21. The six commissioners released their findings in detail to a strong audience of workers, students and residents from Wollongong, Sydney and Newcastle and launched the next stage of the Workers Inquiry -- the fight for its recommendations. The commissioners outlined aspects of the recommendations, all based on the fundamental principle that the lives, health and needs of ordinary people must take precedence over the requirements of private profit. The platform at the meeting also included two other members of the Workers Inquiry committee -- environmental scientist Chris Illert and Terry O'Dea, the brother of leukaemia victim Darren O'Dea -- and Socialist Equality Party national secretary Nick Beams. The speakers emphasised that the evidence assembled by the inquiry had irrefutably established a definite link between the staggering level of leukaemia and cancer in the Illawarra, particularly among young people, and the smokestacks of Port Kembla and the two coke works at Corrimal and Coalcliff, north of Wollongong. A vital discussion followed on the necessity for the development of an independent movement of the working class. The speakers drew out how the inquiry had demonstrated that all the official agencies, including parliament and the courts, had a vested interest in suppressing the truth about cancer and industrial pollution. Opening the meeting, SEP assistant national secretary Linda Tenenbaum, one of the commissioners, answered the attempts of BHP and the media to claim that the inquiry had no credibility because the commissioners were not scientists or doctors. "This commission was not chosen
by default. The commissioners represent those people who have
no interest in anything but the truth -- that is, the working
class," Tenenbaum said. Workers Inquiry convenor Peter Stavropoulos, a BHP steelworker and SEP member, reviewed the political struggle conducted by the SEP and the Workers Inquiry committee over the past year. "From the beginning our perspective was that the causes of the leukaemia and cancer crisis would only be established through the combined efforts, information and research of ordinary people, as well as those of concerned scientists and doctors." This would remain the axis of the fight for the implementation of the recommendations. "We turn not to the authorities but to the working class. Our findings are not for the benefit of those official agencies responsible for this crisis. They have known of this information all along." Scientific evidenceThe scientific evidence underpinning the findings was outlined by Chris Illert and commissioner Perla Astudillo, a biological sciences graduate. Chris Illert began by paying tribute to the professionalism with which the inquiry had been conducted under the guidance of the SEP. "The Workers Inquiry is history making because the working class hasn't risen up and proven a case like this before," he said. In response to a number of questions, Illert answered suggestions that other factors, such as cigarette smoking or population movements, could explain the industry-related pattern of distribution of the leukaemias and cancers revealed by the inquiry. Illert emphasised that the leukaemia and lymphoma deaths that had occurred among former students of Warrawong High School since 1989 were not an isolated "cluster" which had appeared over the past seven years, but part of a wider picture. He explained that the Cancer Council figures obtained by the inquiry showed a consistent radial pattern over a 22 year period. Throughout the entire period, workers and their families living near the Port Kembla smokestacks and the two northern cokeworks were far more likely to contract leukaemia and cancer than those living further away. Illert ridiculed the claim of local Labor MP Gerry Sullivan that the leukaemia outbreak had been caused by pesticide spraying at Warrawong High. "How does he explain the pattern that extends, not in one direction but in a 20 kilometre radius from the smokestacks? To establish such a pattern you would have to spray pesticides across the area in a 20 kilometre radius," he said. "Whether you factor in pesticides, population movement, smoking or whatever, the Cancer Council figures over 22 years show that the closer you live to the BHP and the Port Kembla copper smelter the higher your chances are of getting cancer or leukaemia. This evidence is unassailable," Illert said. Perla Astudillo reviewed the unregulated chemical cocktail contaminating the region. Outlining the inquiry's recommendations on pollution control, she said monitoring had to be taken out of the hands of government and industry, and placed under the control of residents and workers. "People have the absolute right to know what the pollution levels are in their surroundings," she said. Astudillo appealed to all young people and students, as well as scientists, doctors and academics, to join the struggle initiated by the Workers Inquiry. 'Inquiry will go down in history'Two of the speakers -- Terry O'Dea and Will Juarez -- represented families of young leukaemia victims. Terry O'Dea contrasted the conduct of the Workers Inquiry with how he and other victims' family members had been treated by the so-called Community Reference Group, set up to support the leukaemia whitewash carried out by the Illawarra Public Health Unit. At the first meeting he attended of the Community Reference Group, "they welcomed me with open arms and introduced me to everybody there. They started to play me like a musical instrument, part of their fine-tuned orchestra. "At the next meeting I began to ask questions that weren't on their music sheets. They began to squirm in their seats, feel uncomfortable and tried to get me back into tune." The more questions he asked and the more he requested independent investigations, the more he came into conflict with the authorities. At the last meeting he had attended, he had been interrupted by David Gilmour, a "community representative" on the Steering Committee which produced the Health Unit report, who said he was "sick of listening to the bull...". "In total contrast the Workers Inquiry will go down in history as a first genuine open, honest forum for people of all sections of the community coming together to accumulate factual evidence, their concerns and their experiences," O'Dea said. "Those who have helped in this inquiry will be remembered for their efforts. Those who have opposed it and attempted to undermine and discredit its validity will be seen as co-conspirators in the attempted coverup." Will Juarez, a commissioner and BHP steelworker, said he was proud to have been part of an inquiry that had taken up the fight of his daughter, Melissa Cristiano, for answers on the leukaemia deaths. He said he was convinced that his daughter and other young victims would still be alive if the authorities had "released, examined and acted upon" Cancer Council statistics showing the distribution of leukaemia and cancer. Juarez said BHP treated the working people of Wollongong no differently than it did the villagers along the Ok Tedi River in Papua New Guinea whose compensation claims for the company's poisoning of their valley had been outlawed by special legislation drafted for the PNG government by BHP's lawyers. Sonya Colless, a local resident and commissioner, outlined the commissioners' recommendations for the health and relocation of residents. She denounced the Carr state Labor government, saying its first priority was profits, not people. She described Labor's plans to shut Port Kembla hospital as "criminal". Colless concluded with a strong appeal to all those present: "The Inquiry has produced the evidence. It is no longer acceptable to sit back and let things rest. We must now fight to have our recommendations accepted, for the betterment of all lives and every aspect of society. I urge anyone with information or time to spare to join us to take forward the work of the Workers Inquiry." Another commissioner, Tony Barea, a young BHP steelworks electrician, exposed the ongoing role of the Labor and union leaders in protecting BHP and other companies. Barea said their contempt for working people was shown in their support for the reopening of the copper smelter, one of the prime suspects in the cancer crisis. Barea outlined the recommendations dealing with industrial health and safety, including the immediate closure of BHP's No 3 coke ovens battery and the relocation of Coalcliff and Corrimal cokeworks, without loss of jobs. He described the Workers Inquiry as a "remarkable learning experience" and concluded: "I trust that everyone who has attended here today has gained something and walks away with the knowledge that something can be done and together we can make a difference." Vital political issuesThe final speaker, Nick Beams, concentrated on the political significance of the inquiry's work. A crucial discussion ensued during question time. One member of the audience raised the possibility of objecting to the fact that lies had been told in state parliament. In reply, Beams explained that institutions such as parliament and the courts were not neutral, but based on a system of lies. "The lie, as Trotsky explained on many occasions, serves social interests." The truth was revolutionary, Beams said. It served the interests of the working class because it revealed the real nature of the profit system and the institutions which propped it up. "The truth the Workers Inquiry has revealed is that in order to free this region, and others like it, from the scourge of cancer and other health problems, it is necessary to reorganise society from top to bottom." Tenenbaum referred to the Carr government's legislation blocking court action by a local resident to stop the reopening of the Port Kembla copper smelter. She pointed out that parliament had taken action to suppress legal rights, without any protest from the courts. "If this inquiry has revealed and exposed how facts are covered up, how the truth is buried, and how institutions function to mystify the real social relations, then we have achieved a very important victory. That has to be the basis for the next stage of the campaign." The strong response at the meeting saw a powerful collection of more than $3,000 in cash and pledges to launch a $10,000 Workers Inquiry Fund and the sale of dozens of copies of Cancer and Industrial Pollution, the commissioners' findings. The Workers Inquiry Fund will finance a national campaign, which will see commissioners and committee members travelling to other centres to address public meetings, as well as workplace, campus, school and community meetings. |