Fed: Tandem Thrust going ahead tomorrow

AAP General News (Australia)
04-30-2001
Fed: Tandem Thrust going ahead tomorrow

A huge military training effort involving 27,000 troops from Australia and the United
States gets underway on the Great Barrier Reef tomorrow.

Operation Tandem Thrust will go ahead as planned despite protests about the presence
of nuclear-powered submarines in the environmentally-sensitive region.

The federal government last year gave approval to the US navy to use the submarines
in the area, off Gladstone in central Queensland, for the military exercise.

The Queensland and federal governments were at odds over approval for the exercise,
with the state angry that the so-called war games were allowed in the area that supports
pockets of rainforest, sand dunes, birds and animals.

Greenpeace nuclear campaigner STEPHEN CAMPBELL says the submarines are an unacceptable
risk to the area.

Australian Defence Force Warfare Centre Commander MICHAEL STEWART admits there'll be
damage to the environment but says the ADF will repair any damage it inflicts.

AAP RTV lm/daw/hn/rsm

KEYWORD: TANDEM (CANBERRA)

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