Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 3, Number 1, 1 January 1986 — Australia's Kahoolawe Participation Scored [ARTICLE]

Australia's Kahoolawe Participation Scored

"The lsland of Kahoolawe holds a very special plaee in the hearts of the indigenous people; it is precious; it is sacred — so mueh so that even the U.S. government has placed the whole island on the National Register of Historic Sites. "Yet, Australia, along with New Zealand, Canada, Japan and the U.S. biennially eome to Hawaii as part of the RimPac exercise. This is an outrage." So spoke Office of Hawaiian Affairs Trustee Hayden F. Burgess at the Indigenous Peoples International Administrator's Conference in early December at Uluru (Yulara), Australia. Burgess, who is also the English speaking vice president of the World Council of Indigenous Peoples, reported on the continued participation of Australia in the military exercises in whieh Kahoolawe is bombed by several nations at the invitation of the U.S. All the nations mentioned except Japan were represented at the conference. Burgess had a private meeting with Australia's Secretary of Foreign Affairs to discuss, among other matters, limiting Australia's role in RimPac. The OHA Trustee is anxiously awaiting results of this meeting.