60 years after atomic weapons were tested at Maralinga, Emu Fields, and the Monte Bello Islands, Aboriginal Australians will receive military veteran healthcare benefits.This announcement came from Veterans' Affairs Minister Dan Tehan, who appeared on the ABC's Q&A last night. "Subject to the passage of legislation, the measure will provide Gold Cards to Indigenous people present at or near Maralinga, Emu Fields or the Monte Bello Islands at the time of the British nuclear tests in the 1950s or 1960s," he said.The veterans' Gold Card can be used at any medical facility in Australia, and guarantees access to a "wide range of public and private health care services… of all your health care conditions," regardless of whether those health conditions are directly linked to a particular military event. Patients are still required to pay for prescription medication.While some Anangu people were removed from their land by force prior to the Maralinga nuclear testing, many remained and were harmed by fallout from the blasts of seven nuclear bombs detonated by British soldiers. In 1985, a Royal Commission found that radiation levels in South Australia was three times higher than originally forecast, and exposed thousands of Aboriginal people to a toxic black mist or "puyu" which left them devastating short term and long term illnesses. The report notes that hundreds of Aboriginal people migrated by foot from their contaminated lands without wearing shoes.In 1995, the Anangu people received a $13.5 million payout as compensation for the contamination of their lands. Most of the former Maralinga nuclear test site has been cleared for access, although a 412 square kilometre area remains closed off to permanent occupancy. But few Aboriginal people have successfully received financial compensation for radiation exposure throughout the 1950s and 1960s, due to the difficulty of proving a link between illness and nuclear exposure in court.Non-Indigenous Australians exposed to nuclear radiation during their military service both at domestic testing sites and abroad will also receive a veterans' Gold Card, following a decades-long campaign supported by the Greens. It's expected that tonight's Federal Budget will include a number of veteran benefits, including more than $50 million put towards veteran mental health care services like suicide prevention trials and psychological services.Follow Kat on Twitter
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