Aunty Sue Haseldine lives with the effects of nuclear testing everyday.
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As a child, Ms Haseldine was exposed to the clouds of radiation which rained over her Country, Googatha (Kokatha) Country west of the Eyre Peninsula in South Australia after atomic bomb tests at Maralinga.
"The ongoing impact of Maralinga is miscarriages, cancers, heart problems, thyroid problems," she said.
Ms Haseldine is one of dozens of Indigenous Elders as part of the Australian Nuclear Free Alliance from around Australia who will be in Port Kembla this weekend, a year on from the signing of the AUKUS agreement. Their motto is simple.
"Not here, not anywhere."
Port Kembla is one of the sites selected by the former federal government as an east coast base for Australia's fleet of nuclear-powered submarines. While the Albanese government has walked back any decision on an east coast base to not before 2030, Port Kembla is reportedly Defence's pick of the locations shortlisted by the former government.
A decision is yet to be made where the nuclear fuel that powers the submarines will be stored once it reaches the end of its life.
Ms Haseldine said the group that has traditionally engaged with proposals for nuclear waste dumps and uranium mines was turning their attention to AUKUS due to the uncertainties around the project.
"There is too much danger with nuclear and there is no safe way."
As part of the process of acquiring and building the nuclear-powered submarines, Australia will need to establish a local nuclear safety regulator. A bill to do this was introduced to federal parliament in November last year.
UK and US nuclear powered submarines have collectively travelled 240 million kilometres without a radiological incident.
New Zealand has banned any nuclear-powered submarines from entering its waters.
Spokesperson for Wollongong against War and Nukes Gem Romuld said it was an honour for the city to host Elders from around the country and that the Illawarra would not stand for a nuclear submarine base in Port Kembla.
"The people coming this weekend have the experience to share so that we can better understand what a nuclear submarine base means."
Earlier this week, the US President Joe Biden released the US Navy's budget, which only included funding for one Virginia-class submarine. The US needs to build more than two submarines a year for Australia to acquire the first three of its nuclear-powered fleet.
Subsequent reports suggested the funding for a single submarine was a bargaining chip in the hyper partisan budget politics of Washington.
AUKUS opponent and South Coast Labour Council secretary Arthur Rorris said this added to uncertainty around the progress of the agreement.
"Why should we bank on the American establishment determining our defence interests?"
With the federal government having lost its most advanced bid to create a nuclear waste dump in Kimba, nearly 300 kilometres away from Ms Haseldine's Country, the government has been sent back to the drawing board for where nuclear waste from the Lucas Heights reactor, imported nuclear waste and the fuel rods used in the AUKUS submarines will be stores.
Ms Haseldine said wherever the site is located, it should not repeat the mistakes of the past.
"They keep saying the country is uninhabited, it's not," she said.
