are dangerously radioactive. According to a special report on an investigation of residual radio-active contamination, about 100,000 dangerous metal fragments contaminated with plutonium still litter the Maralinga atomic test range – 25 years after the atomic tests which caused them. A miner has told the McClelland Royal Commission on British nuclear weapons tests in Australia, that geiger counter readings of the fallout levels near Marble Bar were "off-the-scale". Inquiry findings and conclusions The McClelland Royal Commission found that: then Australian Prime Minister Sir Robert Menzies approved the British nuclear tests without first receiving independent Australian scientific advice on the hazards to humans or the environment. the Australia Federal Cabinet was kept in the dark by Menzies about key aspects of the nuclear tests. the atomic test agreement by the British and Australian governments was done in retrospect after the first test had occurred. Australia was forced to accept UK assurances on the safety and likely fallout lifespan hazards of the atomic tests, without an independent scientific assessment. Australia's key representative to oversee the atomic tests on behalf of Australia, Sir Ernest Titterton, was in fact an expatriate British person who withheld key information from the Australian Government. the safeguards against radiation exposure for the nuclear veterans were totally inadequate, even by the best practice standards of the 1950s. it is probable that the rate of cancers that occurred subsequent to the atomic tests in Australia would not have otherwise occurred were it not for the fallout from the tests. the Vixen tests on plutonium should have not occurred knowing the half-life and radiation hazard of plutonium even with 1950s knowledge of the hazards. failure to provide Australian air crews with protective equipment on over-flights or direct fly-throughs of the atomic mushroom clouds was clearly negligent. Controversy over findings and alleged bias The report's approach and conclusions apparently differed from the British Government's official history, based on official British records, by Lorna Arnold. This report emphasized the partnership between the two nations, and noted that the approach taken towards safety was to international standards of the time and had contrasted with the historic disregard of Australian authorities toward the welfare of indigenous people. Some observers have noted that both reports were framed in the politics of the time: Britain wished to minimize its responsibility, while the Australian government of Bob Hawke wished to implicate their political opponents alongside the British, and