Nelson Steamrolls Territory on Nuclear Waste Dump : Melbourne Indymedia

While everyone was busy with the Melbourne Cup, Industrial Relations or terrorism bills, a nuclear waste dump for the Northern Territory moved one step closer with the passing in the House of Representatives of the Commonwealth Radioactive Waste Management Bill 2005 (Text | PDF) The nuclearisation of Australia is proceeding despite opposition to the public relations campaign being run by the nuclear industry.

When it was first introduced in October there were strong objections from traditional owners and the NT Government that a nuclear waste dump poses health and environmental risks. Clare Miller's Territory Labor Government exhorted people to protest against the nuclear waste dump through their No Nuke Dump website. As late as 30 September 2004 Territorians were assured by the Federal Minister for the Environment, Ian Campbell, that no Waste Dump was being planned for mainland Australia, including the Territory.

Garret stated that the Act "overrides important laws that already exist, such as the Environment Protection Biodiversity and Conservation Act, which this parliament has passed in order to ensure proper safeguarding of the environment."

The government's only Territory MP, David Tollner from the Country Liberal Party, proposed Amendments to the bill which were accepted. These changes included specifically banning the storage of high-level waste, allowing the territory government or a land council to nominate a storage site, and allowing territory waste to be stored without charge. The Federal Government has final say and can over-ride any proposed alternate site suggested by the Chief Minister.

Three sites for the dump are currently under consideration: Mount Everard and Harts Range near Alice Springs, and Fishers Ridge near Katherine. According to a report in the Age The Northern Land Council says traditional owners in Arnhem Land are open to discussions with the Government, but the Central Land Council says traditional owners in Harts Range and Mount Everard are against it. In a press conference on Thursday, November 3, Traditional owners voiced their disgust about having the facility forced on them. The seven senior men and women from the Harts Range and Mount Everard areas near Alice Springs called on the Territory's CLP Senator Nigel Scullion to cross the floor and vote against the dump legislation in the Senate.

The traditional owners told the media they are concerned about safety and the future security of a nuclear waste dump, the waste being transported on the roads that they use every day, the negative impact on businesses like Alcoota Aboriginal Corporation's cattle company, the impact on their traditional country and the ability to hunt and get bush tucker, pollution of the water in the event of an accident and the future for their grandchildren.

Chairman of the Alcoota Aboriginal Corporation, William Tilmouth said that the company was extremely worried about its beef sales if there was a nuclear waste dump nearby. "Other pastoralists have also expressed concern over the perception by the public that the beef will be contaminated. The cattle industry out here prides itself on being clean and green." He commented further that "We were lied to before the last election. Even Dave Tollner admitted that on Stateline last week. Now is the time for Senator Scullion to stand up for his constituents in Central Australia and cross the floor,” Mr Tilmouth said.

The Kupa Piti Kungka Tjuta – a council of senior Aboriginal women from outback town Coober Pedy in South Australia, are heading to Alice Springs to launch their book, “TALKING STRAIGHT OUT”, about their campaign which stopped a nuclear waste dump in SA. They commented "This is a big story. You don’t have to start at the beginning; we’ve already done a lot of work," The Kungkas will meet with Traditional Owners of the two proposed sites while visiting the Alice.

In October the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) said it was appalled at the Federal Government legislation with it being a heavy-handed and undemocratic move. "It overrides any laws or concerns about land use, environmental consequences, heritage values, regulations, Indigenous issues," said a spokesperson. "It overrides and extinguishes native title rights and interests. And it removes people's rights and recourse to law and procedural fairness."

Peter Robertson from the Northern Territory Environment Centre said there are no details limiting the size of a nuclear waste facility planned for the Territory and the site could just continue to expand. "There's nothing to stop them as time goes by from making the facility bigger and bigger to accommodate more and more waste, including waste from overseas, so this is the very core of the problem that it's going to already get the high level waste from Lucas Heights, it could get other high level waste from overseas," he said, according to a report on the ABC.

2. See the Irati Wanti website for the successful campaign to stop a nuclear waste dump in South Australia.
http://www.iratiwanti.org

How about 10 drums of nuclear waste in the cellars of each member of the house of reps instead? That should go some way to getting rid of it...

See UK, BNFL (a government run nuclear energy company), and how they are in the process of planning new nuclear power stations for the UK, with a desire that it would replace other fossil fuels as a primary source of energy for the UK.

But the fact that the issue of waste disposal is still to be addressed re nuclear fuel gives them some problems in convincing the public of the UK. So they are looking around for disposal methods - Hawke's idea of using the vast outback to accomodate waste disposal seems to have come at just the point the UK company (and Blairs ministers) are running this idea about.

Now this Bill comes - I reckon it may be a certainty. Time to get rallying...

Here's my link:

http://govinfo.billystyx.co.uk/article.php?subject=Tony%20Blair%20talks%20Nuclear&table=facts&IDType=FID&IDVal=10

cheers,

Derek

Takver:

Great article but:

Please do not refer to the so called darwin indymedia site as a legitimate resource.

It does not have a functioning collective. The sole editor has expelled all the members of his collective and tricked axxs into giving him a space to rant and defame all and sundry.

The site should be taken down and Mick Lambe should stop pretending to be an indymedia collective.

axxs have a lot to answer for in supporting this hostile and potentially dangerous man. He is not part of any indymedia collective.

Ian Clancy
Darwin

oceania have offered the DIMC other indymedia sites. We refused. So stop talking crap.

=============

As well as the Aboriginal people you ignore...

We have two new members - both activists with serious credentials.

Lying is what started this drama - you can't help yourself can you?

Checked out by a number of different mobs before publication

Howard image filched and modified from anti-nuke site.

We Canberra type people's are not the problem. It's the pollies...

And while we are at it - what about you bastards dumping the pollies on us. Talk about toxic! A woman can't take a leak without mixing it with them.

Then there are the advisors.... hundreds of them. Liberal, Labor, Green, democat and whatshisface. Bugs all.

No wonder an honest family, can't afford the rent around here.

Just you wait, the rest of Australia. One day we will return the buggers with interest and cede. Once again Canberra will be returned to the legless lizards (the true reptile ones not the pollies) and good honest sheep farmers.

So take that!

didn't think Canberra mob would mind

Best to keep all our toxic waste in one lead-lined vault :-) Even better to stop producing (and supporting) it/them

rushed - better

http://country-liberal-party.com/images/Anti_Rad_Dump.jpg

Yes, the Howard image came from last year's pre-election "John the Dumper" (Bob the Builder) campaign kicked offf by Melbourne group Nuclear free Australia.
There was much letterboxing in marginal seats and several freeway banner events involving volunteers from NFA and others.
Great work by all - and certainly not to no avail, as the word is well & truly out there. As shown last year with at least two reported truck accidents on one of the (then proposed) waste transport routes, an accident is waiting to happen.

Thing is, can we wait for the next public & media reaction.. after the fact?

No Nukes are Good Nukes.

Chernobyl 20th anniv, April 26, 2006.

MEDIA RELEASE

12pm Thursday, 8th December 2005

Alice Action / Katherine Nuclear Dump Action Group / Darwin No Waste Alliance

Community groups around the NT have vowed to fight plans to build a nuclear dump, in defiance of the federal government's new Radioactive Waste Management Act.

The Act became law when NT CLP Senator Nigel Scullion refused to cross the floor, and voted for the controversial legislation.

According to Mr Justin Tutty, a spokesperson for Darwin's No Waste Alliance, the Act not only seeks to over-rule the authority of NT laws, but also overrides fundamental federal legislation for native title rights and environmental protection.

"Despite this unprecedented heavy handed action by the federal government, the dump is not an inevitability" said Mr Tutty.

"There's years of approvals and other paperwork before any action will be seen on the ground. The Act simply marks the beginning of a long struggle over radioactive waste - we'll be opposing it all the way."

Ms Susanna Bady of Alice Action says Alice Springs residents are "in it for the long haul".

"Maybe Brendan Nelson imagined we would be stunned into silence by his shock-and-awe tactics."

"If so, the minister's going to be disappointed."

"We always knew this would be a long, hard fight. But we take insipration from the elderly aboriginal women of the Kupa Piti Kungka Tjuta. For seven years they waged a campaign against a nuclear dump on their country. A campaign that everyone said was unwinnable - until they won."

Ms Vina Hornsby, of Katherine's Nuclear Dump Action Group, says that now the Act has passed into law, the campaign against the dump will diversify.

"For months we focussed attention on convincing CLP Senator Nigel Scullion to stand up for the Territory, stay true to his word and vote against radioactive waste."

"Now that he's let us down so spectacularly, the struggle will broaden to encompass a wide variety of tactics, from community education to civil disobedience."