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NT nuclear waste dump passes first hurdle
Thursday, 3 November 2005
10:33:47 AM
By Don Woolford, Darrin Barnett and Rachael Langford
CANBERRA, Nov 3, 2005: Controversial laws have been passed by the House of Representatives to clear the way for a nuclear waste dump to be built in the Northern Territory despite widespread opposition.
The Commonwealth Radioactive Waste Management Bill passed yesterday, giving the federal government sweeping powers to override the Northern Territory's laws, have been labelled a joke by the NT government.
"Essentially what happened here was an exercise in political muscle, they picked us because they knew they could walk over us," a spokesman for NT Chief Minister Clare Martin said.
Amendments to the bill proposed by the government's only Territory MP, David Tollner from the Country Liberal Party, were accepted.
The amendments 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.
However, Ms Martin said the amendments could be ignored by the federal government.
"Central to the amendments is the suggestion the Territory chief minister can nominate a waste dump site," she said.
"But the essential weakness with this amendment is it expressly says the responsible federal minister can override any site selected, as Canberra has already demonstrated they are willing to do."
ALP Senator for the Northern Territory, Trish Crossin said there was no science to the selection of the three proposed NT nuclear dump sites.
"The three possible dump sites were selected by the Defence Department from their land holdings without reference to any scientific criteria for radioactive waste storage," Senator Crossin said.
The bill is a major step in the long search for a place to secure Australia's low and intermediate level radioactive waste, which was started by the Hawke government in the early 1990s.
The federal government decided to find a place for waste produced by its own agencies, while the states would have to deal with their own, after court action by South Australia forced a proposed national repository at Woomera to be abandoned last year.
Science Minister Brendan Nelson said detailed study of three sites on commonwealth land in the territory would be carried out at Mount Everard and Harts Range near Alice Springs and at Fishers Ridge, near Katherine.
Dr Nelson said the waste would be stored safely and it was wrong to see the purpose-built facility as a municipal tip.
Deputy Opposition Leader Jenny Macklin said Labor opposed the measures because they were "extreme, arrogant and heavy-handed".
Ms Macklin said communities should be consulted about radioactive waste being dumped in their backyards and backed the Central Land Council (CLC), which opposed a dump being built on either of the sites near Alice Springs.
The CLC said many Aboriginal people lived near the proposed sites and were extremely worried about the proposals.
"They fought hard to get their country back and they believe they are not the ones to have to live with radioactive waste on their land," it said.
However the Northern Land Council, whose region covered the other potential site, had offered to find an alternative if those on the short list fell short.
The bills now go to the Senate. - AAP
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