Murky Muckaty nuclear deal by the Australian government
A lengthy scientific study had identified Outback South Australia as the best site for the dump.
But SA is a State and, therefore, had the constitutional power denied the Northern Territory to tell Canberra where to go.
Group of 40 okays NT nuclear dump | Northern Territory News,NIGEL ADLAM February 27th, 2010
the nuclear waste dump deal was done – not with the 395 people who consider themselves traditional owners of the whole of Muckaty but with the 40 who are recognised as the traditional owners of the small waste dump site.
A sizeable number of people in the Barkly region argue that the whole process was undemocratic.
What’s the truth?
In 2006, the then Coalition Federal Government announced that it had identified three Defence-owned sites in the Northern Territory for a low-level nuclear waste depository.
They were Fishers Ridge, 40km east of RAAF Base Tindal near Katherine; Hart’s Range, 200km northeast of Alice Springs; and Mount Everard, 42km northwest of Alice Springs.
A lengthy scientific study had identified Outback South Australia as the best site for the dump.
But SA is a State and, therefore, had the constitutional power denied the Northern Territory to tell Canberra where to go.
The federal Science Department, beaten by the SA Government in the High Court, sent two scientists to Darwin to give a presentation to the full council of the NLC, even though none of the preferred sites were on indigenous land.
Why? Was the department scouting for offers from Aboriginal landowners?………..The NLC also concedes that $12million is not much money for such a momentous deal, but argues that is far more than the relatively small block of Outback land would be worth freehold.
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