Govt will give aborigines housing, education – in exchange for hosting radioactive waste!
Aborigines being exploited over nuclear waste dump, says Scott Ludlam, Herald Sun By Larine Statham From: AAP, March 04, ABORIGINES should not be forced to trade their country for housing and education, Greens Senator Scott Ludlam says.
The Northern Territory will likely be the home of Australia’s first national nuclear waste disposal site.Last week it was revealed the Howard Government had signed a contract with the Ngapa clan to volunteer their land at Muckaty Station, 120 kilometres north of tennant Creek, for $12 million.
A million dollars of the money earmarked for education is understood to have been put in a trust fund overseen by the Northern Land Council (NLC) and will not be released until scientific and environmental assessment processes are complete. This figure is expected to be renegotiated as the process continues.
Senator Ludlam, who attended a community meeting about the dump in Tennant Creek last night, said not one of the 100-plus people who attended the gathering expressed support for the nuclear waste dump.”One of the points made last night was that housing is a human right, it’s a citizenship entitlement and people shouldn’t be forced or compelled to trade country or culture away for housing,” he told AAP today.
“The Government is dangling a very small amount of money in the scheme of things to trade off their country – it’s completely inappropriate.”It’s extremely sad and the Government is exploiting (Aborigines) as they’ve done in the Territory and around the country for years to split families apart from each other, offering small cash handouts and housing.”
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