Antinuclear

Australian Govt likely to override Senate recommendations on radioactive waste dump

Labor’s Nuclear-Powered Steamroller, newmatilda.com, By Jennifer Mills 16 April 2010, “………  On Monday, the Senate inquiry into the National Radioactive Waste Management Bill 2010 held its final hearing in Darwin. The inquiry has been underway since September and is expected to deliver its recommendations by the end of the month. Those recommendations are not expected to favour the proposed dump site at Muckaty Station near Tennant Creek. But the Bill may be passed anyway, which would turn the site selection into a magically done deal.
Outside the meeting at Darwin’s Parliament House, protesters gathered — a convoy of Traditional Owners from Muckaty, people from the Ngapa, Milwayi and Yapa Yapa groups opposed to the waste dump. The protest was a continuation of actions in Tennant Creek on 3 April which saw over 200 people gather to voice their concerns — certainly the largest protest ever held in the small outback town.

Many people with a stake in the Muckaty Land Trust are very unhappy about the proposed dump, yet an agreement was signed by the Northern Land Council (NLC) on their behalf………
Clearly the NLC is underestimating opposition to the dump when it describes that opposition as the feelings of just “a few individuals”. In fact, there are no fewer than five groups with a direct stake in the Muckaty area. In 2008, 28 traditional owners with a stake in the Muckaty Land Trust wrote to Ferguson to voice their opposition. In 2010 there were 50 such submissions.

Greens Senator Scott Ludlam told the ABC: “It’s very clear from the evidence that we’ve been taking now for a number of years that the process has broken down very seriously.”

It is clear something has gone terribly wrong with the consultation process. On closer examination, that something appears to be some sleight-of-hand by the Commonwealth Government………Essentially the new Bill proposes a backdated nomination process which instantly legitimises the existing agreement, removes any environmental protection measures in the site selection process, and presumes the site will be on Muckaty. This is consent by stealth rather than by any principle of volunteering…..

Australia’s nuclear waste — currently in storage in Scotland and France — is due back in Australia by 2014, Labor’s Nuclear-Powered Steamroller | newmatilda.com

April 16, 2010 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, politics | aboriginal, antinuclear, Australia, dump, Muckaty, nuclear wastes, radiation, radioactive