Australian Government postpones Nuclear Waste Bill, Spurns Discussion with Greens
Ferguson’s response was “I don’t deal with the Greens, why would I deal with the Greens, we don’t deal with the Greens” and walked off.
The government’s strange flip flops on nuclear, Crikey, by Bernard Keane, 13 May 2010, “….This week it [the Australian Government] was preparing to speed its National Radioactive Waste Management Bill 2010 through parliament, with the aid of an unusually compliant opposition. The bill was scheduled for today but has been dropped ahead of higher priority bills. It is expected to return in June.
Resources Minister Martin Ferguson has been copping plenty of grief from anti-nuclear protestors over the bill, which in effect replicates the Howard Government’s Commonwealth Radioactive Waste Management Act 2005…..
The bill is in many sections a cut-and-paste of the Commonwealth RWMA, stripping procedural fairness from the waste dump site selection process, overriding territory laws and neutralising environmental protection requirements…..Labor went to the last election with a commitment to repeal it. They are indeed repealing it — and replacing it with almost identical legislation.
The Greens are working on amendments to improve the procedural fairness aspects of the bill so that affected communities will have a greater say in the site selection process.
Their chances of securing Government agreement don’t look strong. Ludlam recently approached Ferguson at Alice Springs Airport to introduce himself, urge the minister to meet with traditional owners affected by the nomination of Muckaty Station and have a talk when they were both next in Canberra.
Ferguson’s response was “I don’t deal with the Greens, why would I deal with the Greens, we don’t deal with the Greens” and walked off.
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