Antinuclear

Australia’s racist Radioactive Waste Management Bill

Traditional owner Dianne Stokes represented the traditional elders of the Warlmanpa and Warumungu tribes at the rally.

“The Senate will be going ahead debating the legislation without proper consultation and without our consent,” she said.

Nuclear dump laws ‘radioactive racism’  Nine MSN 15 June 11 The Australian Greens say draft laws which will allow a nuclear waste dump to be created on a property in the Northern Territory are “radioactive racism”.

As the traditional owners of Muckaty Station and their supporters rallied outside Parliament House in Canberra on Tuesday, Greens senator Rachel Siewert was telling the upper house their land should not turned into a waste dump.

“The people of Muckaty, north of Tennant Creek, continue to be targeted and specifically named,” she said.

It was “a shameful indictment” of the government’s handling of Aboriginal people’s rights.

“There’s no doubt in my mind that what we are practising here is radioactive racism.”

Some of the station’s traditional owners oppose the dump, while the Northern Land Council is in favour of it.

The Greens say debate on the bill should not proceed until the land tenure issues are resolved.

The federal court is yet to rule on which Aboriginal groups are the rightful custodians of Muckaty Station.

Traditional owner Dianne Stokes represented the traditional elders of the Warlmanpa and Warumungu tribes at the rally.

“The Senate will be going ahead debating the legislation without proper consultation and without our consent,” she said.

“They have not come to sit with the rightful traditional owners.”……….

Anti-nuclear campaigner Helen Caldicott said that the dump may lead to Australia becoming a waste dump for the rest of the world.

Greens MP Adam Bandt questioned why the dump was being located at Muckaty. “If it is so attractive then why isn’t Martin Ferguson prepared enough to have it in his own electorate (in inner Melbourne)?”……

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/8260908/greens-slam-govt-over-nt-nuclear-dump

June 16, 2011 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | General News