#NuclearCommissionSAust plans for radioactive trash dumping on Aboriginal land: a confusing issue

SA Royal Commission: Nuke waste dump on Aboriginal land? Really?, Independent Australia Noel Wauchope 23 October 2015 THIS IS clearly a terribly important question that needs discussion. When and if theNuclear Fuel Cycle Royal Commission (RC) ultimately results in establishing a nuclear waste import business in South Australia, it is a certain bet that it will be on Aboriginal land.

There are relatively few published submissions from Aboriginal people and organisations. However, these cannot be easily lumped into pro or anti nuclear boxes. There are some passionately anti nuclear ones. There are no passionately pro nuclear ones, but there’s more than a hint of support in the two submissions that take an apparently neutral stance. The RC has allowed Aboriginal people to choose whether or not their submissions are published.

There might be several unpublished submissions from Aboriginal people and/or organisations. What would the writers stand to lose if these were published?

A pro nuclear submission might evoke condemnation from environmentalists and other Aboriginal groups. This fact is recognised in the submission by Maralinga Tjarutja and Yalata Community Incorporated: …..

Of the six Aboriginal organisations that sent published submissions, only two take a neutral stance that could be interpreted as (vaguely) pro nuclear. These are Maralinga Tjarutja and Yalata Community Incorporated and the Alinytjara Wilurara Natural Resources Management Board……All the same, their [Maralinga] submission is by no means a ringing endorsement of the plans to expand the nuclear industry in South Australia. ….

Even within their [Alinytjara] determinedly neutral stance, their submission clearly criticises the RC:….

The remaining four submissions from Aboriginal people and/or organisations are clearly anti nuclear……….

Even though the Royal Commission has made efforts to communicate with Aboriginal people, the vast majority of those who would be affected by a nuclear waste dump are not well informed and not involved in the decision-making. It remains a confusing issue for the Australian community at large, but even more so, for the Aboriginal people of South Australia. https://independentaustralia.net/environment/environment-display/sa-royal-commission-nuke-waste-dump-on-aboriginal-land-really-,8294

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