Antinuclear

NewDemocracy Foundation (NDF) will need to be seen to be impartial, on Nuclear Citizens’ Juries

Philip White, 16 May 16 Much of the debate about whether or not South Australia should host an international nuclear waste dump seems to take for granted that accepting the world’s high-level nuclear waste would be a financial bonanza for us all. But judging  from critical analysis by the Australia Institute, as well as from the sorry history of back-end nuclear fuel cycle projects elsewhere, this is far from certain.

The government says it will give randomly selected citizens an opportunity to deliberate about the pros and cons of the nuclear waste proposal using a method known as “Citizens Juries”. Let’s hope that any such Citizens Jury seeks out the best critical advice available, because if it does not, there is a grave danger that it will be dazzled by promises of a nuclear El Dorado and blinded to the huge risks involved.

One minimum criterion for such a Citizens Jury is that it be organised by a completely independent body whose commitment is to due process. The organising body must have no attachment whatsoever to a particular outcome and the government must keep right out of the process.

The NewDemocracy Foundation (NDF) has played a leading role in many previous Citizens Juries, including some held recently by the SA Government. There is a danger that as time goes by the relationship between NDF and the governments it works with could become too cosy. On an issue as controversial and entailing such huge risks as this, an independent expert monitoring panel should be established, including well-respected experts in the deliberative democracy field.

Of course the recommendations of Citizens Juries are not binding. They should be seen as one input into the wider democratic process. But amidst the intense lobbying currently being applied in favour of a nuclear waste dump, any recommendations for caution by a Citizens Jury should be taken very seriously.

May 16, 2016 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | General News