Antinuclear

Margaret and Charlie Milton – excited at the prospect of Kimba nuclear waste dump

Margaret & Charlie Milton  Submission  to Senate Standing Committee on Economics economics Subject: Proposed National Radioactive Waste Facility

I have been a resident of the Kimba for 43 years, and my husband has been a resident for 53 years. We are happy to provide the Committee with this submission relating to ‘the appropriateness and thoroughness of the site selection process for a national radioactive waste management facility at Kimba…’.Personally, We have no objection to the potential to host a national radioactive waste facility on the two sites that have been nominated for selection in our Kimba District.

More importantly we think the process has been fair, the information we have received has been good, and we are getting everything we need to make the right decision for our community.

The additional financial benefit to land owner is minimal. Four times the market value of such a small parcel of land is negligible in the overall scheme of things. It takes a huge effort to make a living out of farming in our district, with big costs and big risks every single year. If one of our farmers makes some additional money from this land, that’s great. But it’s not going to make them wealthy in its own right. Considering the government needs land for a national project, this seems more than fair to me.

Community support is interesting aspect of this proposed facility. I have seen and learned about many positive implications on the town from this project going ahead.

 Our community has had ample opportunity to learn more about the proposed facility. Any time we need to know more, there is a shopfront that is staffed on main street in Kimba

 Early meetings with Rowan Ramsey MP gave us a good insight

 We have had several Town Meetings

 A French delegation visited Kimba to give us some insight into living near nuclear facilities. It seems to be no problem at all.

 We have had meetings with Departmental members  Some in the community have been fortunate to meet with Minister Canavan

 Trips have been organised and funded to visit ANSTO to learn more about waste storage

 It will be a huge lift for the local businesses in the development of the site.

 There is no apparent risk to land prices or the prices of grain that is grown in the area. That has been a big concern by some farmers but there won’t be any negative impact on our farming community.

 It will have a huge impact for the local businesses in general, that will cater for the influx of people who will infiltrate our community in the building of this Waste Facility.

 Huge impact on businesses with tourism set to soar with the building of this Facility

Overall, We are very comfortable in the knowledge that the community has had ample opportunity to learn about the potential Facility. There has been plenty of media coverage (newspaper, social media, radio, television) and through the Department of Industry, Innovation and Science which is in the community most weeks 2 days per week. They have a display which shows what it will look like if built here and personally can see no impact on the surrounding area. We don’t know what the community will decide, but the process has been fair and open with lots of opportunity to learn and ask questions. We were asked to vote on whether to get more assessment and information about the opportunity and we voted yes. So that’s what’s happening. It would be unfair for us to not have the chance to learn more.

We disagree that we need ‘broader community views’ and the need to stretch the boundaries outside of our District Council. What is happening in our Community is exactly that: our community. As residents of Kimba for the last 43 years, plus ++ We see no reason that the rest of SA has a right to tell us what we can and can’t have. It is our back yard, not theirs. We are the community. We are all allowed our own personal opinions and feelings on this matter but, when we have to, we pull together as a community and are always there for each other.

From everything we have learned, we can only see positive outcomes for our town

.  New jobs. It might only be 15 to start with but forcibly there may be more than that. What a bonus to fill some of the many empty house in our community, and an influx of students to our school which has diminishing numbers every year.

 We are more likely to received essential town services: hospital, doctor (which we are struggling to keep), dentist (which we do not have). We need to keep the services we have but that has been a huge struggle in recent years.

 The need for a Doctor to be based permanently in Kimba as currently we do not have a Doctor and have to travel to see one.

 It’s an opportunity to support existing businesses and try and encourage new local business, which brings economic benefits to the town.

 Businesses have been seeing a decline in customers as land is sold it is been purchased by neighbours to make larger farms Very few farms are being bought by farmers from out of the district. We need new people here and this is an opportunity for new community member.

 Improved phone and internet service would be an added bonus for our community.

 : The $2,000,000 Benefit Fund. What a bonus for a small community!! That’s just a ‘thank you’ for taking part. I am so glad to see friends and organisation in the town applying for funding of their projects. We know how hard we all work as volunteers and this is a really great thing. We can see such a bonus for the community with the opportunity to put forward grants to obtain money for thing that would not be because of lack in funding. It’s a win for social clubs, sporting facilities and anyone else who think they are eligible to put in a submission for funding.

So, we can see the opportunity for a small country town such as ours to have such a facility. It could ultimately mean long term survival for our community. The whole town is struggling. The CFS, the SES, Ambulance Service, they are all struggling for numbers in a declining population. We might not choose to support it, and we might not even be offered it (there is another location in Hawker too). But we should be able to decide for ourselves. It’s a shame we have to have this inquiry. Everything so far has been fair and reasonable.

July 9, 2018 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, Federal nuclear waste dump