Antinuclear

Ngoppon Together Reconciliation Group write to you in support of the Barngarla people of Eyre Peninsula, who have fought so hard to protect their ancestral home from nuclear waste.

Senator Matt Canaban announced that Kimba, Eyre Peninsula, has been selected for the proposed Nuclear Waste Storage Facility. Why select a site within one of South Australia’s best cropping areas?  Grain farming in the Kimba district brings in up to $80 million per annum..   The Federal Government’s promise of a $30 million development package is, with respect, “peanuts”, compared with the long terms risks.

Only inhabitants of a small zone around Kimba were entitled to vote. This excleded the Barngarla people, traditional caretakers of the land and native title holders, and other nearby inhabitants who objected to the proposal. If the 50km radius zone had been applied to Kimba,as it was to Hawker, the vote would have failed. Just 52  Kimba locals cannot speak for 1.7 million South Australians, The majority of South Australians have objected to nuclear proposals for many years.

Medical waste is mainly low level radiation with fast breakdown., but 90% of the waste is intermediate level, and can take up to 10,000 tears to degrade It includes spent nuclear fuel rods, classified as high level waste in France. To complicate matters, it will be stored temporarily in above ground structures until a safe reposirary is designed, approved and built.  One hundred trucks will transport the wastes over a 1700 km route over a four year period. As yet there has been no community consultation about the route.

The Federal Government has decided to go ahead with the proposal, despite unanimous opposition from the Barngarla people. The Barngarla Determination Aboriginal Corporation initiated a legal action, protesting their exclusion from the ballot. This failed.   The BDAC also asked the Australian Electoral Corporation to change the ballot to a confidential postal vote. This was unsuccessful. The BDAC wrote to the Federal Government, calling for the dump proposal to be abandoned.in the light of their unanimous opposition.  They are determined to maintain their fight against the Nuclear Waste Dump..