Antinuclear

Nuclear energy inquiry draws emotional response in Port Augusta

By Annabel Francis and Arj Ganesan, ABC North and West SA, 7 Dec 24

In short: 

The select committee conducting an inquiry into nuclear power generation in Australia has triggered strong opinions from both sides of the fence. 

Aboriginal leaders, resident representatives, and leaders from the mining and energy sector have spoken during a hearing at Port Augusta.

What’s next? 

Should the opposition win the next election, it has promised to hold a two-and-a-half year consultation period over its nuclear plans.  

The federal government’s select committee inquiry into nuclear power generation at Port Augusta has stirred strong emotions among those making a submission.

For anti-nuclear activist and Yankunytjatjara Anangu woman Karina Lester, it is a debate she is tired of having.

“Governments change, committee members change … organisations, company members, CEOs of companies change,” Ms Lester said.

“Those of us that are in the frontline are constantly needing to remind governments of the impacts of nuclear in our communities.

“Aboriginal people of South Australia have always said no to nuclear.”

Ms Lester, who gave evidence at a select committee hearing in Adelaide, describes herself as a survivor of the Emu Field nuclear tests.

She said Indigenous people had seen the impacts of nuclear technology first-hand.

Her father, Yami Lester, went blind at the age of 16 following British weapons testing in Maralinga in South Australia in the 1950s.

Ms Lester said she feared Indigenous groups would suffer if the federal opposition’s nuclear plans went ahead.

“Aboriginal communities are always the solution or pressured to be the solution for the waste issues,” she said.

“The history shows us that locations identified are locations that are First Nations or Aboriginal people’s traditional lands.”

Port Augusta’s former coal power station was one of seven sites that was earmarked as a possible location for the opposition’s nuclear energy plan.

The Nukunu Wapma Thura Aboriginal Corporation, which holds native title over the proposed site, has voiced strong opposition to any nuclear proposal.

“Aboriginal people throughout the region and state of South Australia have historically and overwhelmingly opposed nuclear energy, and the storage of its waste,” a spokesperson said.

Greg Bannon from the Flinders Local Action Group gave evidence at the public hearing in Port Augusta about the potential risk of a nuclear accident.

He has opposed nuclear technology for decades and said the time to switch to nuclear energy had passed. “I think it’s old technology, and I don’t think we need it,” he said.

Mr Bannon said any accident or error would not only have a devastating impact on the local community but also on vulnerable marine ecologies, such as the giant Australian cuttlefish that aggregates about 50 kilometres away from Port Augusta……………………………https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-12-06/nuclear-energy-hearing-emotional-port-augusta/104694596

December 7, 2024 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | politics, South Australia