Antinuclear

This week ballot papers are being sent to residents of Hawker in the Flinders Ranges to gauge local support.

It follows a recent vote of the Kimba community on the Eyre Peninsula, which showed a majority in favour.

Guests:

Jeff Baldock, Kimba landholder and member, Working for Kimba’s Future group
Kellie Hunt, Kimba landholder and member, No Radioactive Watse on Agricultural Land in Kimba or SA committee
Senator Matt Canavan, Federal Resources Minister
Mara Bonacci, nuclear free campaigner, Friends of the Earth

Producer: Cathy Van Extel

Federal Resources Minister Matthew Canavan has released the results of a month-long indicative postal ballot, confirming 61.6 per cent of the 734 ballot papers were in favour of the dump.

The non-binding ballot — which was conducted by the Australian Electoral Commission — was a key factor in the Federal Government’s decision on where to build the facility, but native titleholders have challenged the validity of the process.

Two sites near Kimba, halfway between Australia’s east and west coast, were shortlisted as possible locations for the country’s first national nuclear waste facility.

A third site in Hawker, near the Flinders Ranges, was also shortlisted, and a vote of that town’s residents will begin next week.

The proposal would see the Kimba site storing Australia’s low- to medium-level radioactive waste, which is currently housed at more than 100 sites, including the Lucas Heights nuclear reactor in Sydney.

The Federal Government said it would pay up to four times the value of the property on which it chooses to build the facility.

Mr Canavan said the result showed a “clear level of support” for the proposal.

“I will consider these results alongside other indicators of community support and technical information about the site, once the Flinders Ranges Council ballot is complete later this year,” he said.

But No Radioactive Waste on Agricultural Land in Kimba or SA Committee spokeswoman Kellie Hunt said the result showed the community was still divided.

“Minister Canavan has always promised that the National Radioactive Waste Facility would not be sited where broad community support did not exist, and with nearly 40 per cent of residents saying no, this clearly cannot be proven in Kimba,” she said.

She said the Government had wasted “unacceptable amounts of time, money and recourses attempting to coerce our community into accepting this facility”.

“The stress his flawed and divisive process has caused is clearly evident in our once-cohesive town,” she said.

Local resident volunteers property

Landowner Jeff Baldock volunteered his property as a potential location for the facility.”This is a way that we can hopefully get a new industry into town that doesn’t rely on rainfall,” he said.

Kimba resident Audrey Lienert is opposed to the nuclear dump, and said the issue had divided the town.

“Even husbands and wives are disagreeing on it, and it’s not good for our town,” she said.

“The 45 people they talk about coming to work here, they’re not going to buy the houses, they’re only going to be working to dig the holes.”

On the other side of the debate, Kerri Cliff said the benefits to the community were “obvious”.

“Whichever side people are sitting on, I think the vote has been something we’ve wanted all along,” she said.

“Whether it gets us the actual facility, we’ll have to wait and see.”

Native titleholders run separate ballot

Only local residents were permitted to vote in the ballot, infuriating the region’s native titleholders, the Barngarla people.

The Barngarla people lost a court battle to stop the vote, but vowed to appeal to the Federal Court.

“The decision will also affect all of Barngarla’s rights over their native title land whether they are for or against it,” a spokesperson for the Barngarla Determination Aboriginal Corporation said in a statement.

The Barngarla people said they had also run their own vote through an independent company, and wanted the results included in the official vote.

“The Barngarla will take further legal action, if necessary, to ensure that their ballot results are treated equally to the Kimba Council ballot,” the spokesperson said.

“This means, that if the total number of people in the Kimba and BDAC ballots vote no, then we will seek to enforce this result legally.”