Tuesday, 9 October, 2007

by Nat Wasley
Arid Lands Environment Centre

Three years since the last federal election Territorians are left considering whether the NT will come to be known as the nuclear instead of the nature territory.

The Howard government went to the last election giving an ‘absolute categorical assurance’ that it would not dump federally produced radioactive waste in the NT, but this promise was quickly reneged. There are now four sites in the NT being assessed as potential locations for a radioactive dump that the government says will be operational for at least three hundred years.

Natalie Wasley from the Arid Lands Environment Centre-Beyond Nuclear Initiative stated “there is law prohibiting the transport and storage of nuclear waste in the Territory, but once re-elected the federal government did not hesitate to ram through legislation to override this. They are desperately searching for a Territory dump site using political expediency, not good science, as the benchmark”.

Ms Wasley added “Territorians do not accept their pristine environment being used as a sacrifice zone for a federal radioactive dump. People living in along potential transport corridors are also greatly concerned by the risk of transporting these hazardous materials thousands of kilometres, through hundreds of communities, especially given the numerous road and rail accidents over the last couple of years”.

There is strong opposition around the country to a federal radioactive dump in the Territory and to Howard’s plans for a vastly expanded nuclear industry in Australia. This issue will affect how people vote in the upcoming federal election”, Ms Wasley concluded.