Monday, 25 June, 2007

Arid Lands Environment Centre

“From the bush to the harbour, we say never never”

After years of being ignored in the bush, Traditional Owners and community representatives from four sites in the Northern Territory targeted by the Federal Government for a radioactive waste dump have brought their concerns to the heart of Australia’s biggest city.

The group is in Sydney at NSW Parliament House today, as part of a national tour to highlight the growing issue of radioactive waste ahead of the federal election.

“People in the NT know about this issue, now others need to hear the story. This concerns all Australians, especially people living along the roads leading from Sydney to the NT,” said Audrey McCormack, whose homeland is four kilometres from the proposed Mt Everard dump site.

“Nuclear waste is to be deposited out of sight and out of mind on Aboriginal land. Half a century of the nuclear era and still we are no closer to effective disposal of nuclear waste”, said NSW Upper House Greens MP Ian Cohen.

“We may find eventually that Muckaty or another region in the Northern Territory will be a repository of global nuclear wastes. It is a horrific scenario for those who live there, the environment, and for small vulnerable communities along the transport corridor”, Mr Cohen said.

In 2004 a NSW Parliamentary committee examined the transport and storage of nuclear waste in NSW and highlighted serious and unresolved safety concerns, particularly for NSW regional communities on the primary transport corridors.

“The NT is not no-where and we are not no-one. There are communities living close to all of the proposed sites. We collect bush tucker and bush medicine and water from underground,” said Mitch, an Arrernte/Luritja woman representing Engawala, the community closest to the proposed Harts Range site.

“This dump plan is the thin edge of the wedge and opens the door to an international waste dump in the NT. The federal government has lied to us about this dump not being in the Territory, so why should we believe it won’t become an international dump?” concluded Margie Lynch, an Arrernte woman from Central Australia.