NT nuke waste deal a joke: Garrett
Saturday, 26 May, 2007
ABC NT Local News
Labor's environment spokesman Peter Garrett says all Northern Territorians should feel let down by the consultation process for a nuclear waste site at Muckaty Station.
The Northern Land Council has nominated the site, 120 kilometres north of Tennant Creek, as a national nuclear waste repository.
If the Federal Government approves the site, the site's traditional owners will hand over control of the land for about 200 years and receive a one-off $12 million payment.
But Mr Garrett says only a handful of people were consulted and the voices of the overwhelming majority are not being listened too.
"I think this consultative process is a joke," he said.
"The only way in which a modern government like the Howard Government should be addressing this issue is to ensure that it has the full consent of communities involved in every way when it comes to the location of a facility, like a radioactive waste dump."
But Mr Garrett dodged questions about whether the ALP would scrap the plan for the nuclear waste dump if it wins the next election.
When asked if he would he shelve the project, he skirted the issue.
"I don't think we should be dealing with hypotheticals," he said.
"This process has still got a very long way to travel and we haven't seen the details of what has actually been agreed between the NLC, the relevant traditional owners and the Minister - we've only got the reports that we've seen on the wire and heard on the radio."