Friday, 25 May, 2007

by Melinda James
Stateline (NT)

MELINDA JAMES:
John Daly welcome to Stateline.

JOHN DALY - NLC CHAIRMAN:
Good to be here Melinda.

MELINDA JAMES:
The nomination of Muckaty Station has probably been one of the worst kept secrets in the Northern Territory along the way it has been controversial. Has there been unanimous agreement from all the land owners involved here?

JOHN DALY:
All the traditional owners have been meeting for a period of two years. Now everybody’s known that we’ve been meeting for two years. As far as keeping it a secret I don’t think we’ve kept it a secret that we’ve been meeting about the waste repository. It’s just the contents and the issues. When you look at it, it’s a private deal with the Commonwealth and aboriginal people from that region there. And I don’t think it’s anyone else’s concern to be interfering with anybody else’s business I think that when you look at it from that point of view most of the major businesses in town don’t declare what they’re saying in meetings and that. So aboriginal people have that right and the luxury as well as owners of land

MELINDA JAMES:
So there has been some opposition from some land holders of particular sites on Muckaty Station. But the Ngapa clan the land holders of this particular site have they agreed unanimously?

JOHN DALY:
The Ngapa clan have been meeting for quite a while in regards to the clans there. There is four clans in Muckaty its self basically when you look at it from that point of view all four clans have been consulted over a period of two years. Now two of those groups basically didn’t want a part of the waste repository. They had major issues and concerns and we as Northern Land Council respect their concerns and we basically said “ok if you don’t want to be apart of this deal well that is fine. We’ll keep it off you land and we will keep your land way out of the equation.” So we’ve basically dealt with Ngapa for quite a while and all the Ngapa people that have attended those meetings have been in agreeance with what is going to happen.

MELINDA JAMES:
I’ll get onto the details of the agreement in a moment but Muckaty Station has simple been nominated it’s not a fait accompli that the Commonwealth government will actually choose this site. So can you tell us the process from here?

JOHN DALY:
Well the process from here is basically up to the Commonwealth to do all the environmental assessments and things like that. They need to go down there and obviously there is the geology and all that stuff that needs to be looked at. Once that’s completed we have great faith in the Commonwealth that it will basically be opened to the public and public scrutiny will be welcome on it.

MELINDA JAMES:
How confident are you that the federal government will eventually choose Muckaty Station?

JOHN DALY:
Well now I think Muckaty is a likely site when you look at all the issues around the country the Commonwealth doesn’t want to go shoving it down anybody’s throat so obviously wherever there is agreement on where this waste repository should be seated then I’m pretty sure the Commonwealth will look at it favorable.

MELINDA JAMES:
Clare Martin has said that the Commonwealth government is trying to shove this down the Territory’s throat. She’s changed her tune a little bit in her opposition to a nuclear waste dump now saying that the Commonwealth government should look at which site is the most scientifically appropriate. Do you think still the Commonwealth should be looking further a field?

JOHN DALY:
Well let’s look at it from this point of view. It’s a waste repository now, a waste repository basically means that it’s there for a short time and when there is a suitable site that’s found somewhere else in Australia well then basically the waste will be transferred there, the area will be cleaned up and the land will be given back to aboriginal people that own it.

MELINDA JAMES:
Let’s talk about the agreement. You’ve managed to agree to a payment of 12 million dollars to the traditional owners for the use of their land. Now as I understand it they’ll probably be about 150 trucks of nuclear waste coming up from Lucas Heights and Woomera in the first year of existing waste and then after that about 1 truck a year possibly for 50 years maybe more. Do you feel like 12 million dollars was a good deal?

JOHN DALY:
It’s probably the largest deal that we’ve had so far and I myself don’t actually have any say in the matter. Whether it sits there or not but the traditional owners are really comfortable with the amount that the Commonwealth has actually offered and it basically went to two processes where the Commonwealth came back a second time and a counter offer was made and the traditional owners were absolutely happy with it.

MELINDA JAMES:
There won’t be too many jobs coming out of this though for local people.

JOHN DALY:
I think you look at it and say there will be a few short term jobs out there. There could be jobs with security and things like that but when you have a look at it part of the 12 million dollars package goes towards scholarships. I mean one million dollars towards one tribe out there is absolutely brilliant. You know we can basically educate some of our kids there and out of that we might get some lawyers, anthropologists, journalists you never know what we’ll get out of them but we are offering some aboriginal kids out there a scholarship to basically get forward and move ahead in life. Get something that they currently haven’t been able to access from the Territory government.

MELINDA JAMES:
Have traditional owners from other areas approached the NLC and said that they too are interested in housing this nuclear waste facility?

JOHN DALY:
Well there has been two groups that have actually come out and said we’d like to see it seated in our land and Mr Yunupingu the previous chair of the National Land Council came out and said he’d like to have it on Gumatj land and there’s been another group that’s come out and said it would like to have a look at it as well. We’ve given them all the information and to the fact that if they’re still interested in having a waste repository they can actually approach us and we will go through the whole process again like we’ve done with Muckaty.

MELINDA JAMES:
Are you expecting any kind of protest from people in the area for example in Tennant Creek.

JOHN DALY:
People have a right to protest. You know if you disagree with something so be it. Let’s move on with life. Although I think over a period of time it will all quite down and settle down. Basically we’ll get on with life again. It’s just one of those things that is a burning issue at the moment people have issues have about waste repository and the nuclear industry itself. But basically they need to get over those things and look at the science of it. Don’t worry about the jingoism of it. I’ve heard of stories of people actually going down there and showing the people of Muckaty photos. These photos are from Chernobyl for goodness sake these photos were forty years ago and look at technology. Look at how fast it has moved. Technology doesn’t stand still for no one. The technology is here and now and the technology will continue to get better. I think if the general public had a look at the nuclear science industry and had a look at the whole nuclear industry. They’ll just throw it out and say enough of your jingoism lets get to the facts and lets get at the point. Let’s look at the science of it and make sure that it is safe and lets do it.

MELINDA JAMES:
John Daly thank you very much for joining us.

JOHN DALY:
Thanks Melinda.