Tuesday, 5 December, 2006

by Natalie Wasley
ALEC, ECNT, NWA

Exactly one year since the Commonwealth passed the controversial Commonwealth Radioactive Waste Management Act (CRWMA), amendments are being rushed through Federal Parliament to further inhibit opportunity for community input and judicial review of the siting of the Commonwealth waste facility.

The original Act, overriding NT laws prohibiting transport and storage of nuclear waste in the NT, was passed with the support of Senator Nigel Scullion and MP Dave Tollner on December 5 last year, despite strong opposition from targeted communities, the NT Government and Territory and national environment groups.

Now, exactly one year later, amendments are being rushed through to continue the legislative onslaught forcing a dump on the NT. The legislation, being voted on in the Senate this week, essentially allows sites to be nominated without consultation and consent of traditional owners and wipes out the opportunity for “procedural fairness” and judicial review by any interested parties including communities, pastoralists and the NTG.

The Arid Lands Environment Centre (ALEC), Environment Centre of the Northern Territory (ECNT) and NT No Waste Alliance strongly condemn the way the Government is continuing to change legislation to hurdle any obstacles presented to its NT dump push.

"Despite rhetoric of 'international best practice', the Commonwealth is far from following international trends that recognise the importance of community input in the siting of radioactive waste facilities. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) encourages early and sustained public participation, which is a clear contrast to the method of imposition being undertaken by the Commonwealth", stated Natalie Wasley, Beyond Nuclear campaigner at ALEC.

Emma King from the ECNT agrees, pointing out that "the report released in June this year by the UK Committee on Radioactive Waste Management (CoRWM) recommends that 'community involvement in any proposals for the siting of long term radioactive waste facilities should be based on the principle of volunteerism, that is, an expressed willingness to participate'. The UK report also notes that 'there is a growing recognition that it is not ethically acceptable for a society to impose a radioactive waste facility on an unwilling community.'"

"The Commonwealth has demonstrated disregard for public opinion since they announced the NT dump plan." said Justin Tutty from the Darwin No Waste Alliance. "The process of siting a dump should involve opportunity for input from affected communities at every stage. Instead, the Commonwealth Government, including our federal politicians, Dave Tollner and Nigel 'not on my watch' Scullion, have acted with contempt for people they are elected to represent."

A delegation comprising community members, traditional owners and pastoralists from all sites being considered by the Commonwealth has recently returned from a road trip to Darwin, where they met with senior NTG members, national environment group representatives and Darwin community members, galvanising support and building networks between the targeted communities and stakeholders.

"Individuals and groups throughout the NT are committed to working together to oppose the Commonwealth dump plan and will continue to carefully monitor each stage of the process," said Mr Tutty.