Wednesday 30 November 2005
SBS World News

A nuclear waste dump in the Northern Territory has come one step closer to reality with a government-dominated Senate committee recommending it be given the go ahead.

After a day of hearings, the committee gave its backing to bills that will provide the government with sweeping powers to push through its nuclear disposal project and override any laws that might be passed by the territory government opposing the plans.

The Commonwealth Radioactive Waste Management Bill 2005 and the Commonwealth Radioactive Waste Management (Related Amendments) Bill now look set to pass through the Senate by the end of the year.

Indigenous land owners, environment groups and the Labor Party have joined a chorus of opposition against the proposed waste facility.

But their efforts are unlikely to meet with the similar success to those of South Australia's anti-nuclear protests which thwarted a previous federal government plan to establish a national low-level nuclear dump there last year.

In the report tabled yesterday, government members of the Senate Employment, Workplace Relations and Education Committee supported the bills in full.

Committee chairwoman and Liberal Senator Judith Troeth called on the Northern Territory's Chief Minister Clare Martin to fall into line.

"You would wonder why they don't just cut the politics and agree that we all need to get on with this," Senator Troeth said in a report by the Australian Associated Press (AAP).

The committee has also urged more work be done to inform the public about the need for the waste site.

"The committee, I would say to a greater or lesser degree, agreed that more public information is necessary," Ms Troeth said, adding that "there is a great deal of misconception if not ignorance about the proposal, its basis and the future of it."

Currently, radioactive waste is stored at more than 100 different locations dotted around the country, including hospitals and universities in major cities.

The federal government's plan would see a single storage facility built at one of three possible sites in the Northern Territory – Fisher's Ridge near Katherine, Hart's Range northeast of Alice Springs, or Mr Everard northwest of Alice Springs.

Opposition committee members have described the government's handling of the proposal as 'heavy handed'.

"Opposition senators consider that the bills are deeply flawed and a heavy-handed and unwarranted exercise of commonwealth power," the non-government senators said in a dissenting report.

"The best interests of the Northern Territory and the Australian community would be better served if the government commenced a rigorous site selection process that is inclusive of affected communities."

They said there was a need for a nuclear waste dump, but that the government's approach failed to include proper consultation.

In parliament, Northern Territory Labor Senator Trish Crossin denounced the federal government process as a 'sham.'

"The frustration on behalf of the states is being used as an excuse to dump this stuff in the NT and it's not acceptable," she said.