Howard keeps nuke dump 'Out of sight, Out of Mind'

Thursday 10 November 2005
ALP Senator Trish Crossin and Jenny Macklin MP

The Howard Government is threatening to hamstring a Senate inquiry into the nuclear waste dump by refusing to allow travel to the Northern Territory to conduct public hearings.

Territorians stand to lose the most because of this Government’s extreme legislation to set up a waste dump.

It is farcical that this Government is not prepared to go to the Northern Territory to hear the community’s views about the dump.

This Senate Inquiry is a vital opportunity for the community to voice its opposition to the nuclear waste dump which is being forced on the people of the Northern Territory using draconian legislation.

The traditional owners of the Harts Range and Mt Everard sites oppose the Commonwealth Radioactive Waste Management Bill 2005 which will over-ride the Native Title Act 1993, and Northern Territory laws aimed at preventing the establishment of a nuclear waste dump in the Northern Territory.

Elders from the Central Land Council travelled to Canberra this week to voice those concerns but Science Minister Brendan Nelson wouldn’t even meet them.

The transport and disposal of nuclear waste is an issue of serious public concern and local communities must be involved in any decision-making that affects them.

Labor calls on the Howard Government to commit to the Senate inquiry holding hearings in the Northern Territory.