Today a group of central Australian traditional owners and a delegation including the Deputy Chief of the Territory, Syd Stirling, and the Mayor of Alice Springs, Fran Kilgariff, descended on Canberra in a last minute bid to stop a nuclear waste facility headed toward the centre. And after some discussions last week, amendments to the bill enabling the placement of a waste dump in the Territory will be debated in the Senate this week. In a moment, we’ll talk to Fran Kilgariff and find out what was discussed today. But first, let’s hear from David Ross, the Director of the Central Land Council about the response to amendments agreed to in the House of Representatives last week.

ROSS I think the Central Land Council is not interested in those amendments because that’s something that other people have put together and there was no consultation discussion with the Central Land Council nor the land owners of central Australia and people have said, no, we’re not interested in a waste facility within our country. Have it somewhere else but we don’t want it in our country.

REPTR If there was an opportunity for amendment, what amendments would have the CLC come up with?

ROSS Look we – we prefer that it’s not a political solution: that it’s a scientific solution because the two sites that have been talked about here in central Australia weren’t apart of the original list of sites prefer by scientists that have been put forward previously, and there’s a list of these sites in different parts of Australia. As we know, the prefer site was in – down in South Australia and there were a number of other sites that were on that list, in other parts of the country - and central Australia – when we talk about central Australia as in the two sites that have been put forward here were never on that list, and so our view was, look, it should be left to the scientists to come up with the best site back on their list rather than a political solutions that has been put forward just because the Commonwealth can do so.

REPTR Are there any central Australian traditional owners who are agreeable to it?

ROSS Well they certainly haven’t made that clear to us as yet.

REPTR The Northern Territory Government, in all this, has openly displayed opposition to a waste facility here for the Territory, yet they’ve been approving exploratory licences for companies such as Arafura Resources; a company that’s known to be looking for uranium. Do you hold the NT Government at all responsible for leaving the door just slightly ajar in relation to a nuclear waste facility in the Territory?

ROSS Look, I think that’s a separate issue, and that’s about exploration and mining of resources in the Northern Territory. This is about – this issue was specifically about a waste facility and they’re two totally different issues.

REPTR The Federal ALP included – or they didn’t include in their suggestive amendment to the House of Representatives, a clause to stop the bill. What message do you think the Federal ALP sending out in regard to this issue?

ROSS Well in my view, I mean, they’re probably taking the view that this Government should get it over and done with so the way is clear that they can’t be tainted with a brush, if and when they’re in government next time round or the time after that or whenever it is. That they may win government but the issue would have already been dealt with by the time they get there. So I think they’re – they’re probably have two bob each on, I mean as most parties do.

REPTR David Ross, you said that a nuclear waste facility shouldn’t be housed here in the Northern Territory. Australia has nuclear waste; where should it go?

ROSS Well we made it very clear that we’re not interested in a waste facility within central Australia and the land that we have responsibilities and duties to help people protect. What happens in the northern part of the Territory, that’s out of our jurisdiction. Well that’s something between those people and the Government, and – you know, the Northern Territory Government and the Commonwealth to sort between themselves. It’s nothing to do with us. We just made it very clear; we don’t want it in central Australia.

REPTR But we do have nuclear waste; is there a responsibility upon – in all Australia to at least have an opened mind to this?

ROSS A very minimal amount of nuclear waste and as I said – I’ve said we do have an opened mind but our opened mind goes as far as the scientific solution and the best scientific solution is not – is not being proposed by the political solution that’s being thrown around at the present time.

REPTR What if the Northern Territory is opened up further for uranium mining; would you then approve a nuclear waste facility in central Australia?

ROSS Well I don’t think that’s – I don’t think that’s the issue we’re dealing with here. At the present time we’re dealing with the issue of a waste facility for the whole of Australia and Alice Springs itself would only produce a very minimal amount of that waste, and as I said previously to other people, look, you know, you talk about a central solution – well the central solution should be put where most of that waste is produced and that’s somewhere on the southern-east coast of Australia with a majority of the population live and produce most of that waste. The real issue here is the spent fuel rods that have been repossessed overseas and they’ll be coming back to Australia within the next five years which is why the Commonwealth really does need to build a facility as a part of their second reactor at Lucas Heights. And so, they really need this facility therefore it should be somewhere within that central area where most of this waste is being produced – not in central Australia.

REPTR If everything goes to the Commonwealth’s plan, this bill regarding the storage of nuclear waste in the Northern Territory will be passed in the Senate; what can you do now at this late stage to try and stop it?

ROSS Well I think there’s something, you know, we’re still in the process of speaking to people. We have a meeting with Senator Scullion next week, with, you know, the land owners for both these sites, and we’ll go through that process and try and encourage in to go against this issue of having a facility in central Australia.

REPTR What about Family First as a party; can you pressure them?

ROSS We’ll certainly talk to them if they’re opened to talking to us.

David Ross, the Director of the Central Land Council, talking there. Said the traditional owners of central Australia are very much against the idea of nuclear waste dump or facility headed in this direction.

We’re talking about the nuclear waste facility. Will it or won’t it be headed toward the Northern Territory. Some think it’s already a fade compli; it’s already eau de toilet here. Others are more determined and to fight it. Fran Kilgariff is one of those, the mayor of Alice Springs. Fran was in – is in Canberra at the moment and we’ll find out who she had been talking to.

REPTR Fran Kilgariff, good afternoon.

KILGARIFF Good afternoon, Barry.

REPTR Who have you been talking to today?

KILGARIFF Well I haven’t actually done any lobbying with parliamentarians today. Earlier this morning I was part of a group of people that did a couple of media conferences and also presented the petition of 9,000 people who are against the nuclear waste dump in the Northern Territory. I also joined with the native title holders of Alice Springs, Lhere Artepe and the Central Land Council, and out of my voice to that, their opposition to a nuclear waste dump in central Australia.

REPTR What was the response when this 9,000 signatures was handed over to some of the senators there?

KILGARIFF Well they were pretty impressed. I think they’ve been gathered in only a couple of weeks and I think 9,000 people is a fair – fair whack of people who live in the Northern Territory, and I think even in Alice Springs in the last week or so there’s been a survey that said 80% of people opposed this nuclear waste dump, and we were certainly very vocal in our efforts to say that any nuclear waste dump in Australia should be chosen on the proper criteria which is scientific and environmental and technical, not political expediency which is what I believe this site for this nuclear waste dump has been chosen.

REPTR Do you get the feeling that anyone is listening over in Canberra because the sounds of protest had been heard for a while now, but it’s almost in some quarters as if this is in the Territory, it’s far away from Canberra, we can’t really hear what goes on there; so have you got a feeling that people are listening?

KILGARIFF Well I certainly have a feeling that people actually don’t know what’s been happening and I’m actually here not to much for the nuclear waste dump but also for the Australian Local Government Association confidence in Canberra, and there’s certainly a motion going in front of them to the effect that there should be a proper criteria used in the selection of a nuclear waste dump in Australia. People I think are generally very surprised to hear that this bill is actually going in front of Parliament: there’s been a lot with industrial relations and terrorist laws that have actually got a lot of publicity in the last week or two and I think the fact that this strong-arm tactics has been foisted on the Northern Territory or maybe – have perhaps state people’s attention and that’s one of the reasons why we want to talk about it and make it known to people here that really Territorians have been treated again like second class citizens – that the Federal Government is in the process of restricting Territorians from objecting to their own legislation, that is the Native Title legislation and also the Heritage legislation – federal laws and this new law that has gone up today in Parliament, in the Senate – prohibits Northern Territorians from - that any recourse to those laws. So I think it’s a really peculiar state of affairs when the Federal Government puts up a law to prohibit access to previous laws that they have passed.

REPTR This delegation involving traditional owners and the Deputy Chief Minister; do you know who they’ve met with today?

KILGARIFF They’ve met with a number of people and certainly I think they’ve met with Nigel Scullion and a number of another senators who came – while I was there and said they really wanted to talk to this deputation – a number of Democrats, a number of Greens, that may not enable them to get the numbers but certainly Senator Trish Crossin said that she was trying to get the bill sent to a Committee which would buy another month or so for people to actually have discussion and for the issue to become more widely known. I’m not aware at this stage whether that actually worked or not, but that’s what she was trying to do this afternoon.

REPTR What about Steven Fielding, the senator from Family First; has he been approached?

KILGARIFF Yes he has been approached and he was approached this afternoon by the Lhere Artepe and the Central Land Council. I’m not aware at this stage exactly what his reaction was but certainly he was keen to talk to those deputations.

REPTR Just finally, Fran, where to from here?

KILGARIFF Well I think we see what happens with the voting on Thursday and it seems that Territory’s right to go to the High Court. It’s certainly blocked by this legislation which may get up then. There may be other avenues, other legal avenues. I don’t know at this stage but I don’t feel that it’s a fade compli. I think that there are still ways that people in central Australia will be able to object to this.