Monday 5 September 2005
Federal Senate

Senator MILNE (Tasmania) (5.36 pm)—I seek leave to move a motion in relation to the letter from the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of the Northern Territory.

Leave granted.

Senator MILNE—I move:
That the Senate take note of the document.
I want to speak briefly on this matter this afternoon because I think it is critically important not only in relation to the issue of the nuclear waste dump but also in relation to how the government is behaving in its dealings with the Northern Territory. I will read the actual resolution that was passed in the Northern Territory to give a sense of just how important and how serious this matter is.

The resolution is that:
(a) the Commonwealth government honour its election promise to not locate a nuclear waste dump in the Northern Territory;
(b) the Commonwealth government respects the sovereignty of the Northern Territory and this parliament and does not take advantage of the fact that we are a territory and not a state;
(c) the Commonwealth government respects the Northern Territory’s legislation banning the transport and disposal of nuclear waste in the Territory;
(d) the Northern Territory members of the Commonwealth parliament stand up for the Territory and oppose the location of a nuclear waste dump in the Territory and, if necessary, cross the floor in parliament; and
(e) the Speaker forward the terms of this motion and associated debate to the President of the Senate and Speaker of the House of Representatives of the federal parliament.

It is very clear that the people of the Northern Territory do not want this nuclear waste dump that is being imposed upon them. In fact, they were promised that this would not be the case. They were promised by the Minister for the Environment and Heritage, Senator Ian Campbell. He told people in the Territory on 30 September last year that Northern Territorians can take as an absolute, categorical assurance that there would be no nuclear waste dump imposed on the Northern Territory. He has now had to eat his words, of course, in terms of the government’s position. We
now have a clear issue. The federal government has said: ‘Right, that’s it. You are going to have it in the Northern Territory, whether you like or not.’

The Prime Minister has said that the rights of the Territory will be no less respected than the rights of other parts of the country. The Prime Minister, John Howard, said that on 19 July 2004. And yet what is clearly happening is that the rights of Territorians are
being less respected than the rights of those in other parts of the country. Look at what the government, the Prime Minister and the minister for the environment are saying to the Territory about the legislation that the Territory passed. The Territory clearly stated
its position when it passed its Nuclear Waste Transport, Storage and Disposal (Prohibition) Act—it was a clear expression that the people of the Northern Territory do not want this waste dump in the Territory.

Since then, there have been numerous people lobbying the federal government in relation to this matter. There have been very clear statements in the Territory. Recently, on 31 August this year in Darwin there was a substantial community meeting. My colleague
Senator Rachel Siewert went to that meeting. There a resolution was passed, which said: ‘This meeting states its opposition to the siting of a nuclear waste dump in the Northern Territory, noting the
broad community concern about the proposal, the lack of consultation with the Northern Territory community and the passage of the Nuclear Waste Transport, Storage and Disposal (Prohibition) Act 2004 by the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly.’ It goes on to say: ‘We call on the federal government to
stand by the absolute categorical assurance given by the Minister for the Environment and Heritage, Senator Ian Campbell, and honour its election promise that a nuclear waste dump would not be built in the Northern Territory.’ I think that it is incumbent upon the
minister for the environment, Senator Campbell, to come into this house and explain to the people of the Northern Territory and to the Senate why it is that he could have so blatantly misled them last year. How could he have given people in the Northern Territory
that assurance and now be turning around and looking the other way?

The tragedy for the people of the Northern Territory is twofold. First of all, it relates to their issue as Territorians of not being a state. Quite clearly, the Prime Minister and the government are saying to the people of the Northern Territory: ‘We don’t believe you should have the same rights as the other states and we’re going to use Commonwealth powers to override anything you people in the Territory want to do.’ This is from the very people who stand by the
flag and invoke all the national symbols you like to try to suggest that they are indeed standing up for the country, when all their actions suggest that they coopt the national symbols in order to sell out the country.

The people of the Northern Territory are being sold out by this government in its intent to override the decisions of the parliament of the Northern Territory, in order to create a nuclear waste dump.
The issue of the disposal of nuclear waste is at the crux of the whole nuclear issue. I will be speaking on that time and time again as we get on in this argument about energy and how to deal with climate change.

Nuclear power is not the answer to climate change, and nuclear weapons most certainly will never bring about peace. I think it is extraordinary that Brendan Nelson, on 15 July this year on ABC television, said: ‘Why on earth can’t people in the middle of nowhere have low-level and intermediate level waste? What is
being proposed makes sense; it is in the national interest.’
So says Minister Brendan Nelson. As far as he is concerned, people in the Northern Territory are ‘in the middle of nowhere’. What sort of attitude does that convey about central Australia and about the Northern Territory? What it conveys is: ‘Out of sight,
out of mind.’

Minister Macfarlane, the Minister for Industry, Tourism and Resources, said recently that this lowlevel waste is treated in such a way and stored in such a way that it presents no danger to the environment or to the population around it. That is fine—then have it
in the centre of Sydney or in Canberra, if that is what the minister thinks about nuclear waste. What it is demonstrating is a clear lack of understanding about nuclear waste. You cannot have a nuclear industry—a nuclear cycle—and not deal with the issue of waste.
Whenever you come to deal with waste, you have to face the reality that you are dealing with intergenerational inequity and injustice. You are putting onto children and grandchildren, many generations down the line, the consequences of an inability to face facts
about just how dangerous the nuclear industry is and how dangerous its waste is.

The people in the Northern Territory were told that there were no suitable sites in the Territory and that no nuclear dump would be put there. After Woomera was abandoned in favour of the Territory, suddenly they have come up with three possible sites: Fishers
Ridge, in the vicinity of Katherine; Harts Range, 200 kilometres away from Alice Springs; and Mt Everard, which is about 42 kilometres north-west of Alice Springs. These are ridiculous propositions. They are opposed by people in the Territory, for very good reasons. Fishers Ridge, for example, is based on an aquifer. No-one who understands anything about nuclear waste would possibly put forward a proposition that you would consider putting a nuclear waste dump anywhere near an aquifer. But I think Minister Nelson’s view is that it is out in the middle of nowhere and that it is low-level and intermediate level waste and therefore it is not a problem—out of sight, out of mind. The message is, ‘We are much more interested in pushing for the development of a nuclear industry in Australia.’

This is not just about dealing with existing waste; it is also about the government’s ambition to expand the nuclear industry in Australia from the mining of uranium through to the proposition that we have a nuclear power industry, and through to the proposition that we have an agreement to sell uranium to China. Where is the waste going to go from the Chinese experiment that the government is so gungho about? Is it going to poison the Chinese people for thousands of years or is there going to be some agreement to put it in Brendan Nelson’s ‘middle-of-nowhere’ hole in the ground?

This bears serious consideration from an ecological point of view, from a justice point of view in terms of future generations, and from the point of view that this is a problem in Australia where a group of people who do not have the status of a state are being imposed
upon by a bullying Commonwealth which has a much bigger agenda and chooses to trample the rights of people in the Northern Territory. That is a major issue that this Senate needs to face up to, and I think it is a big disappointment that the Minister for the Environment and Heritage, Senator Ian Campbell, has not yet come into this chamber and has not yet explained himself. He is the minister who will oversee the EPBC Act.

(Time expired)