Central Desert Shire President James Glenn said he went to the recent Senate Committee hearings in Alice Springs and has listened to both sides of the argument before making up his mind.  On Wednesday 10 December he recommended to his Councillors that the Shire Council oppose a nuclear waste facility being built in the Shire Council area or in the NT.

  “My fellow Councillors and I want Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to keep his election promise to dump this most undemocratic, racist and arrogant law,” he said. “We don’t live in ‘the middle of nowhere’ and a nuclear waste dump is not the sort of economic development we have in mind for our region.”

  “Alcoota, the Defence Department site that could be used under the law to bury the nation’s low and medium level radioactive waste, is near two of our communities. Our residents in Engawala and Atitjere don’t want to have this dump imposed on them any more than people on the East Coast do.”

  Mr Glenn said it would be a great Christmas present if the Australian Government repealed the law before the festive season.

  Only a week before the Senate Inquiry into the Commonwealth Radioactive Waste Management Repeal (Repeal and Consequential Amendment) Bill 2008 is due to report the Central Desert Shire have invited their colleagues from neighbouring Barkly and MacDonnell Shires to also join them.

  The Senate Inquiry is due to hand down its report on 18 December.