NT’s radioactive resistance: 1460 days and counting
On the fourth anniversary of plans to dump radioactive waste in the Northern Territory the Australian Conservation Foundation has acknowledged the power of community action against the dump and called on the Federal Government to adopt a responsible approach.
“The Howard Government failed in its attempt to impose a nuclear waste dump on the people of the Northern Territory,” said ACF campaigner Dave Sweeney.
“Now the Rudd Government needs to honour the promise it was elected on and end the threat of an imposed dump, repeal the Commonwealth Radioactive Waste Management Act and take a different approach to radioactive waste.”
Before the last federal election Labor “committed to repealing theCommonwealth Radioactive Waste Management Act and establishing a consensual process of site selection”.
The NT Government, many Indigenous groups and the majority of the wider NT community remain strongly opposed to the radioactive waste dump plan.
Environment, health, human rights and civil society groups from across the country have supported the grassroots resistance to the dump. At its recent national Congress (June 2009) the ACTU called on the Federal Government to repeal the CRWMA and remove the four NT sites from consideration. The ACTU also pledged active support for continuing opposition against any dump plan.
“For four years the NT community has fought a David and Goliath struggle over radioactive waste,” Dave Sweeney said.
“Now it is time for the Federal Government to honour its part of the deal and put an unequivocal end to the denial and deception that has characterised radioactive waste management in Australia.
“Radioactive waste is a long term environmental hazard that requires more than a short term political fix. Labor has a clear policy and now needs to act”.