Will a nuclear waste facility be built near Tennant Creek?

MELINDA JAMES, PRESENTER: More than two years after coming to power, Federal Labor this week honoured an election promise and moved to repeal a law that would have forced the Territory to accept a nuclear waste dump. Many who fought against the facility thought it would be welcome news. But a close reading of Labor's new laws reveals the Territory government is still powerless to stop a dump being built at the only site being considered - Muckaty Station near Tennant Creek. In a moment we'll hear from the Chief Minister, but first a look back at how Muckaty Station has become the likely site for the waste facility.

MARTIN FERGUSON, FEDERAL RESOURCES MINISTER: The last election we gave the Australian community an undertaking to actually put in place a new process based on full and proper consultation.

DAVE SWEENEY, AUSTRALIAN CONSERVATION FOUNDATION: Largely it's a cut and paste of the former Howard government legislation which Labor so vigorously opposed in opposition.

TRISH CROSSIN, NT LABOR SENATOR: I think what Territorians wanted, was legislation that actually has balance and I believe that this is legislation that delivers that.

MELINDA JAMES: The prospect of a nuclear waste dump in the Territory has been contentious since it was flagged in 2004. Strong public opposition in other states saw the Federal Government turn its sights on the NT. But in a pre-emptive move, the then Martin government legislated to ban the transport and disposal of nuclear waste in the Territory.

CLARE MARTIN, CHIEF MINISTER, 2005: Why put nuclear waste on our roads, transport it across half of Australia, and then put it into a facility that's so remote you can't really assure its security?

MELINDA JAMES: But, as expected, the Federal Government used its constitutional might to push through overriding legislation, the Commonwealth Radioactive Waste Management Act. With its legal options exhausted, the only hope for the Territory Government was a Labor win federally given the party's election promise to repeal the Act.

SCOTT LUDLUM, GREENS SENATOR: They promised consultation, they promised some accountability and then when you read the bill it's a legislative bulldozer, it's a battering ram.

MARTIN FERGUSON: Mr Speaker, I present the National Radioactive Waste Management Bill 2010 and the explanatory...

MELINDA JAMES: This week, Federal Labor finally came good on its promise and moved to repeal the Howard government's Radioactive Waste Management Act that forced a nuclear waste dump on the Territory - and replaced it with a law that, according to some, forces a nuclear waste dump on the Territory.

SCOTT LUDLUM: It pushes aside the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act, as far as site selection is concerned. It invalidates any state or Territory legislation that gets in the way, and it abolishes the rights of private land holders. If you happen to find yourself in the path of this thing or its access corridors then you can have your rights taken away.

MELINDA JAMES: This is Muckaty Station, an Aboriginal-owned cattle property 120 kilometres north of Tennant Creek. It's held by an Aboriginal Land Trust. In 2007, the Northern Land Council announced that traditional owners from the Ngapa clan had secured a $12 million deal with the Howard government to have the facility on their land. Senior Ngapa people were even taken on a tour of the Lucas Heights nuclear reactor in Sydney where most of the waste is generated. Labor says it's dutybound to pursue Muckaty and Muckaty only.

MARTIN FERGUSON: There is an existing deed of agreement going to a voluntary nomination by the Ngapa people in the Northern Territory. That deed of agreement requires me to actually take it forward in good faith.

MELINDA JAMES: But there's fierce opposition to the dump from other land holders on the Mucakty Land Trust.

SAMMY SAMBO - Traditional Owner, 2007: Yeah, they can put $100 million in front of me and I'd say no for this country where I'm sitting down.

MELINDA JAMES: A petition opposing the dump and signed by 57 traditional owners of the Land Trust, including some who say they're members of the Ngapa clan has been sent to Martin Ferguson.

DAVE SWEENEY: It's clear that the full and informed consent isn't there in as much as there's many people with strong affiliation, and that are on the Muckaty Land Trust and the association and they're saying they don't agree and they don't want it.

KIM HILL, NORTHERN LAND COUNCIL: We have followed and done our due diligence in regards to what my officers and what I'm required to do under the Land Rights Act. And that is to receive the informed consent of the Ngapa people who are the traditional owners for the area in question.

MELINDA JAMES: The Northern Land Council acknowledges some traditional owners of nearby land are unhappy but insists the agreement is watertight. The NLC also defends its decision to keep the agreement - said to be valid for 200 years - confidential.

KIM HILL: This is a matter of commercial-in-confidence and we will not be releasing that report.

(GOVERNMENT VIDEO): "Waste transport to the facility will be strictly governed by stringent national and international standards ..."

MELINDA JAMES: While it looks increasingly likely that Australia's first purpose-built radioactive waste facility will be built at Muckaty station, Martin Ferguson says he's prepared to meet with traditional owners. And the proposal still has hurdles to overcome.

MARTIN FERGUSON: We will proceed with scientific considerations, if they actually stack up, then the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Act will kick in and we will proceed step by step to make sure that we tick every box so we get to a point so that Australia at long last accepts its responsibilities.

MELINDA JAMES: And time is running out. Spent fuel rods sent to France and Scotland are due back in Australia in 2014. The Greens have referred the new law to a Senate inquiry that's due to report at the end of April. But a man who's fought two federal election campaigns on the nuke dump issue reckons despite the years of protest and Labor opposition, radioactive waste is almost certainly Territory-bound.

DAVE TOLLNER - CLP Member for Fong Lim: Look, the fact is the states have all said that they agree that we need a national repository, but they've all said not in our backyard. It became abundantly clear to the Howard government that really there was nowhere else in the country that it could be stored without a massive constitutional fight.