Chief Minister Paul Henderson discusses the impact of the Federal Government's nuclear waste legislation.

MELINDA JAMES, PRESENTER: In question time this week the Chief Minister condemned the Federal Government's new legislation. And I spoke to Paul Henderson earlier.

 

MELINDA JAMES, PRESENTER: Chief Minister, welcome to Stateline.

PAUL HENDERSON, CHIEF MINISTER: Good evening, Mel.

MELINDA JAMES: You hadn't seen the Active Radioactive Waste Management Bill before it was tabled this week. You've now had the chance to have a good look at it, but you can't be happy, surely?

PAUL HENDERSON: No, I'm not happy. In fact, I'm angry. This bill still excludes our environmental laws, our heritage laws, our prohibition of transport of nuclear waste laws. In fact, it totally overrides Territory legislation in a whole number of areas and certainly it wasn't what I expected to be introduced into the Parliament this week.

MELINDA JAMES: The Greens and the Australian Conservation Foundation say this bill is more abusive and even more coercive than the Howard Government's legislation. Do you agree with that?

PAUL HENDERSON: Well, what I do agree with is that our laws should apply, and this bill absolutely excludes our environmental, heritage, our transport process.

MELINDA JAMES: Does this bill fulfil Federal Labor's election promise before the 2007 election as Senator Trish Crossin claims it does?

PAUL HENDERSON: Well, it does I suppose because it repeals Howard's legislation, but it hasn't reinstated Territory's rights and fundamentally this is a point of principle. We have an elected parliament here in the Northern Territory, Territorians have entrusted us to deliver on environmental and heritage and safety grounds. This bill excludes our capacity to do that, and certainly only nominates one site in Australia for a nuclear waste dump, and certainly it's not based on science. We should go back to the drawing board, the 15 years worth of research that was done that identified a number of sites around Australia - none in the Northern Territory, and certainly not Muckaty Station.

MELINDA JAMES: You've met with the Solicitor General. What avenues, if any, are available to the Territory Government, because this bill seems to pretty comprehensively squash any attempt that could be made by states or territories to get around it, or fight it?

PAUL HENDERSON: Well, that's the advice I have from the Solicitor General, there are no avenues of appeal around this. This bill comprehensively excludes the Northern Territory in terms of any of our own processes, the decision finally in ultimately one for the Commonwealth, and certainly I'm offering a way forward here to the Australian Government - I'm saying, let's go back to the science. It's the science and the geology which determines where this site goes, in the national interest. It shouldn't be identified by a very small group of Traditional Owners in a very remote part of the Northern Territory, putting their hand up, saying, We want it on our land. That is not international world's best practice for determining where a nuclear waste dump should go.

MELINDA JAMES: In a jurisdiction that is held very, very safely by Labor federally?

PAUL HENDERSON: Well, I don't think this is about politics and it should be beyond politics.

MELINDA JAMES: You must feel betrayed by your Federal Labor colleagues over this?

PAUL HENDERSON: I'm going to keep this issue in isolation from the broader relationship I have with the Australian Government. This issue stands alone, it should be a national issue based on science ..

MELINDA JAMES: Can I stop you there. It doesn't really stand alone now. This, the Federal Labor Government seems to have established a pattern here. Federal Labor promised to repeal a law that forced a nuclear waste dump on the Northern Territory, yet it's replaced it with a law that does just that. they promised to reinstate CDEP, and now we see CDEP being abolished. And now it looks unlikely that their promised reinstatement of the Racial Discrimination Act will pass the Senate because of the strings attached. Do you feel that Territorians have been let down by the Rudd Government? Do you personally feel let down by the Rudd Government?

PAUL HENDERSON: Oh, look, not at all, Mel. We're progressing on a whole range of fronts - you know, closing the gap on a whole range of Indigenous disadvantage, building our health and education systems. In investment in infrastructure in the Northern Territory through the stimulus package has been unprecedented. The Rudd Labor Government has been a great government for the Northern Territory. This is a very important issue, this is a national issue, this is about a waste repository that is going to store low and intermediate nuclear waste for hundreds, potentially thousands of years, here in Australia. It should be based on science, not a constitutional weak point. That's what I'm angry about.

MELINDA JAMES: Can I move on to some other issues of the week. Now, the Council of Territory Cooperation handed its first report to Parliament this week and among the recommendations that houses built under SIHIP, refurbishments and rebuilds done under SIHIP should be to the standard originally promised, and they should also reach minimum Territory standards. Is that a recommendation you will take up?

PAUL HENDERSON: Well, what I have said with the Council of Territory Cooperation report is I will implement as many of the recommendations as I possibly can, cone they've been worked through a Cabinet process and in consultation with eth Commonwealth. In regards to that piece of recommendation there, the decision was taken in eth review to make as many houses as possible in eth Northern Territory safe and habitable. That's what we're doing in the first instance ..

MELINDA JAMES: Even if they don't meet the minimum standards for other Territory public housing?

PAUL HENDERSON: Well, the question here is to be asked, if we don't as many houses as possible safe and habitable, there's going to be fewer numbers of houses upgraded.

MELINDA JAMES: And, just finally, the once Labor and now Independent MLA, Alison Anderson, proposed this week that Indigenous members of parliament should form a committee to investigate Indigenous spending by the Territory government. It was voted down with the help of Gerry Wood. No matter how hard you and your government try, you can't seem to shake the view that you fudge the figures on Indigenous spending and fall short when it comes to to spending to overcome Indigenous disadvantage. Why is that?

PAUL HENDERSON: Well, look, Alison put forward a motion. We don't believe on committees based on race. We're all absolutely committed to closing that gap on Indigenous disadvantage. We've had two expenditure reviews on Indigenous expenditure, both supported by the Auditor General, that confirmed that 53 per cent of all Northern Territory Government spending goes on Indigenous services. We've had the Senate's inquiry that certainly found the Territory government spends appropriately, and we're now committed to a COAG process, along with all of the states, to shine the light on Indigenous expenditure, and we are the most transparent, accountable governments in terms of Indigenous expenditure in the nation. We've had any number of inquiries, none of those inquiries have found any evidence of those allegations that get put.

MELINDA JAMES: Paul Henderson, thanks for joining us.

PAUL HENDERSON: Thanks, Mel.