“I do not support a nuclear waste facility in the Northern Territory because the established science shows the most suitable site is in South Australia”, Country Liberals Candidate for Solomon Natasha Griggs said today.

Natasha Griggs was speaking out after Labor tabled legislation in Canberra to overrule Territory laws prohibiting the nuclear waste facility.

“My position has been consistent, the location of a nuclear waste facility must be based on science and that science has always said South Australia”, Ms Griggs said.

“Why should the Northern Territory be sacrificed when there is already land available in South Australia that is suitable for the storage and disposal of nuclear waste. The Commonwealth should use its constitutional powers to place the facility where established science says it should go rather than use those powers to exploit the Territory’s legal status.

“I understand that the Muckaty Station owners see economic value in offering up their country, but this decision is not about economics, it is about science.”

She said Labor bangs on about the science associated with placing the facility at Muckaty Station, while neglecting the science and environmental concerns associated with other parts of the Northern
Territory.

“Federal Labor would have us believe the nuclear waste is somehow going to magically appear at Muckaty Station,” she said.

“What will actually happen is the waste will have to be transported by either road or rail to the facility, and this alone is a cause of concern.

“What safeguards are in place to ensure there isn’t a significant environmental issue with the transportation of the waste?

“If it comes here by truck or train, it will have to pass through Territory population centres – most likely Alice Springs – and it’s not implausible that it could come through Darwin via the port.

“The port is basically sinking – the Commonwealth should be investigating whether it’s a safe facility for the handling of nuclear waste.

“And where is the community consultation – it is not just the traditional owners of Muckaty Station that will be effected, it is people the length and breadth of the Territory.

Ms Griggs said the hypocrisy of Federal Labor’s Territory representatives is astounding.

“Labor and its three Territory members should be condemned for deceiving Territorians.

“In Opposition Labor’s Damian Hale, Trish Crossin and Warren Snowdon spent more than a million dollars in successive elections on an anti-nuclear campaign in the Territory,” she said.

“Now, in Government, they’re marching down the Stuart Highway carrying nuclear waste behind them.

“The Labor Party sees the Territory as expendable in their grand plan to rule Australia. At the ballot box, I hope Territorians remember this.