IN a passionate plea to prevent the construction of a nuclear waste dump at Muckaty, Member for Barkly Gerry McCarthy threw down the gauntlet for a public debate with the Northern Land Council’s (NLC) Kim Hill.

Speaking at the rally last Saturday, Mr McCarthy said Mr Hill had scorned him at the recent senate inquiry and across the radio waves because he was critical of the NLC’s handling of the consultation process regarding the nomination of Muckaty as a nuclear dump site.

Mr Hill claimed Mr McCarthy was promoting violence amongst Aboriginal people.

“Bring it on,” Mr McCarthy said, imploring Mr Hill to come out in public and debate the issue.

“When you have a high profile indigenous leader representing the NLC slagging off a local member, I say you’ve got a high profile leader with a guilty conscience and that guilty conscience needs to be aired.”

Mr McCarthy said the NLC has its hands “firmly and squarely placed to accept the cash-grab that comes with this [siting of the dump at Muckaty] from the Federal Government.”

At the rally Mr McCarthy also arraigned the Senate Inquiry into the National Radioactive Waste Management Bill 2010 for refusing to come to Tennant Creek.

He further criticised the Inquiry for accepting only specially-formatted written submissions.

“We have oral traditions here that go back tens of thousands of years,” Mr McCarthy said.

“We have people who can show you a petition with paint on their bodies.

“We stand strong on that message and we’re not going to be hamstrung by a high-level inquiry that wants a high-level written essay on a piece of paper.

“[They can] get down here to the Barkly to meet with us like this in the park and to hear our story face-to-face.”

The Inquiry met in Canberra last week and will sit in Darwin on Monday.