Consent 'not given' by Muckaty land owners
THE deal to build a nuclear waste dump at Muckaty Station in the NT Outback was done without the consent of many affected by the decision, a Senate Inquiry was told yesterday.
Muckaty Land Trust member Diane Stokes was one of many traditional owners who travelled from Tennant Creek to Darwin for the hearing. She told the inquiry she had been excluded from Northern Land Council meetings where the deal for the waste facility was agreed.
"They just get a few people, who they trust, to go for their meetings," she said."We've got to find out in the street.
"If I drive into town, I find out there's a meeting."
She said the Ngapa group, who made the deal with the former government, were not the only people who had a say.
Chief Minister Paul Henderson told the inquiry consent was needed from more than "a handful" of people.
"Public consultation should establish public consent - not the consent of a handful of people but broad-based public consent," he said."I find it astounding we make the decision to put this at Muckaty without even an EIS (environmental impact statement)."
Penelope Phillips read Senators a letter from traditional owners saying the land was held by a trust, so parcels of it could not be sold off.
"Any land claim under the NT Land Rights Act is communally held and is freehold," it said. "How is it possible to sell part of our land?
"Decisions, especially over land, are made by consensus. One member cannot talk for other members."
Greens Senator Scott Ludlam said it would not be staffed by qualified technicians but by six security guards. Committee chair Trish Crossin defended plans, saying it would be monitored by the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency.