The Greens will place the Government’s plan for a nuclear waste dump under the microscope again today as debate resumes on Labor’s attempt to pass the scheme through the Senate.

Greens spokesperson for nuclear issues Senator Scott Ludlam said his party would do everything it could to stop the Government’s plan to force the dump on an unwilling community, whether at Muckaty Station in the Northern Territory or anywhere else.

"The Government is trying to pre-empt the outcome of a Federal Court challenge to the Muckaty nomination,” said Senator Ludlam. “This bill places total discretion in the hands of Minister Martin Ferguson to site this dump and run roughshod over a number of checks and balances, including basic environmental standards.

"This radioactive waste management bill is a carbon copy of the Howard Government legislation Labor had vowed to repeal before the 2007 election. It concentrates total power in the hands of one minister and it aims to force a radioactive waste dump on the people of the Northern Territory. That is not the way a democracy is supposed to work."