A MUCKATY traditional owner howled in grief when the Senate passed legislation on Tuesday which paved the way for a nuclear waste dump to be built on her land.

Bunny Nabarula said she was heartbroken at the news.

“I don’t know how many times we have to say that we don’t want that stuff anywhere near our land,” she said.

“People from the Government and the Northern Land Council have not listened.

“I care for my country and I worry about what will happen.

“I am an old lady now and I should have some peace but I am sick with worry.”

Northern Territory Federal politicians, Warren Snowdon, Nigel Scullion and Trish Crossin voted in favour of the bill even though they were aware the nomination process was flawed, unsupported by traditional owners and highly contentious.

The only one with the courage of her convictions, the Country Liberals’ Federal Member for Solomon Natasha Griggs, voted against the bill when it was presented to the Lower House in February last year.

At the time, Ms Griggs said she believed the traditional owners were not adequately consulted, the Government had failed to adequately respond to a Senate Inquiry into the dump laws and the science did not support the Territory as the most appropriate location for the facility.

While the NT Government opposed the bill, it has no constitutional power to prevent the construction of the facility within the Territory.

The Greens secured an amendment to the law, ensuring no international nuclear waste would be stored in Australia while the Coalition’s proposal to require states and territories to pay capital contribution fees to store waste is also likely to be incorporated into the legislation.

However Greens Senator Scott Ludlam, who is vehemently opposed the campaign to build the nuclear waste dump at Muckaty, said his party would continue to oppose the “fundamentally flawed law.”

“This legislation does not just represent a problem for Muckaty,” he said.

“It places enormous and virtually unchecked power in the hands of one minister.”

 

Penny Phillips, also a traditional owner of Muckaty, says she is furious the bill has been passed.

“Every one of those politicians in Canberra know that we have not nominated our land,” she said.

“They know we don’t want it, but they haven’t even had the courtesy to come and talk to us about it.

“As far as we know only one woman put up her hand to have this dump built on our land and she has now passed away.

“The Northern Land Council is supposed to represent us but have kept things secret from us and have refused to discuss this matter with us.”

Penny said while traditional owners have been devastated by the news she knows they are not the only ones who are upset.

“This nuclear waste dump affects everyone,” she said.

“It affects the cattle producers in the area, it affects the people who live in Tennant Creek and the Barkly and it affects everyone who lives anywhere near the proposed transport corridors because the nuclear waste will be coming from all over Australia.”

Anti-nuclear activist Nat Wasley said the campaign to stop the nuclear dump being built at Muckaty was just beginning.

“There are still many hurdles for the Government before a dump is up and running and this proposal will be challenged every step of the way,” she said.

A Federal Court case, challenging the status of the land at Muckaty, is yet to be heard.