Nuclear war on waste plans
From:
By Phillip Coorey and Nigel Adlam
October 14, 2005
NUCLEAR waste from Lucas Heights would be trucked along South Australia's roads to a new dump in the Northern Territory, under Federal Government legislation tabled in Parliament yesterday.
SA Environment Minister John
Hill said yesterday while he was unhappy with the prospect he said not much could be done.
But the NT Government vowed it would fight the move if the legislation is passed by the Senate.
The Bills, introduced by Science Minister Brendan
Nelson, seek to override all state and territory rights, as
well as those of local Aborigines and environmental groups.
After first unsuccessfully trying to establish a dump in SA's outback, the Federal Government said recently it would put the dump on NT Commonwealth land.
The dump, to be built at one of three sites under consideration, would take low-level waste generated by hospitals and laboratories, as
well as high-level waste including reprocessed fuel rods from Lucas Heights and parts of the current reactor.
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If the law is passed in the Senate, a nuclear waste depository would be built on Commonwealth land near
Alice Springs or
Katherine within five years.
Legislation provides for transporting the waste by road and sea and only Commonwealth waste would be buried at the site.
Waste trucked from
Sydney would most likely pass though
Peterborough,
Port Augusta and
Coober Pedy on its way to the NT.
Dr
Nelson said yesterday successive governments had tried to responsibly store waste. Mr
Hill said statistics showed there would be accidents transporting the waste.
NT Chief Minister
Clare Martin said the move was the worst-ever Federal attack on Territory rights - worse than the overthrow of the Rights of the Terminally Ill Act in 1997.
But her Government stopped short of announcing an expensive legal challenge.
Ms Martin said the Territory was being forced to take the nuclear facility because it was not a state.
"The Federal Government is doing this to us because it can," she said. Labor said it hoped CLP Senator Nigel Scullion would cross the floor and vote against the plan.
Ms Martin said the Senator had publicly said he would vote against the Bill.
Senator Scullion last night denied this. This was despite saying in August: "I'm out on this now - I'll cross the floor." But last night Senator Scullion said he had only supported a Labor motion calling on Prime Minister John Howard to honour an election promise not to build the facility in the NT.
"I've never said I would vote against it," he said.
Territory Opposition Leader Jodeen Carney said the CLP supported the call for scrapping Federal laws.
"One thing Territorians don't like is
Canberra opposing their will," Ms Carney said.
One of the Territory's two Independent parliamentarians said the Territory Government had only itself to blame for the problem.
Gerry Wood, the Member for
Nelson, accused the Territory Government of engaging in a political charade to cover "its lack of leadership".
NT Health Minister Peter Toyne said the Lucas Heights reactor in
Sydney could produce medical isotopes for 30 years.
"It's shameful to use cancer patients as pawns in this grubby political game," Mr Toyne said.
Federal Labor MP Warren Snowdon was thrown out of Parliament yesterday for his loud objections as the Bill was introduced.
The Australian Conservation Foundation said the Government had undertaken an arrogant course of action.
From The Advertiser and the Northern Territory N