Rowan Ramsey (Grey, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I would be pleased to, Madam Deputy Speaker. The reason I brought the subject into the House is the political debate in the past on the establishment of the low-level repository in South Australia is a clear indicator of why this subject is so dangerous for political parties in Australia to broach unless we have some sign of political bipartisanship or at least a discussion on the subject. To return to the bill, I was pleased with the comments by the member for Brand in his summing up. He does recognise that most of this waste is hospital waste, industrial waste or smoke alarms and is not highly dangerous. The scare campaign run in the past had people from my electorate ringing up and saying, ‘We just heard there’s been a shipment go to temporary storage in Port Augusta. What if it falls off the bridge?’ If it fell off the bridge it would have less of an effect on the upper Spencer Gulf than if a load of industrial chemicals fell off the bridge or even if a load of cement fell off the bridge. It is not that dangerous and yet we have had a continued rush to the political low ground where people seek cheap, short-term political advantage on a subject that should never have raised any contention at all. This establishment should have been completed probably 10 years ago and certainly five years ago. The waste should not be in temporary storage in Woomera and it should not be in hospital basements all over Australia as the member for Brand, the Parliamentary Secretary for Western and Northern Australia, pointed out. I am pleased that at last this is being addressed in an appropriate manner. It is a shame that it has taken so long to get to this point.

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