Ian Macfarlane (Groom, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Energy and Resources) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to support this legislation and, for us on this side of the House, it is very much groundhog day again. This legislation should have been passed years ago and it was due to political obstruction that it was not. The irony of today is that those proposing this bill are the ones who opposed us when we tried to pass this legislation, but I am not going to dwell on the past.

The reality is that radioactive waste is real and part of modern life. It is part of the consequence of modern medicine, and we in Australia need to be mature enough to accept that, along with saving people's lives, particularly through radiation oncology, of which I have been a fortunate recipient, we have a product to deal with. We need to deal with it in such a way that the waste is then stored in a secure, safe environment, and, were it not for the political obstruction, this facility would have been built by now and would be receiving the waste that has been generated in Australia from medical treatment, medical research and general research.

We were opposed every step of the way by people who now support this bill, and I welcome their support. I welcome the realisation that Australia has entered into a place where we can be quite proud that we can not only save lives and further mankind but we are able to store the by-product of that development.

Frightening people with lies and mistruths is not the way to advance a nation, and this debate has been riddled—and I do not accuse the government of this; I accuse others—with people who have been prepared to compromise honesty on the basis of political gain. Again, I think that is despicable. In supporting the passage of this bill I also congratulate the government on accepting the proposal from Senator Nigel Scullion that the Northern Territory receive a financial grant out of this process and that the state governments pay to have storage at this facility. The problem has partly been that state governments have opposed this process, saying, 'Not in my backyard.' But when it is in someone else's backyard they fall over themselves to gain access to the facility. It is good to see that there is justice after all.

One of the great concerns I have always had about nuclear waste is not how to store it but how not to store it. It is worthy in this debate to remind people that nuclear waste is currently stored in shipping containers in the middle of hospital car parks. If you think that is safe and if you think it has been worthwhile holding this legislation for that then you are a hypocrite and you have no real grasp on reality. Australia currently has over 4,000 cubic metres of low radiation nuclear waste and about 600 cubic metres of intermediate waste. It is about time we put it somewhere safe. I congratulate all the people involved in the passage of this bill and look forward to the finalisation of an issue that should have been finalised a decade ago.

Question agreed to.

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