Adam Bandt (Melbourne, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to make some remarks on the Defence Legislation Amendment (Woomera Prohibited Area) Bill 2013. The bill, which facilitates mining exploration for between 14 and 70 days per year in the Woomera prohibited area, is being rushed through this parliament. The rush was apparent when public consultation on the bill allowed three working days for initial submissions. On Wednesday, 8 May, the defence minister and the resources minister released the draft exposure legislation to increase access to the Woomera prohibited area to miners. Three working days later, on 13 May, the submission period closed. That is just not good enough.

Lawyers representing the Maralinga people advised my colleague Senator Scott Ludlam last week that the consultation on this legislation has been deficient, despite approaching the defence minister on the issue in July 2011. The minister's second reading speech informs us that it was not until Friday, 24 March 2013, 12 days ago, that the South Australian government hosted a discussion between defence officials and traditional owners of Maralinga Tjarutja and APY lands about the legislation. Under the Maralinga Tjarutja Land Rights Act 1984 the Maralinga Tjarutja people have been managing all access and mining issues in relation to the 100,000 square kilometre Maralinga lands since 1984 and in relation to the former nuclear test sites since 2010. After everything these people have endured—literally the use of nuclear weapons and the resulting and ongoing health issues of being exposed to nuclear blasts and the radioactive contamination of their lands—they at least deserve the dignity of consultation over the lands that they have managed under this law for 27 years.

This bill has the capacity to diminish the land rights of these traditional owners, whose interests were not recognised in the Hawke review or the information paper. Another Aboriginal group in the area, the Kokatha people are dissatisfied that protocols in the area are being implemented. They object to the fact that sensitive sites have been disturbed and that activities have taken place in the area without the permission of the local people. It would appear that there are already problems in the handling of the Woomera area and that further opening it up to mining companies would exacerbate them.

Certainly there was a review into this question, led by Dr Allan Hawke, resulting in an 82-page report. However, a three-day consultation period is a joke. The consultation with the traditional owners has been negligent and rushed, and the same can be said of parliamentary scrutiny. Certainly the mining companies have been consulted. The South Australian Chamber of Mines and Energy is celebrating that $1 trillion stands to be made. Some 83 per cent of the mining industry in Australia is overseas owned and, according to an Australia Institute report, 81 per cent of the profits went abroad. Whether it be the South Australian government's prediction that $35 billion can be made from mining in this area or the South Australian Chamber of Mines and Energy's prediction, over 85 per cent of this money will not benefit Australia.

The Greens have been consistent in identifying the lack of fairness in whom this mining boom benefits, and this bill will simply amplify the problem. Our mineral resources are finite, and the wealth generated from exploiting these resources needs to be shared appropriately among the community while the opportunity remains. The mineral wealth potential of the area should be subject to a reconfigured mining tax, similar to that originally proposed by Treasury, to fund investments to benefit Australians for generations.

This area has an estimated 75 per cent of Australia's known uranium reserves. If uranium is mined in this area, this bill will amplify the irresponsibility of exporting dangerous radioactive materials. As members will know, Australian uranium was in each of the reactors at Fukushima when the earthquake and tsunami hit, and 160,000 people continue to be displaced from the contamination zones. The genesis of the nuclear disaster that befell Japan started here in Australia, likely from uranium sourced from BHP's Roxby mine, which is very close to Woomera. The implications are massive.

Uranium is very thirsty, and Woomera is in the driest state in the driest continent on earth. Further uranium mining in the area poses particular dangers for Australia's water security. As member's will know, due to the indenture act BHP is exempt from many of South Australia's environmental, Aboriginal heritage and water laws in operating the Roxby uranium mine. For the price of precisely nothing—not one dollar—BHP is legally able to use up to 42 million litres of water per day. This is having a very serious effect on the Mound Springs, the sensitive and unique water springs in the area of Lake Eyre. Further mining will certainly contribute to further impacts, and uranium mining will especially do so.

While the Greens are absolutely opposed to mining uranium anywhere in Australia, we are not opposed outright to other mineral exploration in the Woomera Prohibited Area if negotiations with the traditional owners can reach agreement and if strict environmental guidelines for exploration are also strictly applied inside the Commonwealth area. The Greens believe this bill should be subjected to a thorough Senate inquiry. We look forward to examining its provisions in more detail throughout that process and will seek to ensure that the environment in this area is not further degraded and that the rights of Aboriginal people are upheld.

See this speech in context