Keith Pitt (Hinkler, National Party, Minister for Resources, Water and Northern Australia) Share this | Hansard source

The National Radioactive Waste Management Amendment (Site Specification, Community Fund and Other Measures) Bill 2020 reflects over 40 years of searching by successive governments to identify a suitable site that will support the safe and secure management of radioactive waste in Australia. The establishment of a national facility will benefit all Australians by supporting nuclear medicine, which is so critical to cancer treatments, and other important nuclear science and technology activity in the national interest, by providing confidence around how and where radioactive waste will be managed in Australia. The bill provides clarity and certainty about the location of this important facility for the local community, for the broader Australian public and for the nuclear industry.

It also establishes mechanisms to support the host community that will be delivering public services and community infrastructure to the facility. While the bill removes the existing site nomination and selection framework in the National Radioactive Waste Management Act 2012, the identification of Napandee in the South Australian Kimba region as the host site was based on the extensive voluntary process set out in the act. The selection of Napandee was the result of detailed site assessments and community sentiment information, which are the products of years of technical studies and community engagement efforts. This included engagement and consultation with the Barngarla people over a number of years. It is not the government's intention to extinguish native title rights or interests in the process of developing the facility. While Napandee is within the Barngarla Native Title Determination Area, native title does not exist within the proposed site at Napandee. The government has proposed amendments to the bill to put beyond doubt that native title rights and interests in the area surrounding the proposed site will not be compulsorily acquired as part of the acquisition of additional land for all-weather road access to the facility.

In addition, the bill provides for the establishment of a $20 million community fund, intended to be managed and controlled by the host community. The bill makes clear that the fund is to be used to support the economic and social sustainability of the host community. The community fund will contribute to sustainable health services, agriculture research and development, enhancements to local critical infrastructure and the further development of the local Indigenous community economy. The details and arrangements of the community fund will be determined in consultation with the host community.

I would like to thank members for their consideration of the bill and the government amendments. I particularly thank speakers for their contributions. Siting a national facility for the management of radioactive waste raises a number of important issues for consideration, and the bill represents an important milestone in this endeavour. So it is encouraging to see members actively engaging with the issues and the process going forward. I would encourage continued participation in the upcoming Senate committee inquiry, which is due to report by 31 July 2020. I also look forward to continuing these important discussions in the Senate in due course.

See this speech in context