Christine Milne (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I support the amendment that Senator Allison has moved. Far from being grandstanding, it is exactly what the Australian people want to hear. If anybody is grandstanding on nuclear power at the moment, it is the government. We have a really serious situation where we have the government saying that they want to extend ANSTO’s functions to handle radioactive materials and, particularly in relation to this matter, returned waste not exclusively from ANSTO’s reactors.

At the same time, we are looking at other legislation which says that an application for a site for a nuclear dump in the Northern Territory can be approved by the minister even if it does not comply with the current law in relation to informed consent from traditional owners. We have a situation where, an application for a waste dump having been approved, there can be no judicial review and no question if there is inappropriate process. The government is running roughshod over the Northern Territory and over communities, and it is even abolishing procedural fairness. It is intent on imposing a nuclear waste dump on the Northern Territory and on Indigenous communities. That is what we are hearing about in one committee, and now we hear this minister say that it is fanciful to suggest that the government is interested in taking back high-level waste from overseas.

We know that Prime Minister Howard went to the United States in May and met with President George Bush, who has a grand nuclear plan. His plan is to identify nuclear fuel suppliers around the world. Those suppliers would enrich uranium, send it overseas on a lease basis and then take back the high-level waste. That is the George Bush nuclear suppliers deal. That is what the Prime Minister’s task force was asked to look at, and they came back and said that enrichment is a possibility. It is not economically viable. It will be of no benefit to Australian companies because the entry levels are so high that the only ones that can benefit are—surprise, surprise—the American or British companies who are already involved in processing and enriching high-level waste.

The key factor is: in spite of the rhetoric from Mr Switkowski, the chair of the Prime Minister’s task force, the Americans are not happy with their Yucca Mountain Facility. They do not have a high-level waste dump. Former Prime Minister Bob Hawke would love for Australia to provide a global facility to take the world’s high-level waste. That is his vision for Australia. It is not the Greens’ vision and it is certainly not the Democrats’ vision. We have got a very active debate in the nuclear community around the world, and they would love for Australia to become a major supplier of uranium and a waste dump. That is their vision.

Here in front of this chamber we have got a piece of legislation which is extending ANSTO’s powers to, first of all, manage the radioactive waste and then take back into Australia waste not generated in Australia. You ask us why we are cynical. It is because we are watching what is going on with the Prime Minister and what is going on with the nuclear debate. We have seen a significant shift in government policy. The government is suddenly excited about 25 nuclear reactors around the coast of Australia, within 100 kilometres of major population centres. When asked where the dumps would be, the chair of the Prime Minister’s task force said, ‘Take your pick. The geological structure of Australia is such that you could have waste dumps anywhere.’ But we know that the government’s preference is to impose them on Aboriginal communities in a remote location, because the government does not want to have the political fallout of dumping radioactive waste within 100 kilometres of major population centres. It is prepared to give some financial compensation to Aboriginal communities.

I am not prepared to take this ANSTO bill at face value, because behind it we have got the uranium industry framework. We have got the uranium task force, we have got a proposal for 25 reactors and now—surprise, surprise—we have got a provision in legislation which would provide for Australia to take back waste not generated in Australia. This is waste not generated at Lucas Heights and not generated as a result of medical technology. I think it would be entirely sensible for the Senate to support the Democrats’ amendment so that it is very clear to everybody that the Prime Minister’s proposal to lease and take back high-level waste is not on the government’s agenda. If you do not pass this amendment, you are setting us up precisely for that.