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

I thank Senator Allison for preparing the amendments to the bill. I think it is entirely appropriate that we do have amendments which take into account the views of people who are living in the vicinity of any nuclear facility as is proposed. I would go further than 0.5 of a kilometre, but I am happy to support this as a minimum in terms of consultation with local communities.

As I indicated earlier today and have spoken about, the fact of the matter is that currently nobody who lives within 0.5 kilometres of the boundary of a facility has house insurance against a nuclear accident or incident. Anyone who looks at their house insurance policy will find that there is a standard exclusion clause. At the moment, the nuclear facility can be imposed on a group of local people without the consent of that local community and without them being able to be insured.

I would ask Senator Campbell whether the government is going to support the bill that I am going to bring in here which basically says that nuclear facilities must take absolute liability for any damages caused by that facility, as is required by the Vienna convention in relation to this matter, which is about responsibilities for civilian impacts. I think that is really important. There is a Vienna convention, a Paris convention and a joint protocol. Now that this bill is talking about our international responsibilities, let us sign up to the international convention, which takes away the need for communities to prove negligence before they get any compensation if there is a nuclear accident, incident, leak or break—whatever—of any kind. Other countries have done it. All of the nuclear countries have done it. Australia has not done it.

I think it is essential that people are provided with that guarantee that the owners of the facility will bear absolute liability and the community should not have to prove negligence. Equally, I think that communities need to be consulted. Community and local government need to be consulted. Senator Allison’s amendments say that if, as a result of the plebiscite, a majority disapproves of the establishment of the facility, a permit must not be granted. It is as simple as that. I think people do have a right to have some power over what happens in their communities. In the case of a nuclear facility, it is a dramatic impact on that particular area. I support Senator Allison’s amendments.