Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Northern Australia) Share this | Hansard source

I just thought I might put on record the opposition's position on these amendments. The government is proposing amendments that: firstly, reinstate the ministerial site declaration process in the current act, as proposed by the opposition, and as originally contemplated in the 2012 legislation; secondly, deem certain land taken to have been nominated and approved under the act, being the three short-listed sites of Lyndhurst, Napandee and Wallerberdina; and, thirdly, allow for judicial review of the ministerial site declaration aspect of the process. The amendments include compensation provisions to ensure beyond doubt that existing rights to compensation are maintained.

The current government amendments, if passed, will mean the minister will make a site declaration regarding one of the three presently short-listed sites which have been nominated and approved, or any other site which is subsequently short-listed. In the event that Napandee is selected, the traditional owners, the Barngarla Determination Aboriginal Corporation, will then have the ability to undertake a judicial review of the ministerial site declaration. The community fund of $31 million will remain as part of the legislation.

Labor's primary concern with the original bill, which compelled parliament to make a site selection for the National Radioactive Waste Management Facility, presented by this government, was that it removed judicial review. This was also the primary concern of the Barngarla Determination Aboriginal Corporation. Labor has been consistent on this throughout this debate. We wouldn't support passage of this legislation unless the traditional owners were comfortable with it.

Finally, the government has come to the table on this. Labor insisted over many months that BDAC be consulted in relation to the current government amendments before they go before the parliament. This happened last week. These amendments are a good compromise, which maintains the ability for judicial review, at the same time acknowledging the work that has already been done in short-listing the three sites to get the process moving ahead in the interests of all Australians.

Concerns had been raised by BDAC regarding the deeming of the three sites and whether this would restrict the government in future from nominating other sites outside of the three listed. Labor clarified this with the government, who have since confirmed in the explanatory memorandum the following:

Recognition of the three shortlisted sites confirms the sites as being nominated and approved under the Act, but does not limit the Minister from approving new nominations. The Minister may declare any approved nomination as a site, and is not bound to declare one of the three shortlisted sites.

Given the above assurances in the explanatory memorandum, the Barngarla people are supportive of the amendments and are confident the revised bill provides the legal recourse they need to ensure their voices are heard in the event that Napandee is ultimately declared to be the site. That is why Labor is supporting the amendments. I know there have been a lot of things said, particularly by the Greens today, about the rights of traditional owners and Labor's position on this bill, but we are actually following the request of the traditional owners in this respect.

The Adnyamathanha native title holders, who are the traditional owners of the Flinders Ranges, have rightly expressed alarm at the inclusion of the Wallerberdina site in the proposed amendments to the government's bill. The ATLA, alongside the Wallerberdina community, have vehemently rejected this proposal. I note that after the ballot was lost in 2019—the community ballot, that is—Minister Canavan stated:

While the community ballot was just one of many measures I am considering, I have said that achieving at least a majority level of support was a necessary condition to achieving broad community support …

This ballot does not demonstrate a sufficient level of support and I will no longer consider this site an option for the facility.

Listing the Wallerberdina station site recognises the short-listing stage of the site selection process only. It is not intended to signal a change in the government's assessment of that site. Labor wouldn't support legislation that forced this facility on a community that doesn't want it. Labor has consulted with the Adnyamathanha and their legal representatives, who are comfortable with Labor's support of the bill, providing the government confirms it will not impose the facility on Wallerberdina. Labor expressed this to the government, who have assured Labor that this legislation does not do this. Labor therefore called on the government to assure the ATLA of this fact on the record in the Senate, and we welcome this statement by the minister in her summing-up speech.

Again, Labor's position is very clear, and we have consulted with traditional owners for two different sites. We welcome the shift in the government's position, and that's why we have decided to support this legislation and why we're supporting these amendments.