Slade Brockman (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I'm not going to address the nonsense that we've just heard from Senator Hanson-Young. It really does reveal why this country has spent 40 years discussing this issue, something that has proved to be terribly intractable. That contribution from the Greens has just revealed why, when you sink to the base politics of these issues, they do become difficult. You need to discuss the science. You need to work with communities. You need to consider the best interests of the Australian people and the need, particularly, to dispose of medical radioactive waste. That is what this very long and extensive scientific community-oriented process has done.

I want to be positive about this. I want to pay tribute to Mr Rowan Ramsey, the member for Grey in the other place, who happens to be in the gallery today. Mr Ramsey has been a staunch advocate of this process, of the community in his electorate that bravely put their hand up to be part of this process in the face of this extraordinary negativity from other places. It is extraordinarily brave, both what you have done, Rowan, and what the Kimba community has done in the face of opposition from those who don't want to engage and don't want to be productive in this area. I'll pay tribute to those opposite. It's good to see that we have support across the chamber for this proposal. It's an extraordinarily positive step forward that we can finally move this process forward. This is an absolutely vital piece of national infrastructure. It plays an absolutely crucial role in the nuclear medicine industry and in our capacity to drive innovation in this area into the future.

I don't want to speak too long on this bill, but I do want to note that I was chair of the Senate Economics Legislation Committee, which held an inquiry into this bill. It was an opportunity to look at these issues in detail—