Lidia Thorpe (Victoria, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I must stand and contribute to the debate on this very important National Radioactive Waste Management Amendment (Site Specification, Community Fund and Other Measures) Bill 2020. Before I continue, I want to pay my respects to the Barngarla and Adnyamathanha elders and say thank you to their people, who are the traditional owners of the lands affected by this bill. Thank you for raising your voice so clearly throughout the campaign against the radioactive waste dump on your country. I hear you. The Greens hear you. And this place must hear you. I know that the voices of community have been sidelined many times in this process and I thank you all for staying strong, staunch and proud.

The Greens oppose this bill and we call on our fellow senators today to oppose this bill. The government has, for many years now, been trying to push a permanent waste dump for low-level radioactive material and a site for long-lived intermediate-level waste on the traditional lands of either the Adnyamathanha or the Barngarla people against their clearly expressed opposition. It is disgraceful. The originally proposed Wallerberdina site in the Flinders Ranges on a sacred women's site has been opposed by the Adnyamathanha community, led by staunch elders determined to protect country and culture. Labor support this, mind you. The community fought a long, exhausting fight to protect their country in December 2018. The then responsible minister, Senator Canavan, ruled out the site for the dump, and the community could finally take a breath again.

The proposed amendment in front of you today paves the way for this sacred site to be again considered for a radioactive waste dump—a sacred site turned into a radioactive waste dump! That's the colonial project right there. The oppressors are at their dirty game again. The proposed amendment paves the way for absolute destruction of country, people and sites that have been there for thousands of generations. You fellas have only rocked up over the last 200 years. My heart is heavy today thinking of the pain this must cause the Adnyamathanha community, how betrayed and disillusioned they must feel. Shame! Time and time again this Liberal government have changed their approach on this important matter because they know it does not have community approval. Again, Labor talk about consultation with blackfellas. They think that that means consent. It's not consent. You can run around saying you consulted with blackfellas anywhere you like, but that does not mean consent.

Now they are backtracking on their promises again. How can we or anyone believe in the word of this government? The amendment, in fact, puts all three short-listed sites back on the table, including the Lyndhurst and Napandee sites, both in Kimba. The Napandee site was one Minister Pitt wanted to specify in the original bill amendment. None of these sites have the consent of the traditional owners. Seriously? You all talk about having mates that are black and you say that you can get advice from them and everything's okay. But I can guarantee you now that none of these traditional owners want their sacred sites desecrated—none of them. That's the part you obviously don't hear, Labor and the government.

Although this Liberal government has always stressed that it won't impose a nuclear waste dump on any community, that is exactly what is happening. They say one thing and stab you in the back the next. It makes me so angry that the so-called community consultation—not consent—via the Kimba community ballot did not even include the Barngarla people, despite their explicit request. This ballot went ahead without including the Barngarla native title holders on the basis that the Barngarla do not pay council rates. Only ratepayers, considered worthy members of the community, were allowed to vote. Does that mean Aboriginal people weren't in that community? What were they considered?

The Barngarla people weren't even contacted as part of this so-called consultation and had to reach out themselves, again and again, to make sure they were heard. If that's not discrimination, then what is? The Barngarla Determination Aboriginal Corporation engaged a private, independent electoral company to conduct its own ballot to determine the Barngarla community's support for the waste facility at Kimba. What happened with that ballot? The vote was a unanimous no. All of those traditional owners got together and said no to the waste dump. Does anyone want to hear that? Or do they want to pretend that they consulted?

This was the result the corporation took to the minister for consideration and inclusion in the process to assess community sentiment. But it would appear that this has not been heeded by the former minister, Minister Canavan, or by Minister Pitt, who is putting forward the bill we have before us today. Is it that you just don't care? How do you feel walking into all of your offices with your big, deadly, thousand-dollar dot paintings? Does it make you feel good? Do you have your hand on your heart while you're stabbing us in the back and digging our graves? How does that feel? Maybe you should think about that next time you look at your dot paintings. You certainly don't care. You're not genuine people, senators or people representing the people. How can anyone say the community is being consulted and considered under these circumstances? This is shameful. It's outrageous, and it's disrespectful to traditional owners not just on that country but everywhere. It just shows your colours, both of you, Labor and Liberal.

Now they are putting before us a bill which proposes three potential sites for the dump. We know where those sites are, and we know how significant those sites are to traditional owners, the people who've been here since time began. Remember: you fellas rocked up only 200 years ago. You've been working out how much you can destroy since you got here. It's take, take, take—all for money and power. This is a sneaky way to avoid further debate about this controversial issue. You're putting forward an amendment that says, 'Oh, the traditional owners can go to court.' What supports do they have to go to court, Labor? Are you going to get dollars out of your pocket or hand over some of your corporate donors' money to support those traditional owners to fight the system in court? You know what the hopes are of that happening. How dare you pretend you support us!

The Liberal government, we know, will just push through with their agenda anyway. I say no. The Barngarla people say no. The Adnyamathanha people say no. I call for all those senators who want to keep their dot paintings to also say no. If you want to stand for an acknowledgement of country in this place, say no. Otherwise, sit down and stop pretending that you're here for the First Peoples of this country, because you're not. You have your own interests in this place, which are to continue the colonial project that has committed genocide and ecocide against the First Peoples of this country. We say no. We say no today and we will say no tomorrow. We'll continue to say no and we'll continue to fight against the destruction of our country, our water and our people.

Radioactive waste is an intergenerational issue. It's not something where you just put it in the bin and walk away, and everything's lovely. It's something that lasts longer than any of you here, in any parliament; it lasts forever. It's something you never take out of the ground. If you know blackfellas and you know our story, you know not to even take that stuff out of the ground in the first place.

We need to change a lot of the ways we do business in our nation and in this place. We need to start with respect for those who have been here the longest and with the deepest understanding that we are inheritors of the past and shapers of the future. This new approach should start today—if you've got any go in you, and if you want to keep your dot paintings up. It should start today, it should be clear and it should be unequivocal rejection of this fundamentally flawed and deeply disrespectful government bill.

Finally, how can the government and Labor—waving their little Aboriginal flag around and saying that they're First Nations friendly—acknowledge the traditional owners' country that you're on when you destroy country, when you support a bill that will destroy sacred women's sites? You up there in the gallery can laugh. That's what I expect from the patriarchy. Colonisation of this country brought the patriarchy: the old whitefellas who are laughing and heckling me in the background. They're the problem with this country. Patriarchy is violence and colonialism is violence. That is what we're dealing with in this bill. Labor, if you want to be friends with us, then you should stand up and vote against this bill as well, because the traditional owners collectively have said no. That's where I'll leave it. We'll continue to fight. And Labor, stand in front of the picket line and fight beside the blackfellas you say you support.