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

I rise to speak about the AUKUS submarine deal. This government is in way over its head with this deal. Not only is it spending hundreds of billions on submarines, instead of investing in our communities, but also it is leaving us, as a country, to deal with high-level radioactive waste which needs to be safely stored for tens to hundreds of thousands of years. Nobody knows how to deal with radioactive waste for that amount of time or how to communicate with future generations in thousands of years to explain the dangerous inheritance they will have received—from you. These nuclear submarines are putting our waters, countries and communities at risk.

First Nations people in this country have passed down knowledge for thousands of years that this is poison. Uranium needs to stay in the ground, as it creates sickness and death. We should not go anywhere near these nuclear submarines. (Time expired)