Jon Lamb & Kathy Newnam, Darwin
The likely passing of the federal government's Radioactive Waste Bill has not dampened the fighting spirit of Darwin's No Waste Alliance. Green Left Weekly spoke to four members of the campaign group, Justin Tutty, Gary Scott, Emma King and Strider, all long-time environmental and social justice activists.
According to Tutty, the campaign continues to have the public strongly on side. Scott, also a campaigner with the Environment Centre of the Northern Territory (ECNT), pointed out that this has been reflected in the large number of submissions to the Senate inquiry into the nuclear waste dump, as well as the 10,000 signatures collected on the anti-dump petition. He told GLW, "The feedback that people in the No Waste Alliance have been getting at stalls in communities is that we're a very popular campaign".
King pointed to the thriving anti-dump campaign groups in Darwin, Katherine and Alice Springs as further evidence of strong public opposition to the dump. There are a range of reasons for this opposition, she said, including that "some people don't like radioactive waste, other people have more of a slant toward the rights of the NT", which are being overridden by the federal government.
Scott said that another factor is "being lied to by the Commonwealth and the general lack of trust in politicians".
According to King, there is a lot of skepticism about the government's claim that the waste dump is only for low-level nuclear waste. Tutty said the campaign has been quick to refute this lie, adding that the government is "just way too confident" on this question; people "have no reason to have faith in those assertions".
He noted that when federal science minister Brendan Nelson first announced the dump, "he was just talking about low-level waste". This misinformation has continued with the government's "regulatory" body, the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO), issuing contradictory reports about the degree of radioactivity of the waste destined for the dump.
Scott pointed out that ANSTO says "the spent fuel rods [from the Lucas Heights reactor] are not high-level waste because they are not classified as waste when they leave Sydney as they are going for reprocessing. The heat is taken out of them, so therefore they are intermediate-level rather than high-level waste. But it's still highly radioactive waste no matter how you look at it."
Scott recounted how one ANSTO spokesperson said the radioactivity would last tens of thousands of years, whereas another claimed it would last roughly 2000 years. "There's a lot of misinformation about the actual radioactivity of the waste, which needs to be debunked", he said.
"The other obvious thing to ask is why they want this new reactor at Lucas Heights", added Strider. "There's never been a formal rationale advanced for it. We've had this spurious business about medical isotopes."
Strider suggested that the government should be asked directly whether the Lucas Heights reactor is needed so "they can keep their options open for a weapons program. I think we're entitled to an answer to that one." He also echoed the thoughts of many opponents of the waste dump: "If it's so safe why don't they have it at Lucas Heights or keep it in Sydney?"
"People simply don't believe the government when it says it's about low-level waste", Strider said. "There's very widespread suspicion that it's the thin edge of the wedge, and recent events [former Labor PM Bob Hawke's statements in favour of Australia accepting international nuclear waste] seem to confirm that."
King believes the campaign is "opening people's awareness to the implications of the nuclear chain [because] the waste is the end of the chain". She said: "People are starting to see ... if we don't want a waste dump then we shouldn't be exporting uranium, we shouldn't be looking at developing more reactors, we definitely shouldn't be looking at developing nuclear power in Australia."
Scott pointed out that the campaign is also tied to the fight for Indigenous rights, noting the strong opposition to the waste dump from traditional owners in Central Australia.
According to Strider, the possibility of new uranium mines is of greater concern in some areas of the NT. Compass Resources' plan to mine oxide and cobalt deposits near Batchelor, 100 kilometres south of Darwin is one example — uranium is closely associated with cobalt. Strider said, "You get close to Batchelor and people are very interested in that aspect of it. They don't want to see a resumption of uranium mining." He also noted the growing public awareness of the government's efforts to "wash it green" by peddling the myth of nuclear power as a solution to the greenhouse effect.
Commenting on the next steps in the anti-dump campaign, Scott said the ECNT is urging the NT government to "maintain its opposition to the waste dump" and make "strong statements that it will carry on the campaign". The ECNT is calling on the NT government to "not cooperate with the Commonwealth in providing information for the site selection process".
The ECNT also believes "there is still scope for the NT government to mount a High Court challenge".
King added that the campaign should continue "building community support", arguing that this support will need to be national and international so that concerted community opposition will "bolster any territory government opposition, but also can move outside that if the NT government backs off, which they've indicated they may be doing".
Scott said the company that wins the tender to do the site selection work will soon be doing on-the-ground assessments, and the campaign "should be putting pressure on that company, finding out who they are, what their track record is, monitoring their activities and perhaps even on occasion interrupting their work — to offer them a long, cold drink and the opportunity to take the rest of the day off".
For more information, visit <http://www.no-waste.org>.
From Green Left Weekly, December 7, 2005.
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