Traditional owners and environmental groups have vowed to continue fighting the federal government’s plan to store radioactive waste at Muckaty Station in the Northern Territory.
The Senate passed legislation on Tuesday that paves the way for medical, research and industrial waste to be stored at the site near Tennant Creek for hundreds of years.
Resources Minister Martin Ferguson says the bill ensures Australia meets its international obligations to properly manage its nuclear waste in a purpose-built dump.
“This waste is currently held at over 100 temporary sites at Australian universities, hospitals, offices and laboratories,” Mr Ferguson said in a statement.
One of the main sites is Lucas Heights in Sydney.
The Australian Greens say that is where it should stay until an independent commission can determine where to store it in the long term.
“If this stuff is safe in Sydney, perhaps it should stay in Sydney,” nuclear spokesman Scott Ludlam said on Tuesday.
“Where’s the case for this stuff to go remote?”
Senator Ludlam said the government’s approach to date had been “predatory”.
Labor was hedging its bets by nailing Muckaty as the only site in contention but also allowing other communities to volunteer their land if that nomination fell over, he said.
“That is based on the flawed premise that if you take some of the most economically disadvantaged communities in the country, you tell them this material is perfectly safe, and you offer them a cheque for $12 million maybe somebody will put their hand up.
“It’s an unbelievable way of dealing with the nation’s inventory of toxic waste.”
Muckaty Station was nominated by the Northern Land Council in 2007. But since then several traditional owners have argued they were not properly consulted and did not give their consent.
That dispute is before the Federal Court.
Traditional owner Lorna Fejo says she remains opposed to the dump despite the passage of the National Radioactive Waste Management Bill 2010.
“It’s our land and we are going to continue fighting for it,” she said in a statement.
“It’s my heritage and no one has the right to take that away from us.”
Mr Ferguson said on Tuesday the government would not proceed with the dump “until this matter is resolved by the court”.
But that is not good enough for the Australian Conservation Foundation’s Dave Sweeney.
“While the judge and jury are literally out, the government should not be in,” he told reporters in Canberra.
“This is an absolute fast-tracking of an extremely bad plan. It’s inappropriate and improper.”
The Greens did have one minor victory on Tuesday when they secured support for a change to the legislation that bans the storage of international waste at Muckaty.
The coalition also successfully moved an amendment that requires states and territories to pay a so-called capital contribution fee if they wish to store waste at the dump.
But Senator Ludlam believes that will never happen because the legal challenge, combined with a community campaign, will result in Muckaty falling over.
“This is the beginning of the campaign to stop Muckaty - not the end,” he said.
The National Radioactive Waste Management Bill 2010 now goes back to the lower house for a final tick of approval.
