Nuclear waste push for Woomera over Kimba ‘fails pub test’, local mayor says
A proposal to build a radioactive waste site at Woomera instead of Kimba is disrespectful and “fails the pub test”, the local mayor has said, after years of planning and consultation.
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A push to swap Kimba for Woomera as the site of a new radioactive waste storage site is disrespectful and “fails the pub test” following years of consultation, the local mayor says.
Kimba Mayor Dean Johnson on Monday told a Senate committee that after much debate, the district was “the best informed community in Australia when it comes to radioactive waste and how it’s handled”.
His comments follow Senator Patrick’s suggestion that the contentious storage facility, planned for farming property Napandee, near Kimba, be built at Woomera instead.
“Our community has engaged and invested in the process for a really long time and to throw it in another location now, like Woomera, is just disrespectful on so many levels,” Mr Johnson said.
“It’s a bad idea that fails the pub test and the common sense test.”
Senator Patrick has said Federal Parliament should be given a choice to build the dump in the remote and highly-secure Woomera Protection area, where low and intermediate level waste has been stored for decades. However, Defence has argued building the facility at Woomera would “not align with Australia’s strategic interests”.
The Senate inquiry is investigating the Federal Government’s decision to build the nuclear waste facility at Napandee, and new legislation to make way for it.
Kimba stands to receive a $31 million funding package under the plans.
Mr Johnson said the facility would deliver a new industry for the Eyre Peninsula town, and help the area “not just survive, but thrive”.
The Barngarla Determination Aboriginal Corporation have opposed the legislation on the basis that it removes the organisation’s right to seek a judicial review of the Government’s decision to go ahead with the site.
Its chairman Jason Bilney asked the committee to consider the impacts of a decision to go ahead as planned, despite traditional landowners objecting.
“What does that say to indigenous people – we’ve won our country but we still don’t have a right to say what we need to about our country? It’s very disrespectful to the community and our elders,” he said.
Kimba Council last year ran a poll on whether locals supported the waste plan, but traditional landowners not living in the area were excluded.
Meantime, No Radioactive Waste on Agricultural Land in Kimba or SA president Peter Woolford said the waste site should be built somewhere it posed no risk to agriculture. “The sad thing that’s been forgotten here is the impact on people – people are thinking about whether they’re going to move out because of their mental health,” he said.
“We’re (also) trying to stand up for people outside of Kimba that have been denied a say.”
The Senate committee will report back by August 31.
michelle.etheridge@news.com.au
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