Aboriginal leader Malcolm ‘Tiger’ McKenzie pushing for nuclear waste dump built near his home in the Flinders Ranges
EXCLUSIVE: Aboriginal leader Malcolm McKenzie is pushing for a low-level radioactive waste repository in the Flinders — and he has jobs in mind.
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MALCOLM “Tiger” McKenzie says some locals were surprised when indigenous people came forward to back the construction of a low-level radioactive waste repository in the Flinders Ranges.
“They got a shock when they saw Aboriginal people come and say: ‘We should consider this, as long as it’s safe’,’’ he said.
Mr McKenzie, a 64-year-old Adnyamathanha man, has been appointed co-chair of an economic working group investigating how local people at Barndioota, near Hawker and Quorn, 330km north of Adelaide could benefit if radioactive waste is stored there.
Some local Aboriginal people are strongly opposed to the storage of radioactive waste in the district but Mr McKenzie said the project would create jobs for indigenous people.
“This is modern Australia now, we’ve got to part of it — native title doesn’t apply in this particular area so we can be part of this,’’ he said.
“I think it’s a great thing but some sometimes the conservationists and the greenies get in the way of Aboriginal people advancing in this country.’’
Mr McKenzie, who has previously worked for the mining industry at Olympic Dam, said he believed the risks involved in storing low-level waste could be successfully managed.
He recently visited the Lucas Heights nuclear reactor in Sydney where radioactive waste is stored.
Retired tourism operator Ian Carpenter, who is the working group’s co-chair, also believed the waste dump could be good for the district because of the dozens of jobs that would be created in the construction phase and when the centre was opened.
“If this was dangerous, I wouldn’t be supporting it — I’d be out there fighting against it,’’ he said.
Mr Carpenter, 66, said he had been involved in a successful effort to block the dumping of mining waste in the district during the 1990s.
He dismissed claims that a waste repository would deter tourists from the region, pointing out that radioactive waste was stored in France’s Champagne region and England’s popular Lake District.
“It’s not going to affect tourism — if anything it’s going to attract tourism,’’ he said.
Technical and heritage assessments are being conducted by the Federal Government to determine whether Walleberberdina Station is a suitable location for the waste repository.
Two sites near Kimba are also being considered. Federal Cabinet is expected to authorise a new location next year.
The centre will initially store low. and intermediate-level radioactive waste. currently held at health and scientific facilities around Australia. Intermediate-level waste will eventually be moved to a second purpose-built facility.
