Federal Industry Minister Matt Canavan says Australia can’t have a serious debate about nuclear energy until a radioactive waste dump is built

AUSTRALIA can’t have a mature debate about nuclear energy until a permanent home is built for low-level radioactive waste, federal Industry Minister Matt Canavan has declared.

• $31 million in incentives for SA community that hosts dump
• Barngarla People seeking Supreme Court injunction to halt vote

AUSTRALIA can’t have a mature debate about nuclear energy until a permanent home is built for low-level radioactive waste, federal Industry Minister Matt Canavan has declared.

Senator Canavan made the comments after lawyers for the Barngarla Determination Aboriginal Corporation launched legal action to try to prevent a community vote on radioactive waste going ahead in the Kimba district next week.

Kimba and Hawker district residents are scheduled to vote on whether they’d be willing to accept a low-level radioactive waste facility in their local areas.

A hearing on the Barngarla application to stop the Kimba vote will be heard in the Supreme Court today.

The Barngarla group argues that members who are native title holders in the Kimba District but don’t live there should be permitted to vote on the waste dump proposal.

Senator Canavan said the Barngarla people were entitled to take their concerns to court.

He said discussion about the establishment of a nuclear power industry in Australia wouldn’t get off the ground unless the nation found a way to manage low-level radioactive waste, including by-products of the Lucas Heights nuclear reactor in Sydney.

“If we can’t find a long-term repository for our low-level waste – which we produce from a reactor that produces nuclear medicines, not power – we have no hope of building a nuclear power station that would produce high-level waste,’’ Senator Canavan said.

“We are supporters of an open and mature debate around this issue but we recognise that any move to nuclear power in this country would take years and require bipartisan support, those are things that we don’t have now.’’

Two sites near Kimba and one near Hawker have been short-listed as possible locations for a radioactive waste storage facility. The community votes are being held before the Government proceeds with selecting a preferred site.

Kimba Mayor Dean Johnson said he was unable to comment on the Barngarla application because the matter was before the courts.