Senator Bob Day pushes for immediate removal of nuclear legal barriers

FAMILY First Senator Bob Day is calling for immediate removal of legal barriers to a nuclear industry, as crossbench colleague Nick Xenophon says he is willing to consider an SA dump.

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FAMILY First Senator Bob Day is calling for immediate removal of legal barriers to a nuclear industry, as crossbench colleague Nick Xenophon says he is willing to consider an SA dump.

Release of the Nuclear Fuel Cycle Royal Commission’s interim findings has sparked fierce political debate, with both state and federal parliaments needing to agree to any change.

Premier Jay Weatherill has said both community approval and political agreement are critical for the waste storage proposal to be pursued, and the State Government is yet to take a position.

Federal Labor leader Bill Shorten said there were conditions under which he could consider supporting an SA dump, and he was “interested in economic opportunities for this nation”.

Senator Day told The Advertiser he would take the first available opportunity to force a vote on removing federal bans to nuclear expansion, and called on the Coalition to act fast.

“SA is a global superpower on uranium deposits,” he said.

“We have God-given resources, we should be processing and using them for our future.

“I moved to get rid of the federal bans on advanced nuclear installations, and I will move to do it again at the first opportunity. “Our children and grandchildren need to see that our generation looked to a future and economic stability for our state, not heads buried in the sand.”

Senator Xenophon could become a key figure in the debate, as an influential federal crossbencher and leader of a party that’s expected to pick up seats at this year’s election.

“I’m open minded, but we shouldn’t be blinded by the potential bonanza,” he said.

“We don’t want to been seen as a state of just one thing, a nuclear waste repository. There needs to be a package of measures.

“We don’t want to put all our eggs in the nuclear waste basket.”

Senator Xenophon said population growth and international students were big opportunities.

The Royal Commission predicts a nuclear waste storage facility in SA is at least a decade away.

Speaking in Adelaide yesterday, Mr Shorten said he would consider its final report.

“I am interested in economic opportunities for this nation,” he said. “It’s been a good first step to cast proper light in a sensible debate on something which has been in the too hard basket.

“We have to make sure that the numbers stack up, we’ve got to make sure that the environmental safeguards stack up, and that the community supports it. “We need to have a sensible analysis, not inflamed tabloid headlines, and just work through the issues.”

Federal Resources Minister Josh Frydenberg said the plan was a “huge economic opportunity”.

“There’s a lot of myths around the storage of wastes and they do need to be dispelled,” he said.

But he said a strong community consensus would need to be developed before SA embarked on plans to develop a storage facility for high-level waste.

“If the South Australian people and the South Australian government want to go down the path of bringing in high-level waste, it would be a brave federal government that stood in its way,’’ he told the National Press Club.

He praised Premier Jay Weatherill for establishing the nuclear fuel cycle royal commission.

“You have seen and you will continue to see a change in the public’s mindset,’’ Mr Frydenberg said.

“Now, it takes courage from political leaders and that’s why it was very important for Jay Weatherill to do what he did. Certainly at the federal level we’re not going to get in the way of a state government that is trying to build that community consensus.’’

SA Greens MP Mark Parnell said the findings came as no surprise and were based on “dubious economics, heroic assumptions and a big dose of guess work”.

Greens ready to mobilise

WIDESPREAD protests are planned by environmental groups to fight any proposed nuclear waste dump in SA.

Meetings in regional South Australia to mobilise support against the dump have already been organised as early as this week, and pamphlets printed before the release of the commission’s findings are being distributed to the public.

The Greens have already begun the political campaign against any dump, and Friends of the Earth were promising protests ranging from possible waste landing sites at Port Adelaide to countries exporting the waste for storage here.

SA traditional owners were planning protests at any potential waste dump sites.

Friends of the Earth nuclear campaigner Jim Green said strategies similar to those used to fight the Howard government’s proposal to dump nuclear waste in Australia a decade ago would be employed to fight any future dump in SA.

Kevin Buzzacott, Arabunna elder and president of the Australian Nuclear Free Alliance, said protests would be organised for any proposed sites.