Federal Budget 2020: $103m to build radioactive waste facility in SA
The construction of a National Radioactive Waste Management Facility in South Australia and a ban on the export of Australian waste are top of green initiatives in this year’s Budget.
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Australia is going to get a lot better at managing its own waste, whether that be paper, plastic or piles of radioactive goop, after a massive funding boost of nearly $350 million.
Nearly a quarter of a billion dollars has been earmarked for waste management, with Treasurer Josh Frydenberg announcing Australia was banning the export of several categories of waste, including plastic, paper, tyres and glass.
Turbo-charging the nation’s recycling capacity would stop more than 600,000 tonnes of waste ending up in landfill and help create 10,000 jobs, the Treasurer said his Budget speech.
The government has also allocated $103 million to build a National Radioactive Waste Management Facility at Napandee, near Kimba, in South Australia.
The enabling legislation for the facility — to be administered by a New Australian Radioactive Waste Agency, based in Adelaide — was passed by the House of Representatives in June and is set to be debated in the Senate imminently.
While the words “climate change” do not occur frequently in the Budget papers, a number of other environmental initiatives have received funding, including $47.4 million over four years for ocean health initiatives, including $28.3 million for marine parks and $14.8 million for the removal of discarded fishing nets from northern waters.
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So-called “green tape” is also in the government’s sights, with $36.6 million set aside for the streamlining of assessments made under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act, including $10.6 million set aside to progress negotiations with the states to reduce duplication in approvals.
Uluru, Kakadu, Christmas Island and Booderee National Parks will receive $233 million in upgrades — an amount that Mr Frydenberg said was “the biggest single investment in Australia’s Commonwealth National Parks”.
A total of $155.6 million over four years has been allocated for farmers and communities still struggling with the effects of the drought, while $270 million will go to improve the health of the Murray Darling Basin. An additional $2 billion will be made available in concessional loans to drought-affected farmers.
Money has been allocated for a number of environmental projects, including $20 million for shellfish and oyster reefs, and $12.5 million for a pilot project in Victoria to demonstrate the feasibility of a hydrogen energy supply chain.
Under the project, brown coal will be used to produce liquid hydrogen for use in Japan.
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Originally published as Federal Budget 2020: $103m to build radioactive waste facility in SA