Greens candidate for Batman Alex Bhathal today announced the establishment of a petition for Batman residents who are concerned about the plans of the current member for Batman and Minister for Energy and Resources, Martin Ferguson, to establish a nuclear waste dump on Aboriginal land in the Northern Territory.
Ms Bhathal said, "Mr Ferguson’s targeted site, at Muckaty Station, 120 kilometres north of Tennant Creek, is located on a fault-line and experiences frequent earthquakes".
"Many traditional owners of the site are opposed to Ferguson’s proposal. They have been trying to meet with Mr Ferguson for 18 months, but he has refused their requests to meet".
Mr Ferguson's National Radioactive Waste Management laws allow him to override Aboriginal heritage laws, environmental protection laws, and all state/territory laws in order to impose the nuclear waste dump. The proposed dump has been deemed unnecessary by a range of organisations including the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation, the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency , the Australian Nuclear Association, and Mr Ferguson’s own Department of Energy and Resources, all of which state that the waste can remain indefinitely at the Lucas Heights nuclear facility.
"The Government's claim that most of the waste to be sent to the NT is a by-product of nuclear medicine is false. The Medical Association for Prevention of War states that the nuclear dump is totally unnecessary and notes that the government has been 'peddling a lie' by claiming that the nuclear dump would in any way facilitate the practice of nuclear medicine".
Nuclear waste poses the gravest threat to human and other life and has a half life of 240,000 years.
Ms Bhathal said "many residents from Ferguson's electorate of Batman have fundamental disagreements with what our local member is doing and we believe he should be accountable to those he represents".