Turnbull: The nuclear debate we’ve already had

Friday, 30 October

WA Greens Nuclear spokesperson Robin Chapple MLC said Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull was rubbing salt into old wounds after comments this week about possibility of storing nuclear waste in Australia.

“In 1999, Pangea Resources identified land near Cosmo Newbury as the only suitable place in Australia to store long-lived nuclear waste; By making these comments it’s reasonable to assume the Prime Minister is once again putting WA in the firing line,” Mr Chapple said.

“The management structure of Pangea still exists in a corporation called Arius and under the leadership of Charles McCombie* they have continued to target WA as a location for an international nuclear waste dump.

“I would be very interested to know if there have been any discussions between the Arius group with either Mr Turnbull or Dr Alan Finkel on the possibility of reigniting this proposal.

“I would not be surprised considering Arius made a submission in July this year to the South Australian Nuclear Fuel Cycle Royal Commission, where the notion of dumping waste in WA was floated once more.

“This is a dangerous and unnecessary industry, desperate to hide its festering waste out of sight and out of mind here.

“Both the Liberal and National parties in WA have also thrown support behind the idea over the years with now Premier Colin Barnett, a strong supporter of Uranium mining, commenting in 1999 that countries who export uranium have an obligation to dispose of that waste.

“And former National Party Leader, Brendon Grylls, calling for nuclear storage in WA to be a part of the uranium mining debate in 2008.

“I said it then, and I will say again now; the notion of storing international nuclear waste in remote WA is an affront to the traditional owner’s and cultural significance of that land that will leave us with a nuclear legacy and problem for a long, long time.”

* Charles McCombie < Charles.McCombie@arius-world.org>
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