Date: 14-Jun-2011

UPDATE 12 July:

There is growing community concern towards the proposed dump. Other groups such as the ACTU, Oxfam and leading medical groups and human rights are also speaking out.
 
Despite this, the federal Resources Minister, Martin Ferguson, is advancing plans for the dump.

We now have a new Senate, but bi-partisan support for the legislation remains strong. It’s shaping up as a key time in the campaign.

Now the new phase of the campaign begins and we’re asking for your input. If you have ideas on how to raise awareness and support the Traditional Owners who oppose the dump, we’d love you hear from you. Please send us an email with any ideas you have – big or small.

Our message remains the same: the Federal Government must dump the dump.

Campaign background

In June last year we launched a campaign to stop the proposed federal radioactive waste dump at Muckaty Station near Tennant Creek in the Northern Territory. We asked Australians to chip in a few dollars and ensure the issue is not out of sight and out of mind.

Late in 2010 the heavy handed National Radioactive Waste Management laws that would be used to advance the Muckaty dump were referred to a House of Representatives Inquiry. Sadly this Inquiry was a short-lived rubber stamp that had no public input.

The proposed law removes appeal rights and procedural fairness from the Muckaty community, suspends key Indigenous and environmental protections and overrides all Commonwealth, state and territory laws that might delay or affect the planned waste dump.

It is crucial to get the policy architecture for the long-term management of Australia’s radioactive waste right and this legislation gets it badly wrong.

The current approach has alienated local communities, Indigenous landowners, civil society groups and state and territory governments. Instead of back room political deals and secretive processes we need a responsible, informed and transparent approach to radioactive waste management in Australia.

Campaign achievements:

• You funded the design the display of a billboard in an influential location in Melbourne;
• You funded the design and placement of ads in prominent, local Melbourne newspapers;
• You funded the cost of bringing the Traditional Owners to Melbourne to voice their concerns;
• You helped delay the reintroduction of this flawed and heavy handed legislation;
• You gathered the signatures of 2700 concerned Australians petitioning against the radioactive waste dump at Muckaty;
• You showed Traditional Owners and the wider NT community that they are not alone in this struggle; and
• We’ve stood alongside the Traditional Owners in Muckaty, Melbourne and Canberra to amplify their concerns.

This is no small feat.

Above are some photos of local members and our nuclear-free campaigner, Dave Sweeney, handing over the 2700 signatures on the ‘Dump the Dump’ petition to Minister Ferguson’s office.

Here is the billboard we put up:



Back row: L-R Mark Lane, Gladys Brown, Josephine Brown, Rebecca Stokes, Jasmine Brown.
Front row: L-R Robert Sambo, Dianne Stokes, Vivien Brown, Jeannie Sambo.

Petition handover photos courtesy of Dominic O’Brien
Biilboard image credit: Tennant and District Times

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