Grievance Debate

Nuclear Waste

Mr MARSHALL (Dunstan—Leader of the Opposition) (15:15): I rise to place on the record the Liberal Party's position regarding South Australia's further participation in the nuclear industry. The Liberal Party has been directly and constructively engaging in consideration of this matter for the past two years. We have carefully considered the royal commission report. We have taken note of the outcomes of the community consultation. We have actively participated in the parliamentary committee process.

Like the Premier, I have visited Finland for an appraisal of what this could mean for South Australia. My shadow treasurer, the Hon. Rob Lucas, has also visited Europe and the United States to consider, in particular, financial and economic issues. It has been the Premier's position for a long time that by now we should be able to determine what happens next. My party has done that and we are united in our position, unlike this Labor government. We have looked at the opportunities and we have looked at the risks. We believe the risk of unacceptable cost to taxpayers is great when they will be incurred upfront without any guarantee of ever securing an international waste repository for South Australia.

Before going more into that, it is useful to reflect that South Australia's participation in the industry is not new. It began in an active way immediately after the Second World War 70 years ago, strongly encouraged by Liberal premier, Sir Thomas Playford. An extensive exploration program in South Australia led to the opening of the Radium Hill mine in 1954, which continued in operation for seven years until a significant fall in uranium prices forced its closure.

Following a revival in international commitments to nuclear power programs in the 1970s, a further round of exploration in South Australia led to the discovery of the Olympic Dam mine. It was again a Liberal government which secured its development, despite the strong opposition of the Labor Party. The Labor Party believed community opinion was on its side. The Liberal Party decided otherwise, and was proved correct by the strong public support the Olympic Dam mine continues to receive to this very day.

Throughout South Australia's involvement in the nuclear industry, the Liberal Party has been consistent in pursuing opportunities that are realistic and supported by the community. The record shows that Liberal governments have been successful in attracting investment in the nuclear industry which Labor has opposed. However, it is quite clear that the previous attempts of the Labor Party to demonise the nuclear industry continue to influence public opinion today about wider South Australian participation in this industry.

The community consultation which followed the recent royal commission of inquiry has exposed deep community divisions about further participation in the nuclear cycle beyond mining and particularly in relation to high-level radioactive waste that would be imported from other countries to be stored for very, very long periods of time in South Australia. This is hardly surprising given it was only relatively recently that a Labor government, one in which the current Premier was a minister, very actively opposed the location of a low-level radioactive waste repository in South Australia to store Australia's own waste. It is little wonder that the public remains confused and divided. It has been led to this position by the government.

Despite this, and unlike the previous obstructionist and opportunistic approach of the Labor government to these questions, the Liberal Party was prepared to give serious consideration to further participation in the nuclear industry. However, over the past few years, it has become abundantly clear that there is not sufficient public support for a high-level radioactive waste facility to be established in South Australia.

The process of community consultation initiated by the Premier has demonstrated strong opposition to continuing with such consultation with two-thirds of the citizens' jury returning the verdict that the opportunity should not be pursued under any circumstances, and a referendum is not the way to proceed. The Premier has previously said a referendum would close down debate rather than allow it to be developed. He has not even committed to implementing the outcome of any referendum by proposing an ultimate veto for Aboriginal people.

As well as lacking public support for the pursuit of South Australia's involvement in an international, high-level, radioactive waste storage facility, we believe that it will provide completely unacceptable financial risk. The evidence provided to the joint parliamentary committee is that South Australia would have to spend $600 million in further consultation and costs associated with identifying a site for such a facility without any guarantee that such a development would ultimately proceed. Further information that became available to the parliament only yesterday shows that previous advice upon which the government has relied failed to fully explore issues that have significantly serious potential to adversely affect the project and its commercial outcomes such that project profitability could be seriously at risk.

In South Australia's current economic and financial circumstances, the Liberal Party maintains that there are far more important and immediate priorities to pursue than this one. It is the role of government to unite its community around achievable economic goals, not divide the people over something that is not supported, not achievable and not affordable.