Nuclear Waste

The Hon. M.L.J. HAMILTON-SMITH (Waite—Minister for Investment and Trade, Minister for Small Business, Minister for Defence Industries, Minister for Veterans' Affairs) (15:32): I rise not only as the Minister for Investment and Trade but as the former leader of the state Liberal Party to express my complete astonishment at what I have just heard from the Leader of the Opposition and other members opposite. If I heard correctly, the leader has just declared any prospects of a nuclear waste repository—either low-level, medium level or high-level—to be unachievable, not affordable and a complete waste of time and effort.

A number of leaders in the business community are astonished, as I am, at his position. They have rung me to tell me that. They see this as a bold opportunity for South Australia to at least continue a discussion based on the royal commission's work, with a view to determining whether or not the billions of dollars and tens of thousands of jobs identified by the royal commission could be brought to reality. I have faith in Admiral Scarce and the royal commission. It was an excellent piece of work, and that is exactly what the Leader of the Opposition told FIVEaa radio when interviewer Penberthy said:

So you repudiate in its entirety or overall on balance you repudiate the Scarce Report and think that this should be never, ever on the table for South Australia?

The Leader of the Opposition says:

Well no, we welcomed the Scarce Report, we thought it was an excellent report.

Well, that is not what he said today. He has now condemned the report. He thinks it is unaffordable, unachievable and a complete misadventure. Well, leaders of the business community think he is wrong, leading commentators, both in South Australia and nationally, think he is wrong, most leading academics think he is wrong, and, in fact, I think that a lot of South Australians think that he is wrong.

What I suspect is really driving the opposition leader and opposition on this is simple fear. I remember when I was in that party room in 2003, I think it was, when the excellent federal minister the Hon. Nick Minchin, on behalf of the Howard government, proposed a low-level waste dump for South Australia the Liberal party room bravely, under the leadership then of Rob Kerin and the guidance of shadow minister Iain Evans, supported that venture in this parliament to the letter and to the word.

Of course, a scare campaign was run against the idea of a low-level waste dump, and I think that the Liberal Party has come away from that afraid, scared and unable now to face up to the question. Excuse me, Mr Speaker, if I proclaim that in state politics the world seems to have gone mad because back then in 2003 it was those on this side of the house who were arguing against the dump and it was those on the opposite side of the house, the Liberals, who were arguing for it, and everything has been turned upside down. No wonder the people of Australia and South Australia are scratching their heads and looking for leadership.

I was in Taiwan recently and senior government officials told me that they have 600,000 barrels of low-level waste right now they need to remove from their country, which is half the size of Tasmania and which has 24 million people. They have 5,000 cubic tonnes of high-level waste they want something to do with right now. That just confirms the truth that is in Admiral Scarce's royal commission's report.

There are ideologues on the left who are opposed to this. They are entitled to their point of view. There are now ideologues, it seems, or political opportunists, on the right in the Liberal Party who do not want it because they think they can play political games with it. I am disappointed in them both as an Independent MP, and I wish that both the left and the right could rise above this political nonsense to see that there is an opportunity here and at least see that the conversation needs to continue. I am not convinced yet whether we have something we can construct here, but unless we continue the conversation we will never, ever know.

Where are the jobs going to come from? Where is the new high-tech future going to come from for our children and our grandchildren? If we are not prepared to embrace bold ideas, if we are not prepared to rise above the daily media cycle and challenge South Australians with a brighter future, then why are we here? I find the Leader of the Opposition's lack of leadership on this to be utterly disappointing. It is a lack of judgement, it is a lack of vision and it is a lack of trust he demonstrates having said that he would provide bipartisan support and then removing it. It is deplorable.

Time expired.