No Dump Alliance

The Hon. M.C. PARNELL (15:30): This week I was pleased to attend the launch of the No Dump Alliance of South Australia. This is a new group that has been formed to campaign against ill-conceived plans by both state and federal governments for nuclear waste dumps in South Australia. To quote from the alliance's statement of concern, they say—and I agree:

South Australia is a proud state rich in possibilities, clever people, culture, creativity and breathtaking nature. We believe we can achieve so much more than becoming the dumping ground for the world's radioactive waste. This statement is our response to any proposal to establish a nuclear waste dump in South Australia.

They go through and they expand on the lack of respect for the original first nations peoples of this country. They talk about public and environmental health risks and financial risks. But they also talk about future generations, and they say:

To import international nuclear waste is an irrevocable decision. Once brought to South Australia, the waste would be here forever and remain dangerous for hundreds of thousands of years. We would not be able to change our minds and send the waste back. Our children and countless generations who follow them would have no say in the decision, yet they are the ones who would be left with the responsibility and the cost. We have no right to mortgage their freedom and independence.

I attended a briefing at lunchtime today organised by the Premier's department into the next steps to be taken in the debate over nuclear waste in South Australia. What came out of that process is that the next generations, in fact, will not be eligible to participate in the citizens' jury. They have got an arbitrary cut-off of 18 years of age, yet when you think about it, a large number of the people who do participate will be dead long before any nuclear waste dump is established. So I think it is important, as this debate progresses, that young people are brought within the tent. I would urge the Premier to revise the restriction by allowing at least 16 and 17 year olds to participate in that process.

In terms of the membership of the alliance, there are a number of groups and individuals represented and I want to acknowledge some of them. The ambassador for the No Dump Alliance is Mr Yami Lester, who is a Yankunytjatjara elder, and most people here would know of his story of being caught out in the desert when the British nuclear tests were undertaken. He is now 74 years old, he is blind, and he basically is standing behind future generations and saying that his people want no part of a nuclear waste dump.

Other voices of the alliance include his daughters. Karina Lester is the chairperson of the Yankunytjatjara Native Title Aboriginal Corporation, and his daughter Rose Lester as well. Also Tauto Sansbury, the chairperson of South Australian Aboriginal Congress, has subscribed his name and organisation to this cause. I would also draw the attention of my comrades in the Labor Party to the fact that Jamie Newlyn, South Australian Branch Secretary of the Maritime Union of Australia, has subscribed. He says:

The MUA have a long history of opposing expansion of the nuclear industry including nuclear waste dumps. We fear that the economic assumptions pale in insignificance to the unknown safety & environmental implications of such plans. MUA members work in critical points of the logistics cycle and therefore the safe handling and above ground storage for decades is of great concern to the MUA…

Also in the alliance we have Dr Peter Tait, Public Health Association of Australia Ecology and Environment. We have Emily Munyungka Austin of the Kupa Piti Kungka Tjuta; Dr Margaret Beavis, President of the Medical Association for Prevention of War; and Dr Irene Watson of the Tanganekald Meintangk First Nations, who makes the point:

First Nations may not have the power but we have the authority to say No, and we say NO.

Also, we have Dr Robert Hall, the South Australian coordinator of the Medical Association for Prevention of War. Attending the launch this week was Christobel Mattingley, famous author, who has written a book on the Maralinga story, which is being launched next week. She says:

We have no right to mortgage the health and wellbeing of countless future generations of South Australians.

Members would know that Emeritus Professor Richard Blandy, or Dick Blandy as he is known, has come out against the economic case for the nuclear waste dump. Craig Wilkins, the CE of the Conservation Council of South Australia has subscribed, as has Dan Spencer of the Australian Youth Climate Coalition, and he said, and I will say these words for the second time today:

Our leaders should be leaving young South Australians with a future that is renewable not radioactive.

Kevin Buzzacott, Arabunna Elder, has signed as has Dr Sean Williams, the number 1 New York Times best selling author, who says:

South Australians—indeed Australians, and everyone on the planet—deserve better than a half-arsed plan to sweep nuclear waste out of sight, out of mind. There'll be no forgiving or forgetting a mistake of this magnitude.

Again, directed especially to the comrades of the Labor Party, Adjunct Associate Professor Elizabeth Dabars AM, Secretary of the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation, South Australian Branch, has signed on.

This debate clearly has a long way to go, and South Australians are being given opportunities to express themselves. In fact, they have been expressing themselves for the last year or so and have been ignored for that time. I am looking forward to the future process, and I would urge the government in particular to pay close attention to what people are saying and in particular to seek out the voices of young people for whom these decisions will be their legacy.