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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Second Session (51-2)
2008-02-14 Daily Xml
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RADIOACTIVE WASTE

Ms CHAPMAN (Bragg—Deputy Leader of the Opposition) (14:59): My question again is to the Minister for Health. Is radioactive waste still being stored in the basement of the Royal Adelaide Hospital and, if so, when is it to be moved to the government's proposed store and repository?

On 30 May 2007, the minister told us about the centralised radioactive store that the EPA was establishing to accommodate the radioactive waste stored at the RAH and, in fact, at a number of other sites around Adelaide. Then, on 26 July 2007, I asked the minister whether the radioactive waste was still at the Royal Adelaide Hospital, and I asked him for an update on the status of the new centralised store, to which, on 13 November 2007, he responded as follows:

The government has made a commitment to establish a store and repository for South Australia's radioactive waste. It is currently considering the roles of government agencies in conducting the implementation project.

The Hon. J.D. HILL (Kaurna—Minister for Health, Minister for the Southern Suburbs, Minister Assisting the Premier in the Arts) (15:01): I find it strange when members of parliament ask questions to which they already have the answers. As the member knows—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. J.D. HILL: I cannot understand a word you are saying.

The Hon. P.F. Conlon: They should do serial interjections.

The Hon. J.D. HILL: Yes, could you do serial interjections? It is hard to hear all of you at once. I am sorry that I have stimulated all of you. It is a bit like throwing a handful of grain into a chook yard; they all kind of get excited at once.

Members of this house know what the situation is, because when I was minister for environment and conservation I had a report produced which gave very clear information to the public about where all the radioactive waste is stored in Adelaide, and I tabled that in this house. The advice from that report was that waste is generally stored in good order and was looked after in an appropriate way. Some recommendations were made in that report about how improvements, particularly in the private sector, could be made, and no doubt that has been supervised by the EPA. We also said that, as a government, we would look after our own waste and would work to achieving that, and that is still the situation.

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