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Legislative Council - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
2016-02-24 Daily Xml
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Nuclear Fuel Cycle Royal Commission

The Hon. M.C. PARNELL (15:01): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking a question of the Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation about sustainable development and intergenerational equity.

Leave granted.

The Hon. M.C. PARNELL: Sustainable development was defined by the Brundtland Commission's report, Our Common Future, back in 1987 as 'development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs'.

A central theme of sustainable development is the integration of economic, social and environmental concerns, as well as the ethical principles of equity, particularly intergenerational equity. The idea behind not reducing the ability of future generations to meet their needs is that, although future generations might gain from economic progress, those gains might be outweighed by environmental damage.

Most people accept that decision-makers have a moral obligation to consider future generations in their decisions, particularly as people who are not yet born have no say in decisions taken today that may affect them. This is especially important for decisions that are irreversible and are known will be a burden for future generations to deal with. My questions are:

1. Can the minister advise whether the government is committed to incorporating the principles of sustainable development into its decision-making?

2. Given that any decision to accept the world's high-level radioactive waste will, according to the royal commission's interim findings, require 'isolation from the environment for many hundreds of thousands of years', does the government accept that this will be a burden for future generations of South Australians who are yet to be born and will the government ensure that the costs imposed on these future generations will be factored into the government's decision-making on this issue?

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER (Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation, Minister for Water and the River Murray, Minister for Climate Change) (15:03): I thank the honourable member for his very important question. Of course, sustainable development is a very important policy principle which the government intends to adhere to. However, in terms of trying to draw me into a discussion about some of the findings of the nuclear fuel cycle, I would say to the honourable member, 'Good try.'

Let me just say that the tentative findings that we have seen are an interim step in the Nuclear Fuel Cycle Royal Commission's process before the completion of the final report in May 2016. The commission was established, of course, to create public discussion and it has done so. It enables the choices before us to be interrogated from a range of perspectives.

Rather than give my particular position right now or pontificate on the interim findings, I think the best position I can adopt, and the one that I encourage all members to adopt, is to await the final report. If they have considerations they wish to raise and activate with the royal commission, then they should do so, and once the final report comes out the government will consider its position.

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