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Legislative Council - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
2016-03-08 Daily Xml
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Nuclear Waste

The Hon. M.C. PARNELL (15:18): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking a question of the Leader of the Government, representing the Premier, about nuclear waste.

Leave granted.

The Hon. M.C. PARNELL: Today, Premier Jay Weatherill announced the government's intention to move in parliament this week to repeal section 13 of the Nuclear Waste Storage Facility (Prohibition) Act 2000. This is the clause that prevents public money being used to:

…encourage or finance any activity associated with the construction or operation of a nuclear waste storage facility in this state.

In his media statement yesterday, the Premier said that repealing this section would:

…remove barriers that prevent consultation with the community about the issue. Once the Royal Commission hands down its final report, there will be a period of extensive community engagement on this topic and I expect this will involve us committing public resources to this process…Our legal advice is that the legislation as it currently stands may prevent the government from advancing this conversation with the community—therefore it is important we remove this barrier before we receive the final report.

In recent weeks, the government has already been engaging in public consultation about nuclear waste. For example, last month the Department of the Premier and Cabinet commissioned the market research firm of Colmar Brunton to undertake telephone interviews of random South Australians seeking their views on the nuclear industry in our state.

Questions in the survey included testing support or opposition to the proposition that 'SA should manage, store and dispose of radioactive waste and used nuclear fuel from overseas countries.' The survey also asked participants to rate their overall level of support for the expansion of the nuclear industry in South Australia. My questions to the minister are:

1. If repealing section 13 is a prerequisite for public consultation on the question of a nuclear waste dump in South Australia, has the government already broken this law by spending public funds on this survey? If not, then why is repeal of section 13 necessary?

2. Will the government be actively advocating for or encouraging the construction and operation of a nuclear waste dump in South Australia? If not, why is repeal of section 13 necessary?

3. Will the government release the results of the Colmar Brunton telephone survey?

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Employment, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation, Minister for Manufacturing and Innovation, Minister for Automotive Transformation, Minister for Science and Information Economy) (15:21): I thank the honourable member for his questions and will take those questions on notice and bring back a reply from the Premier in another place.

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