Proposed nuclear waste dump

Greens dig in to fight nuclear waste dump

Media Release | Spokesperson Scott Ludlam
Thursday 16th June 2011, 1:05pm
in

The Greens will place the Government's plan for a nuclear waste dump under the microscope again today as debate resumes on Labor's attempt to pass the scheme through the Senate.


The Greens spokesperson for nuclear issues, Senator for Western Australia Scott Ludlam, said his party would do everything it could to stop the Government's plan to force the dump on an unwilling community, whether at Muckaty Station in the Northern Territory or anywhere else.


"The Government is trying to pre-empt the outcome of a Federal Court challenge to the Muckaty nomination," Senator Ludlam said. "This bill places total discretion in the hands of Minister Martin Ferguson to site this dump and run roughshod over a number of checks and balances, including basic environmental standards.

National Radioactive Waste Dump Bill

Speech | Spokesperson Scott Ludlam
Tuesday 14th June 2011, 7:32pm
in

Senator LUDLAM (Western Australia) (13:45): This debate has been a long time coming. How long, exactly, depends on how you set your clock. Perhaps it began more than a year ago when this bill was introduced into the parliament, last February, or perhaps in late 2005 when the Howard government used its numbers to ram the original version of this bill through the Senate in order to target three sites in the Northern Territory. Perhaps it started in late 2006 when the Howard government came back to the parliament and forced through an amendment bill that explicitly paved the way for a single nomination at a cattle station called Muckaty, 120 kilometres north of Tennant Creek. Perhaps it really began on 26 January 1958 when the nuclear research facility that generated the waste we are discussing today first went critical, under the prime ministership of Robert Menzies, during the darkest years of the Cold War.

National Radioactive Waste Management Bill 2010

Speech | Spokesperson Rachel Siewert
Tuesday 14th June 2011, 3:11pm
in

Senator SIEWERT (Western Australia—Australian Greens Whip) (12:54):  I rise to make remarks on the National Radioactive Waste Management Bill 2010 and particularly the extent to which it targets the Aboriginal community and Aboriginal land. I would also like to note that I know there are people keenly listening to this debate, both in the gallery and back in many communities.

Northern Land Council

Estimates Transcripts | Spokesperson Scott Ludlam
Wednesday 8th June 2011, 12:47am
in

Community Affairs Friday 3 June 2011


CHAIR: We have a number of senators who wish to ask questions. Do any of you have an opening statement you want to make before we go into questions?

Mr Hill: No. I would just apologise-

CHAIR: That is okay. You cannot control the planes. I wish some of us could.

Dept. of Resources and Energy on uranium mining & radioactive waste dump

Estimates Transcripts | Spokesperson Scott Ludlam
Monday 6th June 2011, 11:31am
in

Economics Committee - 31 May 2011


Senator LUDLAM: Yes. I might stay on the subject that I was on. It is mainly around the Rum Jungle Mine. I understand that we are still spending about $1.2 million this year and $2.4 million next year on the Rum Jungle remediation up in the Alligator Rivers Region of the Northern Territory. Can you update the committee on the work that taxpayers are still funding to remediate a small mine 40 years after it closed?

Rum Jungle’s toxic legacy: a multi-million dollar warning

Media Release | Spokesperson Scott Ludlam
Tuesday 31st May 2011, 12:19pm
in

Seven million dollars of taxpayers' money will be spent on finding a way to clean up Rum Jungle uranium mine 40 years after its closure, the Australian Greens revealed in Senate Estimates hearings today.


Senator Scott Ludlam said the $7million would be spent over four years just to determine how to deal with the defunct uranium mine's toxic legacy.


"The government can't tell us yet what the final cost will be. The multi-million dollar publicly-funded assessment is just the beginning. Forty years after this mine closed, it continues to be an environmental graveyard for the Northern Territory. How many decades and how many millions of dollars will it take to clean up Ranger mine, or Olympic Dam?"

25 years on: lessons of Chernobyl still ignored by supporters of nuclear power

Media Release | Spokesperson Scott Ludlam
Tuesday 26th April 2011, 2:08pm
in

PERTH RALLY: 2:30 - 4:30pm WST Tuesday April 26, 2011 - Forest Place Perth

On the 25th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, the Australian Greens have renewed demands for a phase-out of uranium mining and nuclear power.

Greens nuclear affairs spokesperson, Senator for Western Australia Scott Ludlam, said the Chernobyl catastrophe was classified as a level 7 event on the International Nuclear Event Scale - the same classification given to the Fukushima nuclear disaster now unfolding in Japan.

"Communities around the world are today remembering the terrible consequences of the Chernobyl meltdown, which spread radioactive fallout around the northern hemisphere and forced the evacuation of 350,000 people," Senator Scott Ludlam said.

"There is a dark irony in the fact that even as we pause to remember Chernobyl, the nuclear industry is in the midst of another disaster in Japan."

"Nuclear power advocates need to ask themselves if they really believe this will be the last time this happens, or if they too have grave fears about the 436 obsolete and uninsurable nuclear power stations dotted around the world."

"Today I join with civil society groups and governments around the world with grave concerns to demand an end to this toxic and unnecessary industry."


Media Contact: Giovanni Torre - 0417 174 302

 

 

Greens fight to give Northern Territory say in nuclear waste dump plan

Media Release | Spokesperson Scott Ludlam
Thursday 3rd March 2011, 3:51pm
in

The Australian Greens will move an amendment to the national radioactive waste dump legislation, seeking consent from the Northern Territory Assembly before moving to dump radioactive waste in the Territory.


"The proposal to dump radioactive waste highlights the fact that the Northern Territory does not have the same rights to determine its own affairs as the states," Australian Greens Senator Scott Ludlam said.

Question on Radioactive Waste

Question | Spokesperson Scott Ludlam
Wednesday 2nd March 2011, 8:57am
in

Senator LUDLAM (2.31 pm)-My question is to the Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research, Senator Carr, in his role representing the Minister for Resources, Energy and Tourism. It relates to the government's proposal to dump radioactive waste at Muckaty Station, close to Tennant Creek.

Taking note of answers to questions on notice about nuclear waste

Speech | Spokesperson Scott Ludlam
Wednesday 2nd March 2011, 8:50am
in

That the Senate take note of the answer given by the Minister representing the Minister for Resources and Energy (Senator Sherry) to questions without notice asked today.

I put three questions to Senator Carr, who has held the portfolio of Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research since the 2007 election, and was referred, or fobbed off should I say, to Senator Sherry. The first question I put, regarding the establishment of a radioactive waste facility at Muckaty Station in the Northern Territory, related to recommendation 1 of the inquiry of the Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Committee into the provisions of the National Radioactive Waste Management Bill 2010, which I believe will shortly be before the Senate.