WA Greens Nuclear spokesperson Robin Chapple MLC said Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull was rubbing salt into old wounds after comments this week about possibility of storing nuclear waste in Australia.
“In 1999, Pangea Resources identified land near Cosmo Newbury as the only suitable place in Australia to store long-lived nuclear waste; By making these comments it’s reasonable to assume the Prime Minister is once again putting WA in the firing line,” Mr Chapple said.
“The management structure of Pangea still exists in a corporation called Arius and under the leadership of Charles McCombie* they have continued to target WA as a location for an international nuclear waste dump.
“I would be very interested to know if there have been any discussions between the Arius group with either Mr Turnbull or Dr Alan Finkel on the possibility of reigniting this proposal.
“I would not be surprised considering Arius made a submission in July this year to the South Australian Nuclear Fuel Cycle Royal Commission, where the notion of dumping waste in WA was floated once more.
“This is a dangerous and unnecessary industry, desperate to hide its festering waste out of sight and out of mind here.
“Both the Liberal and National parties in WA have also thrown support behind the idea over the years with now Premier Colin Barnett, a strong supporter of Uranium mining, commenting in 1999 that countries who export uranium have an obligation to dispose of that waste.
“And former National Party Leader, Brendon Grylls, calling for nuclear storage in WA to be a part of the uranium mining debate in 2008.
“I said it then, and I will say again now; the notion of storing international nuclear waste in remote WA is an affront to the traditional owner’s and cultural significance of that land that will leave us with a nuclear legacy and problem for a long, long time.”
Environment Minister Albert Jacob’s overnight approval of the Kintyre Uranium mine proposal was wrong on every level and should be immediately rescinded, according to WA Greens Uranium Spokesperson Robin Chapple MLC.
Mr Chapple said it was an inappropriate given the Office of Regional Indigenous Corporations (ORIC) was still investigating allegations of corruption into the Western Desert Lands Aboriginal Corporation’s (WDLAC).
“The Minister should not have made any decision until the position of the Martu people, with regards to a Uranium mine on their lands, had been absolutely clarified,” he said.
“Instead what Mr Jacob has done is slip this through quietly overnight with complete disregard for the investigation, or the mountain of appeals he has received in opposition.”
Mr Chapple said aside from potential legal ramifications the Kintyre proposal was a major environmental threat to the region’s unique desert environment and lacked the bipartisan political or broader public support necessary to validate its approval.
“This is yet another example of our government’s throwing its weight behind a rapidly ageing industry that will lock WA into an unsustainable future,” he said.
“This proposal will directly threaten the Karlamilyi National Park, the Karlamilyi River water catchment and the many threatened native flora and fauna species that inhabit this unique desert environment.
“To top it off the minister has recommended there should be no rehabilitation bonds, a move that could see liability for the clean-up of this mine fall on the taxpayer and not the company behind the proposal.
“Cameco have an appalling environmental record and are soon to face court in the USA and Canada over allegations of tax avoidance, yet we want to trust them to mine this dangerous mineral in such a fragile part of our state.”
Mr Chapple said issues raised by environmental and Indigenous groups had fallen on deaf ears.
“Appeals submitted on the basis of threats to groundwater, radiological uptake by native flora, the lack of baseline studies and commitments to monitoring in key areas have been dismissed,” he said.
“If this proposal ever wants to see the light of day it needs to be taken right back to step one and properly assessed.”
For comment please contact Robin Chapple on 0409 379 263 or 9486 8255.
In early March 2015, WA Environment minister Albert Jacob granted Canadian uranium producer Cameco approval to develop the remote Kintyre deposit. The approval occured even though an investigation is still underway regarding the Western Desert Lands Aboriginal Coporation's (WDLAC) operation and a mountain of appeals have been lodged against the development.
