[Note that Mukaty traditional owners have now cliamed victory! See "No nuclear waste dump for Mukaty".]

Almost 10 years ago, in 2005, John Howard’s government announced plans for a radioactive waste dump in the Northern Territory. Without consultation, it publicly nominated three potential sites to house the toxic dump. It rushed through legislation allowing it to ignore local concerns and override Territory laws.

Two years later, the Northern Land Council, a Commonwealth statutory body, selected a section of Muckaty land – 120km north of Tennant Creek – as an additional proposed site. The fight for Muckaty continues to this day.

The government’s plan is to establish Australia’s only purpose-built radioactive waste facility on the land. The dump would hold spent nuclear fuel rods returning from reprocessing in France and Scotland as well as waste from Australian facilities.

Some of the land’s traditional owners contest the nomination of Muckaty and say that the process was not open to public scrutiny. Legal action against the government and the NLC is currently proceeding in the Federal Court.

“The case is brought by a number of traditional owners”, explains Maurice Blackburn public interest lawyer Elizabeth O’Shea, speaking to Red Flag. “They complain that they weren’t properly consulted and the right people didn’t provide consent for this proposal to go ahead,” she says. “They’re hoping to have the nomination set aside.”   

Annual protest rallies have been held since 2008. The traditional owners have received support from campaign groups like Beyond Nuclear Initiative (BNI), Friends of the Earth and the Australian Conservation Foundation.

Unions are also highly engaged in the campaign. The national congress of the ACTU resolved to oppose the dump. “We stand in solidarity with the traditional owners and communities and with environmental groups”, read a motion passed unanimously in 2012.

Individual unions have pledged to refuse to cooperate with any plans to build the dump. Addressing a recent campaign meeting in Melbourne, the Victorian secretary of the Maritime Union of Australia, Kevin Bracken, said that the Muckaty site was chosen “not for the best scientific reason but because of one reason – they [the government] thought they could just get over the top of these people”.

Natalie Wasley, coordinator at BNI, argued that the compensation package (for roads, houses and education) offered to the land’s traditional owners is “beyond shameful”. “Someone in Tennant Creek who is a Muckaty traditional owner essentially will have to agree to have a nuclear waste dump to have access to an educational scholarship”, she said.

The campaign has called for a national day of action against the dump on 20 June. Details can be found at www.beyondnuclearinitiative.com.