Muckaty Voices-Australia's nuclear waste dump story

"Muckaty Voices" is a short film capturing community resistance to an Australian government plan to dump radioactive waste at Muckaty Station, 120 kilometres north of Tennant Creek in the Northern Territory.

The area is being assessed by the federal government for a low and long-lived intermediate level radioactive waste facility, despite sustained opposition from Aboriginal Traditional Owners, pastoralists and the NT government and community.

Muckaty was nominated in 2007 as a possible dump site by the Northern Land Council and a small group of Traditional Owners hoping for a combination of cash and improved services like roads, housing and education. Many other Traditional Owners remain opposed to the plan and have been highly critical of the process and approach taken by Resource Minister Martin Ferguson.

The governments push for Muckaty has sparked widespread criticism from trade unions, national health and environment groups and Indigenous groups, including the Central Land Council.

In Opposition the Labor party described the former Howard governments waste dump laws as 'draconian', 'sordid' and 'arrogant' however in government Labor have borrowed heavily from the Howard legislation.

Labors repackaged dump laws are in clear conflict with their policies and 2007 election promises on radioactive waste management. They suspend key Aboriginal heritage and environmental protections and override any Commonwealth, State or Territory laws that could delay or frustrate the dump. To add insult to radioactive injury the Muckaty nomination is not subject to procedural fairness or judicial review.


Traditional Owner and dump critic Dianne Stokes told a Senate Inquiry in April 2010, "We made the video throughout the Warlmanpa land. It is all of the Milwayi story. We wanted to show this DVD to the public and the people here in this Senate Inquiry because of the place where the proposed dump site area is going to be sited... Along with that, we have some songs and dances to represent the country".


The film was produced for the Muckaty Traditional Owners by Enlightning Productions, with the support of the Beyond Nuclear Initiative.


www.beyondnuclearinitiative.wordpress.com.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• Muckaty Voices
• radioactive waste dump
• nuclear
• Northern Territory
• Enlightning Productions
• Beyond Nuclear Initiative
• Manuwangku
• Aboriginal Rights
• Dianne Stokes

[gibsonnapaljari12]

Muckaty Voices-great link.

[pjlin85]

Great video, and great people.

[hpat25]

What is occurring here is simply defined as environmental injustice. Those who are imposing this environmental injustice are simply defined as criminals.

[22ness0hayden]

What an amazing looking place. Why would you want to desicrate it with a waste dump! I hope the native people win out these plans in the end!

[merryprankster60]

500 Years of Injustice, by Steve Newcomb,Shawnee / Lenape -

[GerryGeorgatos]

There is no way around the fact that it will be there for thousands of years, maybe hundreds of thousands. Has anyone taken into account what a seismic shift, a typhoon, cyclone, tsunami would do to such deposits, to a uranium mine, to a nuclear reactor, to highly charged volatile water? People need to join the voice of Muckaty because it is not just Muckaty. Kindly, Gerry.

[kimbow555]

Good on 'em all for speaking out! I hope the government listens!

[wittaman]

what did people expect , the Australian Labor Party is full of Former Lawyers,

[dlowe286]

the Australian governments, ALL of them since .... have been absolute scum ... in particular the 12 years of Howard introduced the appalling concept "do what we tell you or we'll not give you any funds" ... it's called corruption and bribery in my language ...