ACTU congress says no to radioactive dumps

The June 2-4 Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) congress passed a series of motions calling on the federal government to abandon plans to build a radioactive waste dump in the Northern Territory.

Four sites are currently under assessment by the government for such a dump. The sites are Mount Everard (40km north-west of Alice Springs), Harts Range (165km north-east of Alice Springs), Fishers Ridge (40km south-east of Katherine) and Muckaty (120km north of Tennant Creek).

The ACTU called for the Rudd government to end the assessment process for these sites and to honour a pre-election promise to repeal the Commonwealth Radioactive Waste Management Act.

The act was originally passed by the Howard coalition government. It overrode the Native Title Act and the Aboriginal Land Rights Act. It also superceded NT laws banning the storage and transport of nuclear waste.

The congress called on the government to launch a public inquiry into radioactive waste management.

It also passed a motion in support of "the actions of Traditional Owners, communities and trade unions that have refused to cooperate with implementation of the current dump policy".

From GLW issue 798