Key Points:
South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill has said the decision on an international nuclear waste dump will be put to the people. He's planning to hold a referendum with the final say on proposed sites to go to Traditional Owners.
His proposal flies in the face of the State's Royal Commission, which had already conducted a series of Citizen Juries that found that 66% of people did not want a nuclear waste facility in South Australia.
Mr. Weatherill admits a Referendum won't happen before the next state election in March 2018, and has explained it's a long term proposition for the state to consider. Without bipartisanship however, the proposal can't progress.
About Karina Lester
Karina Lester is a Yankunytjatjara Anangu woman from the APY Lands. She is currently the Aboriginal member on the Natural Resources Management Council (NRMC) and Chair for the Aboriginal state-wide Advisory Committee. Karina is also a member of the ‘No Dump Alliance’ which advocates against nuclear waste being dumped in South Australia.
Karina is the daughter of well-known Yankunytjatjara Elder and Activist Yami Lester, who was blinded by the 'black mist' from the first Atomic Test Bomb at Emu Junction, South Australia.
NITV: Premier Jay Weatherill has decided to take the idea of nuclear dumping to a state referendum. What are your thoughts on this?
KL: It’s crazy; I don’t think it’s necessary at all. The South Australian people have already spoken against this before.
There have been two citizen groups that have discussed this. Citizen group 1 and 2 both have said that they strongly heard Aboriginal voices on the matter and there was a resounding no to taking nuclear waste.
NITV: With the government pushing for a nuclear waste dump, what happens now with the local Indigenous population?
KL: It certainly puts a fracture amongst the population. The Premier says that there are Indigenous people interested in taking the waste, but he would not say who.
It’s up to us as a community to know who and which community is interested.
The risk is that while Weatherill is doing his fact finding, that he will come across the difficulty of needing bi-partisan support to get these changes in place. It’s actually illegal here to have nuclear waste dumped, and it is federally [prohibited] as well. He has got a lot of work to do to convince people, because people have been speaking very strongly against this. But the risk is high.
NITV: Premier Weatherill says that local Indigenous groups would be given a “right of veto” over any proposed dump “if a proposed facility would impact upon their lands”. Do you think they’ll listen if local groups vote No?
KL: I don’t think so. I’m nervous about this right for Indigenous communities to veto the vote. It puts a lot of pressure on Indigenous communities, and Indigenous people as a whole.
I’m also nervous that … the waste could end up here by the time the community has made its decision. It’s a bit of a worry.
