- Target:
- Martin Ferguson MP
- Region:
- Australia
- Website:
- www.greeningdarebin.org
Minister for Energy and Resources and member for Batman, Martin Ferguson, is planning to establish a nuclear waste dump on Aboriginal land in the Northern Territory.
Ferguson’s targeted site, at Muckaty Station, 120 kilometres north of Tennant Creek, is located on a fault-line and experiences frequent earthquakes. Many traditional owners of the site are opposed to Ferguson’s proposal. They have been trying to meet with Mr Ferguson for 18 months, but he has refused their requests to meet.
Mr Ferguson's National Radioactive Waste Management laws allow him to override Aboriginal heritage laws, environmental protection laws, and all state/territory laws in order to impose the nuclear waste dump. The proposed dump has been deemed unnecessary by a range of organisations including the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation, the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency , the Australian Nuclear Association, and Mr Ferguson’s own Department of Energy and Resources, all of which state that the waste can remain indefinitely at the Lucas Heights nuclear facility.
The Government's claim that most of the waste to be sent to the NT is a by-product of nuclear medicine is false. The Medical Association for Prevention of War states that the nuclear dump is totally unnecessary and notes that the government has been 'peddling a lie' by claiming that the nuclear dump would in any way facilitate the practice of nuclear medicine.
Nuclear waste poses the gravest threat to human and other life and has a half life of 240,000 years.
This petition is for residents from the electorate of Batman in Melbourne’s northern suburbs. We have fundamental disagreements with what our local member is doing and we believe he should be accountable to those he represents.
We, the undersigned residents of the federal electorate of Batman, call on Martin Ferguson MP to withdraw his plan to establish a national nuclear waste dump on Aboriginal land in the NT.
We condemn his plans to override Aboriginal heritage laws, environmental protection laws, and all necessary state/territory laws in order to impose the unwanted and unnecessary nuclear dump.
We condemn his repeated refusal to meet with Traditional Owners from the Muckaty area of the Northern Territory who want to keep their country free from nuclear waste.
We call on Martin Ferguson to take a common-sense approach to nuclear waste in Australia and follow the advice of his own department of Energy and Resources, the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation, the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency and the Australian Nuclear Association, that the waste can continue to be stored at the Lucas Heights nuclear reactor site.
In relation to Australia's role in uranium mining:
• We strongly believe that Australia should take no part in the nuclear energy cycle.
• We call on the Minister for Energy and Resources to take immediate action to end uranium mining in Australia and to develop Australia's solar, wind and renewable energy sector, including proven base-load solar tower technology.
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The Not in our name - Batman voters against a nuclear waste dump petition to Martin Ferguson MP was written by Alex Bhathal and is in the category Politics at GoPetition.