Australian
Screen

Teacher’s notes

provided by

This clip shows a rally held in Alice Springs in 2005 to protest against the Australian Government’s proposed nuclear waste dump in the Northern Territory. Indigenous and non-Indigenous community members, united in their opposition to the proposal, march down a street holding an Aboriginal flag. Alison Anderson, MLA for MacDonnell, and David Sweeney from the Australian Conservation Foundation address the crowd. Maps show two proposed sites and the communities and outstations that would be affected.

Educational value points

• The Commonwealth Radioactive Waste Management Bill 2005 proposed the building of an underground dump in the NT to manage radioactive waste generated by Australian Government departments, agencies and statutory authorities. In 2003, the Australian Government had proposed a nuclear waste dump facility in South Australia near Woomera but dropped this plan, largely in response to community protests.

• Alison Anderson’s statement that 'we don’t want a nuclear waste dump in our backyard’ challenges the notion that central Australia is an empty wasteland and therefore a suitable location for a waste facility. The area has been continuously inhabited and Aboriginal sacred sites are located there. Maps show the areas under consideration as potential sites and include the communities and outstations where people hunt and gather bush tucker.

• The three sites identified as potential locations for the facility are on Commonwealth-owned land: Mount Everard, 27 km north-west of Alice Springs; Harts Range, 165 km north-east of Alice Springs; and Fishers Ridge, 42 km south-east of Katherine. Under the provisions of the Bill, the decision to dump the waste cannot be legally challenged, as section 8 states that 'No person is entitled to procedural fairness in relation to the Minister’s making of a declaration’.

• The Alice Springs community’s opposition to the proposed waste dump attracted broad support, including from doctors in the Medical Association for Prevention of War (MAPW). Their involvement was important as they are committed to the wellbeing of the community and some of the waste derives from the use of nuclear medicine. An MAPW delegation went to the NT in November 2005 to promote a safer long-term management strategy for nuclear waste.

• A key reason for opposition to the waste facility was the transportation of potentially dangerous waste over long distances. Radioactive waste generated by Sydney’s Lucas Heights nuclear research facility would have to be transported 1,800 km. The dump would handle low- and intermediate-level radioactive waste and the Australian Government at the time stated that only the second type 'requires shielding for handling and transport’.

• Alison Anderson from Papunya is a former member of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC), a representative group established in 1990 to ensure the participation of Indigenous people in government decision making that was abolished by the coalition government in 2005. In 2005, Anderson was elected as the Member for MacDonnell in the NT’s Legislative Assembly.

• David Sweeney has campaigned for many years against the establishment of uranium mines and nuclear waste dumps. A member of 'Friends of the Earth’, he joined the Australian Conservation Foundation to coordinate their antinuclear campaign in 1987. In 2005 he was actively involved in the campaign to stop mining of the Koongarra uranium deposit in the Kakadu National Park.

• Living Country is part of a documentary series called Nganampa Anwernikenhe ('ours’ in the Pitjantjatjara and Arrernte languages). Produced by Central Australia Aboriginal Media Association (CAAMA) Productions based in Alice Springs, the series is recorded in local languages, focuses on local Aboriginal cultural life and aims to preserve traditional Aboriginal knowledge. It is broadcast by Imparja Television across central Australia.