Media releases

Wednesday, 25 July 2005

Please explain, Senator Scullion

Statements today by CLP Senator Nigel Scullion on the proposed NT nuclear waste contradict the announcement of the dump sites by Science Minister Brendan Nelson, Member for Lingiari Warren Snowdon said today.

‘To quote Dr Nelson, he said he was ‘…absolutely determined…that one of three sites is chosen and then we will proceed to the environmental impact statement and then to construction’, which is about as unequivocal as you can expect from a member of the Howard Cabinet,’ Mr Snowdon said.

‘And now Nigel Scullion is trying to tell us that, and I quote again, ‘…a decision to store radioactive waste in the Northern Territory is not necessarily set in stone…’.

‘Please explain, Senator Scullion, how you square the two statements.’

Mr Snowdon said Senator Scullion was evading the real issue by talking about misinformation on nuclear waste.

‘This is not just about waste dumps – it’s about the Federal Government overriding our wishes and the law passed by the Territory Assembly, which they wouldn’t have been able to do in South Australia or anywhere else.

‘Dr Nelson’s decision is not based on environmental or scientific grounds.

‘It’s purely a political fix the Federal Government has engineered because they think they can,’ Mr Snowdon said.

Ends.

Copyright © 2004-5 Warren Snowdon MP. This page was last updated on 25 June 2009.