Muckaty nuclear waste dump denies Aboriginal Sovereignty!

Vanguard July 2012 p. 10
Max O.

The National Radioactive Waste Management Bill, passed by the federal government in March this year, named Muckaty station, 200km north of Tennant Creek, as the site for a proposed nuclear waste dump. This is a classic case of the capitalist state usurping and deviously undermining Aboriginal sovereignty and self determination.

‘Uranium  sniffer’ Martin Ferguson,  federal Minister for Resources and Energy confirmed his reputation as being  Australia’s most dedicated comprador and lackey for the nuclear energy multinationals. His aggressive defense of the passing of the National Radioactive Waste Management Bill and pro-nuclear advocacy is only equaled by his capacity for deceit and chicanery towards the First Australians – the Aboriginal people.

The law firm Maurice Blackburn, Surry Partners and Julian Burnside QC, the legal team representing Aboriginal traditional owners opposed to a nuclear waste dump at Muckaty Station in the Northern Territory, have unearthed National Archive documents that provide compelling new evidence that the Northern Land Council (NLC) did not correctly identify and obtain consent from Aboriginal elders of the land before the site was nominated.

Consultation by deceit

After a long land claim, Muckaty Station was formally returned to the traditional owners in 2001.  Justice Gray, the Aboriginal Land Commissioner back then, determined that five traditional owner groups had a shared and interconnected traditional ownership of the Station: the Ngapa, Wirntiku, Milwayi, Yapayapa and Ngarrka clans. Conversely, the NLC and Federal Government assert that a single sub-group of one of these clans owns this particular land for the waste dump, and therefore only their consent is required.

This claim of ownership, argued by the Federal Government and the NLC, is contrary to the findings of Justice Gray and the traditional knowledge of senior elders of the five clans. Interestingly, it is based on a secret anthropologist report which the Federal Government and the NLC are unwilling to release to the traditional owners.

Mr Lane Jangala who has been campaigning along with many other traditional owners against the proposed site because of its cultural significance stated, “I am senior Ngapa man for Muckaty and I did not agree to the nomination of the site, along with other senior Ngapa elders for Muckaty Station who did not agree. We don't want it. There was not even a meeting in town to consult all of the traditional owners."

Now the Federal Government and the NLC will face a Federal Court legal challenge over plans for a radioactive waste dump at Muckaty Station, as a result of Mr Lane Jangala and senior elders from all five groups of traditional owners instructing Maurice Blackburn Lawyers, together with NSW firm Surry Partners and Julian Burnside QC, to commence proceedings challenging the nomination of the land at Muckaty Station.

Union and public opposition to Muckaty

The ACTU National Congress held in Sydney in May voted unanimously to adopt motions opposing the National Radioactive Waste Management Act; expressed support for the Traditional Owners in resisting the federal government; and rejected any legislation which would continue to target a site on the Muckaty Land Trust for a nuclear waste dump.

Individual unions have also committed to further educate their members about the Muckaty controversy. This is all the result of a campaign that has been underway for years, with Traditional Owners travelling to speak at union meetings across the country, and inviting and hosting a union delegation to Tennant Creek last August.

A successful series of public rallies have recently been held in the Northern Territory. On May 25, about 150 people rallied in Tennant Creek and marched to the Northern Land Council office. The protest condemned the NLC Full Council for voting to nominate the Muckaty site for assessment, despite opposition from many Traditional Owners.

On May 30, a well-attended public meeting of 100 people was held in Darwin, organised by the Environment Centre of the NT to oppose the Muckaty nuclear waste dump plan.

This magnificent struggle, lead by Indigenous Australians, demonstrates once again that unity of the Australian peoples (indigenous and non-indigenous) is vital; because, “If you don’t fight you lose!”