Nick G.
Aboriginal people are taking the lead in lifting the
level of struggle against the proposed radioactive waste dump at Muckaty Station
in the Northern Territory.
On Sunday May 25 around 300 people marched along the main
street of Tennant Creek chanting “Land
rights not dump sites!”
Aboriginal woman Barbara Shaw described it as “marking 7
years of staunch opposition to a national nuclear dump with young Muckaty mob
leading hundreds in a march through the main street, and the first Territory
Nuclear Free Alliance gathering in Tennant Creek.”
Behind the youth were other community members and
supporters including a group from the Maritime Union of Australia.
Dozens of placards read: “Don’t radioactive waste the
Territory!” Others read “Don’t dump on
Muckaty!”
The site is part of a land trust shared by five
interrelated indigenous groups – Milway, Ngapa, Ngarrka, Wirntiku and Yapayapa.
Most traditional owners oppose the plan but some said “yes” when the Northern
Land Council nominated Muckaty Station as a proposed storage facility seven
years ago.
Bunny Nabarula –
a senior traditional elder and part of the Milway group, said “We don’t want
the waste here. NLC picked out the wrong people. Us mob fight for this land.”
Wirntiku woman
Penelope Phillips said she was concerned what would happen if the land wasn’t
protected for the next generations.
“We want to send
a clear message out to the politicians and the people who said yes to it,” she
said.
“Tell them that
we are still strong and we don’t want a nuclear waste dump in our country. Come
back and meet the people. See what it looks like.
“The politicians
don’t talk to us. They don’t reply.”
The protest
occurred on the eve of a Federal Court hearing in Melbourne on a challenge to
the dump.
As Barbara Shaw
says, “There’s never been a better time to join the strong fight for a nuclear-free
Territory.”
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