SA Premier Jay Weatherill's announcement that he plans to continue pursuing his nuclear waste dump plan is a great disappointment to many South Australians and especially to Indigenous people from across the state who said a clear 'no' to the proposal at the recent Citizens' Jury.
The Community Views Report released on Sunday, reflecting a statewide consultation process, found that 53 percent of respondents opposed the plan to import high-level nuclear waste while just 31 percent supported the plan. Over three-quarters of Aboriginal respondents opposed the plan.
Dr Jim Green, national nuclear campaigner with Friends of the Earth Australia: "Rather than listen to the community and put the proposal to bed, Weatherill is hell bent on perpetuating the stress it has caused, and magnifying the distrust of government that he purports to be concerned about.
"The Premier previously said that 'there's no doubt that there's a massive issue of trust in government ... that's why we started the whole citizen's jury process'. Yet the Premier has now overturned the Citizen Jury's verdict. That is disgraceful and voters will be able to register their massive distrust of the Weatherill government at the state election."
The Community Views Report found that:
- only 20 percent of respondents were confident that nuclear waste can be transported and stored safely, while 70 percent were not confident;
- the number of people confident in the government's ability to regulate any new nuclear industry activities in SA (2125 people) was barely half the number who are not confident (4190 people);
- 66 percent of respondents were not confident that a nuclear waste import project would bring significant economic benefits to SA; and
- only 20 percent of respondents were confident that the government would consider community views while 70 percent were not confident.
Contact: Jim Green 0417 318 368