A group of Kimba farmers and community members travelled to Canberra this week to meet with the Labor Party, The Greens and cross-bench Senators "to put a face to those directly impacted by the proposed legislation to name Kimba as the site for Australia's radioactive waste dump".
No Radioactive Waste on Agricultural Land in Kimba or SA Committee secretary Toni Scott said the government process to site the facility in Kimba over the past five years had been "unfair, manipulative and completely lacking in transparency".
"We are extremely concerned that the government's proposed legislation, currently awaiting Senate consideration, intentionally removes our right to contest the decision and denies basic protections," she said.
"Productive farming land in Kimba is not the best, or even the right, place for our nation's radioactive waste. We urge the federal government to review their selection process, rather than trying to force this decision through parliament."
The Canberra trip follows a visit by Federal Resources Minister Keith Pitt to the Kimba region last week, where he said he remained confident the federal government would get their legislation for the facility through the upper house when the Senate resumed this week.
This is despite Labor withdrawing its support for the bill at the 'eleventh hour' and further dissenting reports from The Greens and Independent Senator Rex Patrick.
Mr Pitt noted that the majority of the Senate Economics Committee had supported the bill moving forward.
"We are asking the parliament to make a decision to give some certainty not only for the project but the people of Kimba who have spent almost five years in this process already," he said last week.
"We're putting forward the legislation to the Senate...if it passes through the parliament we'll be getting on with it."
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