Ted O'Brien (Fairfax, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

The shadow minister's contribution today indicates why the Labor Party does not have the capacity, let alone the readiness, to govern in this country. This issue has been explored for many, many years through successive governments, including Labor governments. Yet today we do not know what Labor actually thinks. I could not understand the shadow minister's contribution. Are they for it or are they against it? It's one thing to stand in this chamber, as he did, and beat his chest claiming that a former Labor government empowered the minister to make a decision to move on. But Labor in opposition doesn't want a decision to be made. They want to kick the can down the road back into the long grass—again, their complete incapacity to make decisions.

I believe that many of us in this chamber will benefit from nuclear medicine at some point in our lives. Whether it's an X-ray, a health screening or a diagnostic test for ourselves or for our loved ones, we should all be truly grateful for the advances made in nuclear medicine. Nuclear medicine uses radiation to provide information about the functioning of a person's specific organs or to treat disease. In most cases the information is used by doctors to make a quick diagnosis of a patient's illness. In some cases radiation can be used to treat diseased organs or tumours. According to the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation, known as ANSTO, one in two Australians will have some engagement with nuclear energy in their lifetime, thanks to the radioisotopes produced at Lucas Heights, a nuclear research reactor which has operated in Sydney for over 60 years. Ten thousand patient doses of ANSTO nuclear medicine are delivered every week across Australia and New Zealand alone, particularly for cancer detection and treatment.

Worldwide, over 10,000 hospitals use radioisotopes in medicine, and about 90 per cent of the procedures are for diagnosis. TerraPower, the company started by Bill Gates to design a new generation of reactors, is also engaged in seeking to develop radioisotope generators that will be able to extract potentially life-saving material from radioactive elements that could lead to what is called alpha therapy, involving much better targeting of cancer cells with less damage to healthy cells.

With advances in health care, the demand worldwide for radioisotopes is increasing and will no doubt continue to grow. ANSTO has the capacity to supply 35 per cent of the global demand for molybdenum-99, which is the precursor of the world's most widely used diagnostic imaging agent. ANSTO's facilities conduct research for other medical and industrial purposes, and their reactor is also used for the irradiation of silicon ingots for the manufacture of electronic semiconductor devices.

Beyond medicines, nuclear technology has applications for nutrition, agriculture and disease control. It is important around the world for making foods safe via irradiation, which kills disease-carrying bacteria and can significantly reduce the estimated 25 to 30 per cent of global food production that's currently wasted through spoilage.

In agriculture, nuclear technology is playing an increasingly important role in pest control by sterilising insects which are then released back into the environment. It uses other functionality to trace fertilisers for their use and effectiveness, and even to detect leaks in water and storage systems. Nuclear technology can also be used to analyse the pollutants in water and measure water quality. It is a technology which I believe Australia should embrace proudly.

However, the term 'nuclear' so often, unfortunately, breeds fear and concern in some areas of the community. Australians have tended to have a scepticism about and an opposition to many aspects of the nuclear fuel cycle, evident over many decades. While that is certainly not unique, it is pretty rare among First World countries that, for the most part, have embraced many, if not all, parts of the nuclear cycle. Despite this historic scepticism, Australia plays a very significant role in supplying uranium right around the world, to Europe, to Asia and to the United States especially. We have the world's largest reserves of uranium and we are currently the world's third-largest supplier.

We also have great depth in our legislative and institutional capability in this area. The Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Act 1998, for example, is a comprehensive piece of legislation. The Nuclear Non-Proliferation (Safeguards) Act 1987 is also vitally important because it unequivocally rejects any expansion of nuclear weaponry beyond those countries which already have them. As I've already mentioned, ANSTO, which operates the Lucas Heights reactor, is a tremendous research group with deep knowledge of every aspect of the nuclear cycle. The Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency and the Australian Safeguards and Non-proliferation Office are other important parts of what is an ongoing and very successful, well-informed effort by successive Australian governments to remain very closely plugged in to developments across the cycle as it evolves.

The long route to this bill exemplifies in some key ways the scale of the challenge we have in dealing with many aspects of the nuclear fuel cycle in this country, and, I believe, helps point the way to a reasoned and rational discussion on such matters. Australian governments, coalition and Labor, have been seeking to establish a storage facility for low- and intermediate-level radioactive waste in our country for decades. There has been a lot of resistance; there's no doubt. This bill finally identifies Napandee as a specific site for that facility, with strong majority support from the local community in Kimba on South Australia's Eyre Peninsula.

The Napandee site was identified following four years of community consultation and technical assessments across the three short-listed sites. It was chosen from those sites voluntarily nominated by landowners, and it was assessed consistent with the current legal framework. The government is satisfied that the Napandee site will safely and securely manage radioactive waste and that the local community supports the project and the economic benefits it will bring. This bill is part of that commitment to be well informed and to provide detailed knowledge and much consultation about what is intended at the site in Kimba. It builds on vast experience and efforts to assure the Australian public that we can manage nuclear waste while keeping them absolutely safe.

Australia has decades of experience in managing low- and intermediate-level waste, which is what is planned for this site. In actual fact, the risks are very low—extremely low. What we mean by low-level radioactive waste is things like paper, gloves, cloths and filters that contain low levels of radioactivity and generally require minimal shielding during handling, transport and storage. Of the radioactive waste produced by ANSTO, 92 per cent is this type of low-level waste. I have visited the facility and inspected their waste storage areas. The Napandee site will also deal with some intermediate-level waste. Intermediate-level waste is largely associated with the by-products of nuclear medicine. It emits higher levels of radiation and requires additional shielding during handling, transport and storage.

The waste from these processes is currently spread right across the country, in more than 100 storage facilities across Australia. Plans to store this waste in a national facility will mean the waste will be consolidated into a single, safe, purpose-built radioactive waste facility which is consistent with Australian government policy and also with international best practice.

To store and low- and intermediate-level waste you need to get some things well sorted, no doubt. You need a geologically stable area. Vast areas of our ancient island continent are very stable, including the area that's been chosen for this above-ground facility. You need means of safely transporting waste, and we have those too. It is important to note that around 10,000 doses of nuclear medicine are safely transported in approved packages on public roads and commercial flights to around 250 hospitals and nuclear-medicine clinics in Australia and the region every single week. In fact, each week ANSTO safely transports 2,000 packages containing radioactive materials across Australia. Radioactive material has been safely transported for around 60 years, and there has never been an accident resulting in a significant impact on the health and safety of people or the environment. The in-built safety features of the packages, regulatory controls and emergency response procedures have always worked to ensure safety, and I have absolute confidence that this will continue. It's all pretty routine, quite frankly, given the significant quantities of low- and intermediate-level waste created and safely dealt with around the world over the past decades.

Internationally, large radioactive waste facilities operate in Europe, Russia and the USA, including in well-known, high-value agricultural and World Heritage tourism regions. For example, the Lake District in northern England is home to the UK's largest and most-visited national park, awarded UNESCO World Heritage site status in 2017. The UK low-level waste repository is also there. This facility receives thousands of visitors every single year. The Champagne region of France, renowned for its grapes and wine and including some of the most expensive agricultural land in the world, also hosts a major low-level and intermediate waste facility. The local community is currently bidding to host a new waste facility. Local population, farm output and tourism numbers have all increased over this time.

I believe the people of Kimba deserve great credit for delivering a strong majority in favour of accepting this facility, notwithstanding the very low level of risk that we are actually dealing with. They have displayed common sense in coming to grips with the issue, and their performance is undoubtedly a milestone in dealing with issues in the nuclear fuel cycle—issues that are so deeply embedded in our country in so many ways. As earlier canvassed, scepticism about virtually every aspect of the nuclear industry runs unusually high in this country, so it is important to recognise that the people of Kimba have weighed the evidence and they've come down in favour of hosting the facility. Just as commendable is the effort undertaken by the government and ANSTO to ensure that people were given all the information they needed or wanted to make the decision that they have, comfortable in knowing they have all the data needed to make the right and, I believe, the sensible call.

In addition to the ministers who have taken carriage of this issue, including the current minister, Keith Pitt, I wish to acknowledge the member for Grey, Rowan Ramsey, who has led his community by empowering them to engage and to have their say. In doing so, he has ensured that a calm, sensible, deliberative discussion has taken place over many years. For that, I believe, the chamber should be very grateful.

Openness and transparency are clearly key when engaging with the nuclear fuel cycle. I'm delighted that this bill comes before the House not just after extensive consultation but also after the prior informed consent of the local community. With that, I am happy to commend the bill to the House.

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