Nigel Scullion (NT, Country Liberal Party, Deputy Leader of the Nationals) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Senator Crossin, for your interjection. Again, based on the science, the Chief Minister was able to assert that same day that there were no suitable sites on government land anywhere in the Northern Territory. The government took a position that was all about politics. They were not worried about the health benefits that the responsible people who supported this measure would provide. So, Senator Crossin, I hope you do not injure your back today. I am looking forward to seeing whether or not you fundamentally support the exact same legislation that you deplored for so many years.

I would like to take a very short amount of the time that I have left to foreshadow an amendment that was circulated today. I will discuss it in committee, but before I do I would like to frame some of the history around it. Another of the very important amendments that I put to this legislation and fought for, as one normally does within government, was that the choice of site be down to individuals. It was terrific that the Northern Territory government put their hand up. However, we needed to ensure that overseas waste was not stored there because the Northern Territory people were saying, ‘What’s going to be stored there?’ We said, ‘It’s okay.’ They said, ‘What about someone else’s waste? We don’t want to be a dumping post.’ That was absolutely reasonable. The amendment reflected that the site could not store overseas waste. One thing that I remember saying to our leader at the time was: ‘For all these states and territories, it has been pretty bloody convenient to tell us in the Territory “not in my backyard, but we’re going to put our waste, however safe, in your backyard.”’ So we provided an amendment that in effect said that the only people who could keep their material there was the Commonwealth and the Northern Territory. But, of course, that has now changed because of a little deal that was done.

I am not sure whether you had anything to do with this little deal, Senator Crossin, but it involves your mate Mike Rann in South Australia. He put us in this position because his political aspirations come far ahead of his electorate. He said: ‘What about we call it “Commonwealth” and give it to you? What about that, Julia? If I give you my waste—be a bit tricky—and you can call it “Commonwealth waste” and then you can keep it in the Northern Territory.’ It was a terrific move!