"Screwing the underprivileged is part of the Australian way of life"
Just heard on ABC Newsradio that the Howard government is giving the traditional owners of Muckaty Station in the NT a one-off $12 million payment for a nuclear waste for indefinite dumping of nuclear waste on their land.
A traditional owner of Muckaty Station in the Northern Territory says she is happy to have a nuclear waste dump on her land.
Amy Lauder is one of 70 Ngapa traditional owners who have agreed to nominate the station, 120 kilometres north of Tennant Creek, as a site for Australia's nuclear waste.
The decision means scientific testing can now take place on a 1.5 square kilometre section of land.
If it is approved by the Federal Government, traditional owners will receive a one-off package of $12 million.
I'm wondering if Amy Lauder has any idea how much money the government spent on its last advertising campaign. Considering $12 million is worth not quite 3 weeks' worth of Howard's self-promoting advertisements, I think the traditional owners should have held out for more. $12 million a year would be more like a reasonable figure. I reckon the government is rubbing its hands in glee and scoffing about how well they've suckered them.
3 comments:
If you ask this writer, it’s just another case of a greedy, racist government throwing money at an indigenous community in order to get what it wants. Why not incorporate tangible community benefits into the proposal, such as substantial improvements to infrastructure and communications on the property, improved medical and educational services, in fact anything that will help this community thrive and prosper. In fact, how about doing that anyway and letting them keep their land? And one has to ask the question of the indigenous community - why spend a fortune in time and money getting your land back, on the basis of it’s cultural, spiritual and community significance to your people, and then go and spoil it by dumping toxic waste on it? A$12 million isnt as much as you think guys.
Rob
insaneworld.net
Yep, ongoing dumping, if it is to occur at all, is worthy of an ongoing financial commitment by the government. I'm not sure how, in the age of lawyers, the Muckaty Station mob have managed to agree to the Howard equivalent of a string of beads in exchange for what is effectively the permanent pollution of their land.
the hilarious thing is that white people don't seem to have thought about exactly HOW the waste is going to get from sydney harbour, or from a nuclear power plant near melbourne to the dump. just like st lucia's cell phone tower of doom, the concept is acceptable so long as there doesn't appear to be any immediate risk to anyone in one's neighbourhood or tax-bracket. nice to see a new commenter as well :)
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