Big petition calls on SA Premier Weatherill to dump nuclear waste plan.
Leading state and national environment groups will today present Premier Jay Weatherill with a petition signed by more than 35,000 people calling on him to end any plans for radioactive waste dumping in South Australia.
The petition handover comes at the end of a week that has seen opposition consolidate against the plan to ship, store and bury high level international radioactive waste in regional SA.
Two thirds of the members of a Citizen Jury examining the dump plan unequivocally rejected the move ‘under any circumstances’.
Today the Australian Conservation Foundation, Conservation SA and Friends of the Earth Australia join with Aboriginal community representatives to present Premier Weatherill with a series of postcards and a register of petition signatories urging him to scrap nuclear waste dump plans.
“This unpopular and dangerous plan to ship international radioactive waste to South Australia would allow ageing nuclear reactors to stay open overseas, delaying the shift to clean, renewable energy,” said ACF campaigner Dave Sweeney.
“Premier Weatherill should drop this idea, which would leave Australian people with an unwelcome toxic legacy for hundreds of thousands of years,” he said.
“Across South Australia and the nation concern and opposition to the idea of radioactive waste dumping is rapidly growing,” said Conservation SA Chief Executive Craig Wilkins.
“We want the Premier to read the writing on the cards and recognise that the writing is on the wall for this toxic plan,” he said.
