Senator LUDLAM-I wonder whether we are able to bring officers to the table who can tell us about radioactive waste management.

Mr Clarke-Certainly.

Senator LUDLAM-Last time we were here I think you were right on the verge of announcing the policy which subsequently happen. Since then we have seen the introduction of legislation. It has been through a fairly quick committee process. Can you provide us with an update of where the policy for a national radioactive waste dump stands with your department at the moment? Can you update us on your activities?

The Federal Government has itself to blame for a legal challenge by Traditional Owners against its plan to impose a radioactive waste dump on the people of the Northern Territory, the Australian Greens say.

"The Rudd Government faces a protracted legal challenge where it could easily have chosen a path of consultation and consent." said Greens Senator Scott Ludlam, spokesperson on nuclear issues.

Senator Ludlam: (4.48 pm)-  On matters of radioactive waste, the Rudd government has been nothing short of a disaster. The government has not delivered in the spirit of or to the letter of very simple commitments that it made in the run-up to the 2007 election. So, in the context of this debate on the Rudd government's broken promises, I want to return briefly to the heady days of the 2007 election campaign, with Kevin Rudd in opposition castigating the Howard government's approach to radioactive waste management, which had been, I should say, appalling.

The Federal Government has used a Labor led Senate committee to whitewash a report into its plan to establish Australia's first ever national radioactive waste dump, the Australian Greens say.

"This makes a mockery of the Senate's role to scrutinise important legislation," Australian Greens nuclear spokesperson Scott Ludlam said today.

"Labor had to be dragged kicking and screaming to actually hold an inquiry and refused to hold a hearing at Tennant Creek, the major town near the only nominated site, Muckaty Station.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's proposed "solution" to our 60 year radioactive waste legacy has sparked a major confrontation.

Prior to the 2007 election, Labor lied to Northern Territory locals, promising to scrap the previous Howard government's aggressive imposition of a radioactive waste dump on Muckaty cattle station near Tennant Creek. Two years on, the Rudd Government has drafted an even more coercive regime and framed it within language of quiet deceit. Decide, Announce, Defend is the strategy. Right now, they have a lot of defending to do.

The Federal Government has no alternative but to scrap the nomination of Muckaty Station, near Tennant Creek, as a site for Australia's first ever radioactive waste dump following evidence heard at a Senate inquiry in Darwin, according to the Australian Greens.

"Today we heard first hand accounts of just how flawed the process was that led to Muckaty's nomination," said Senate Committee Member Greens Senator Scott Ludlam.

The Australian Greens have welcomed a statement by prominent human rights lawyers George Newhouse and Stephen Leonard that options are being investigated for a legal challenge to the Government's flawed proposal to dump radioactive waste in the Northern Territory.

"Human Rights and environmental lawyers from around the country agree there may be a case to mount a challenge," said Greens spokesperson on nuclear issues, Senator Scott Ludlam.

"This is the path of the Government's choosing: conflict instead of consent."

The Senate Inquiry into the Commonwealth Government's radioactive waste dump legislation has heard a total of six jobs will be created at a future Muckaty Station nuclear dump, near Tennant Creek.

"This puts to rest the myth that somehow this waste dump will create benefits for Aboriginal people or the wider Tennant Creek community," said Senator Scott Ludlam, Greens spokesperson on nuclear issues.

The Australian Greens will question the two parties involved in signing a secret contract that led to the nomination of Muckaty Station, near Tennant Creek, as the only proposed site for Australia's first ever radioactive waste dump.

"This inquiry will give the Commonwealth Government and the Northern Land Council the chance to finally be open with Northern Territorians and all Australians about the exact nature of the deal struck under a process which Labor described as illegitimate," said Senator Scott Ludlam, Greens spokesperson on nuclear issues.