LNP candidate suggests his own community should host nuclear waste dump

The LNP has set alarm bells ringing for environmental groups and local communities, after Leichhardt candidate Jeremy Neal suggested his own electorate, home to the Daintree Rainforest, Cape York and the Torres Strait, could be used as a nuclear waste dump.

Speaking on ABC's AM program this morning, Mr Neal said the site for nuclear waste storage would need to be "very remote", and considered Far North Queensland as a potential location, ignoring the region's world-renowned biodiversity, cultural heritage, and tourism significance.

The nearest proposed nuclear power plant under Peter Dutton's LNP plan is at Callide, in Central Queensland. Under Mr Neal's suggestion, nuclear waste would need to be transported over 1,500km, raising major safety, logistical and environmental concerns.

The Queensland Conservation Council is demanding the LNP rule out any plan to dump radioactive waste in some of Australia’s most precious and fragile ecosystems.

Queensland Conservation Council Director Dave Copeman said

The Coalition is already playing games with our energy future by backing risky, expensive, and slow-to-build nuclear power.

Now they’re proposing to dump the toxic waste in one of the most pristine and important regions in the world, Far North Queensland. That threatens ecosystems like the Daintree, Cape York and the Torres Strait, and the communities who rely on them.

Far North Queensland is one of the most environmentally and culturally significant places on the planet, not a dumping ground for radioactive waste.

This is simply too dangerous. We have clean, affordable renewable energy that’s already being deployed today, without radioactive waste and without putting lives or nature at risk.

The LNP must come clean with voters. Where exactly do they plan to put the nuclear waste? And how will they get it there?

The Queensland Conservation Council is calling for investment in clean, renewable energy, not polluting nuclear power, and for the LNP to come clean on where they plan to store Australia’s nuclear waste.

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