Candidates running for the vast South Australian seat of Grey have voiced their opposition to a proposed nuclear waste dump at a forum that was not attended by either major party.
The issue of whether to store nuclear waste near Kimba is one of the most contentious projects in SA and is the subject of a legal challenge by traditional owners.
In 2021 the federal government chose a property known as Napandee for the long-planned facility, which would house low and intermediate-level nuclear waste.
The safe Liberal seat of Grey is under scrutiny because the incumbent, Rowan Ramsey, is being challenged by independent Liz Habermann, who made a previously blue-ribbon Liberal seat marginal at the state election in March.
"We're trying to sell Grey and the Eyre Peninsula as a green, clean, renewable area," Ms Habermann told the virtual forum on Thursday night.
"No matter how safe it supposedly is, to have a nuclear waste facility in the middle of it, it's not good.
Ms Habermann was one of four candidates to attend the forum, which was organised by the anti-dump Conservation Council of SA.
United Australia Party (UAP) candidate Suzanne Waters said she opposed the construction of the facility on agricultural land.
"If we're going to put it somewhere, why not back near [uranium mine] Olympic Dam, where it comes from?" she said.
In 2019 former UAP leader Clive Palmer described South Australia as a "backwater" that was "devoid of enterprise" while calling for the state to embrace nuclear technology.
Ms Waters said that was irrelevant.
"Whether or not we use nuclear power is something that's completely different to whether or not we have a nuclear waste dump on farmland," she said.
No major-party presence
Neither Labor candidate Julie Watson nor Mr Ramsey joined the session.
Labor supported the legislation to establish a nuclear waste storage facility, but only after it was amended to open the possibility of a challenge by the Barngarla people.
Mr Ramsey, who has strongly supported the proposal, offered to host the facility on his own property, but that was deemed a conflict of interest.
In a statement when the site was chosen, Mr Ramsey said most of the community was behind the project, which would bring economic opportunities.
"This is not to say there are not some people with concerns and I will work with them to resolve those issues wherever possible," he said at the time.
Greens candidate Timothy White told the forum that the decision to locate the facility on arable land was "nonsensical" and the opposition from traditional owners was one of several reasons the site should not have been chosen.
Independent Richard Carmody was the only speaker who did not oppose the facility outright.
"I have no strong position either way — I'm willing to be swayed by people on it," he said.
Legal challenge looming
The Supreme Court challenge mounted by the Barngarla people hinges on the consultation process, which they say was open to ratepayers but not traditional owners.
The forum was addressed by Barngarla Determination Aboriginal Corporation chair Jason Bilney.
"We're part of the community, part of the Eyre Peninsula and we did not want this dump on our country," he said.
Mr Bilney said the community could not be certain about the consequences of building the facility on arable land.
"Look at the effects of the atomic bomb," he said.
The case is next due in court in mid-June.
