As Aboriginal elder and justice campaigner Kevin Buzzacott has said: 'If we can't make peace for the country, and look after the country — what's the good of us?'
Sunday 29 April 2018 marked the second anniversary for many such South Australian peacemakers. It was on that date in 2016, at 2.30am, that Adnyamathanha Elder Aunty Enice Marsh heard the news that the federal government had 'chosen' the Flinders Ranges to be the 'top of the list' site of the proposed national nuclear dump.
Incredulous at hearing this on the 8am news, I rang Aunty Enice. 'I'm sitting here trying to eat my weetbix and keep my thoughts calm,' she said. 'But do you know what I was thinking? Colonisation is again attacking the First Nations people and poisoning their land.'
For her colleague, Regina McKenzie, it was 'like getting news of a death': death to a 60,000-year cultural heritage.
Since then, South Australia's international grain farming area of Kimba has again emerged as an alternative site. At last month's first joint meeting in Port Augusta, both Kimba and Flinders Ranges peoples opposing the dump reported that after 'a quiet last few months', the pressure from the federal government is now back on with a vengeance.
The announcement of $2 million in 'untied' government grants to various local applicants in each region has been integral to this. What was surprising to the Kimba opponents, faced with the absence of five of their key colleagues, was the unannounced (at least to them) appearance of the Minister, National Party Senator Matt Canavan, at this announcement.
When challenged about this lack of notice, the senior public servant's response was that he hadn't been 'really sure' that the Minister was coming. Kimba opponents cite this as just another example of the government campaign strategy: 'It's all about stealth.'
"This is a national issue, not something that a regional community should be left to deal with." — Barry Wakelin
The Minister also announced that the Australian Electoral Commission local voting for and against either region becoming Australia's national nuclear dump would take place on 20 August. Currently there is a Senate Estimates Committee examining the process of site selection and related matters, with its recommendations due on 13 August — leaving hardly time for a dispersion, reading and respectful cognisance of its findings prior to the vote.
Political maneuvering is again evident in the insistence of the Minister to tightly restrict the voting area —