Longstanding divisions in Kimba have been reignited after Justice Natalie Charlesworth on Tuesday ruled in favour of the Barngarla Determination Aboriginal Corporation’s battle to stop the controversial nuclear waste dump on the Eyre Peninsula.

The region’s federal Liberal MP Rowan Ramsay wants the Albanese Government to challenge the court’s finding that former Resource Minister Keith Pitt’s decision to build the National Radioactive Waste Management Facility at Napandee was affected by “bias”.

Yesterday’s decision upheld two of four applications for review, but the key finding was that Judge Charlesworth upheld that the site selection was affected by “pre-judgement”, as she “set aside” the Pitt’s decision of November 2021.

Ramsay said the nation needs a storage facility as waste is still building up around the nation.

“For Kimba, as a small can-do community, facing the inevitable population decline associated with new technologies in agriculture, securing this facility is an attempt to assure its future,” Ramsay said.

Successive governments have been searching for a national low-level waste nuclear repository site for two decades. The government says it consulted for seven years about the Napandee location purchased from a local landowner.

The Department of Industry, Science and Resources website states that Kimba will receive a community development package of up to $31 million “as the host community for the facility”.

“(This) decision is a huge disappointment for the strong majority who have persisted against all the free advice coming from those who do not live in the community including the Barngarla, who somehow believe we are too stupid to make the right decision for our own community,” Ramsay said.

He added that the Federal Government provides a regulatory framework for the nation’s radioactive medical isotope industry and an independent scientific body, ARPANSA, regulates the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation operating body.

“ARPANSA has stated the Lucas Heights facility is nearing capacity for low-level waste and will be full by 2028 and it is incumbent on the government to find and establish a new site before then,” he said.

Kimba Council mayor Dean Johnson and chief executive officer Deb Larwood declined to comment on the court decision saying it was “a matter for the Minister”, but have previously said the community was benefiting from funds being injected into the town.

The town of 1300 people is sited halfway across Australia on National Highway One in a farming region and also has made headlines for its high-profile campaign to attract a local GP.

It spent a million dollars overhauling its medical centre and obtaining a new ‘doctor’s house’ in its bid to improve local healthcare, Larwood saying the region now has a long-term locum the council hopes will stay on with “some further interest elsewhere”.

Kimba chief executive officer Deb Larwood. Photo: Belinda Willis

While the repository has created a local split in opinion, those who support the facility say it will benefit the region through jobs and improved water, power, communications, transport and waste infrastructure.

On its website, the federal government says that as host of a nuclear waste facility, Kimba will receive a community development package of up to $31 million. That includes a $20 million community fund, $8 million worth of grants to strengthen Kimba’s economic and skills base and $3 million from the government’s Indigenous Advancement Strategy to support First Nations opportunities.

Kimba has also been awarded $2 million in grants through a Community Benefit Program “for projects that increase social cohesion and economic diversity”.

Some locals along with conservation groups and farmers, have supported traditional owners in their court challenge.

Barngarla Elder Dawn Taylor appeared in a film telling her story of supporting the action to prevent the repository being built near a “seven sisters women’s site”, yesterday she said that she was “just glad we’ve won”.

The court case was sparked by the former Morrison Federal Government announcing in November 2021 that land near Kimba would be home to the new facility with “majority support” secured from the local community.

Court action for a judicial review was launched by traditional owners through the Barngarla Determination Aboriginal Corporation in 2021 to fight the decision, amid claims traditional owners were excluded from a ‘community ballot’ as many did not live in the Kimba council area.

The ballot found about 61 per cent of locals were in favour of the dump.

During hearings, the court heard that the Barngarla were concerned about the process leading to the decision and disagreed with the former government’s view that following seven years public consultation the dump had community support in Kimba.

Acting Premier Susan Close said the State Government is calling for traditional owners to have the right of veto on any future decision about a facility’s location.

“It has been the long-standing view of the South Australian Labor Party that Traditional Owners should have a right of veto to a nuclear waste facility on their country. We have a continuing and ongoing commitment to this view,” Close said.

“In light of (the) Federal Court decision, we call on the Federal Government to ensure any future decision they make about the facility’s location provides a right of veto to Traditional Owners.”

Federal Resources Minister Catherine King said Labor had worked with the Barngarla people in the last term of Parliament to ensure they secured the right to seek judicial review of the decision to acquire the facility site.

“I acknowledge the finding and will now review the decision in detail,” she said.

Costs will be discussed at a hearing in August along with discussion around the fact that the Federal Government has already bought the land near Kimba for the proposed site.