Howard ministers considered extinguishing native title over SA site earmarked for nuclear waste dump

Cabinet papers 2002: documents shed light on strategy amid decades-long battle to create national storage centre

John Howard’s government considered extinguishing native title over a South Australian site earmarked for a nuclear waste dump “by agreement or by compulsory acquisition”, the 2002 cabinet papers reveal.

The records, released on Sunday by the National Archives of Australia, shed light on the Howard government’s part in the decades-long battle to create a national storage site for Australia’s low- and medium-level nuclear waste.

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