ABSTRACT
In terms of radioactivity, more than 90 per cent of the waste from Lucas Heights proposed to be stored at Muckaty is from spent nuclear fuel reprocessing. Only a small percentage comes from nuclear medicine. As part of the search for a radioactive waste dump the federal government passed the Commonwealth Radioactive Waste Management Act 2005. In the United States of America, the sovereignty of First Nations peoples has to some extent been recognised. This has enhanced their ability to care for their land and to prevent environmental destruction. The terms of the treaty included a sale of a large tract of land for an annual fee, akin to a rent. 'White fellas' are claiming sovereignty for their law, through a line of authority which when traced to its recent origins, reveals nothing more than ink on paper and the force of the gun. The only incursion of First Nations jurisprudence was through its limited recognition by the white system.
