Add Category
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the potential penalty that could be faced by companies for losing a dangerous radioactive capsule in WA was "ridiculously low".
Key points:
- The capsule was lost some time after January 11
- Under existing laws, the maximum penalty for its loss is a $1,000 fine
- The Prime Minister says that penalty is "ridiculously low"
Under WA's Radiation Safety Regulations Act, the maximum single penalty for failing to safely store, pack and transport radioactive materials is a $1,000 fine.
The penalty was revealed as authorities scrambled to find a missing radioactive capsule, that went missing somewhere along a 1,400 kilometre stretch of the Great Northern Highway.
It was found about 11am on Wednesday south of Newman.
The caesium-137 radioactive source was part of a radiation gauge commonly used in processing plants, and was being transported from a Rio Tinto mine site in WA's north to a depot in Perth for repairs.
The WA government has committed to reviewing its penalties for mishandling radioactive materials, and Mr Albanese described the current penalty as far too low.
"It shouldn't have been lost, that's the first thing. And second, yeah of course that figure is ridiculously low," the prime minister said.
"But I suspect that it's ridiculously low because people didn't think that such an item would be lost."
WA's Health Minister Amber-Jade Sanderson said the government will consider how it can amend legislation that governs the handling of radioactive materials.
"The current fine system is unacceptably low and we're looking at how we can increase that," she said.
Loading"The act which governs the Radiological Council … led by the chief health officer, was actually developed and written in the 1970s.
"So it probably was a lot of money in the 1970s, and this sort of technology wasn't even imagined."
The Radiological Council is the regulatory body in charge of investigating how the radioactive capsule was lost.
WA Police have "all but ruled out" criminal activity, and WorkSafe are not investigating the incident.
Transport company 'cooperating'
"There are still questions from the transport company, and they are cooperating," Ms Sanderson said.
Ms Sanderson conceded the search for the missing capsule was a "costly" exercise, but said it was important to find the capsule.
Both Liberal and Greens MPs in WA agreed the state's regulation of radioactive materials needed to be reviewed.
"When you've got a penalty that's so low that it's actually cheaper to take shortcuts and do the wrong thing you've got a real problem," Greens MP Brad Pettitt said.
"We've got bigger fines for littering in this state."
Liberal MP Neil Thomson agreed the legislation did little to dissuade companies from following safety procedures.
"There has to be the signal sent to these companies that this is not something to be trivialised. This is such a serious issue," he said.
"We need to have the strictest possible laws in place and penalties for non-compliance."