Australia's first radioactive waste dump has been subject to less oversight than would be deemed appropriate for construction of a car park, parliament has been told.
A lower house committee has given its stamp of approval to government legislation that aims to establish a dump to store medical, industrial and research radioactive material at Muckaty Station in the Northern Territory.
Committee chairman Frank Zappia tabled its report in parliament on Monday, saying the committee had taken its task very seriously.
It took into account there had been four separate inquiries into the bill and the revised bill addressed well-canvassed concerns, he said.
But Australian Greens MP Adam Bandt, a member of the committee, slammed the report as a whitewash.
He accused the government of attempting to ram legislation through parliament before traditional owners, who are opposed to the dump at Muckaty, launch legal action in the federal court on Friday.
The committee had failed to live up to the spirit of open debate on the issue, he said.
It had chosen to deliver an "astonishingly brief report" three months before it was required.
"The decision for the nation's first radioactive waste dump will have less oversight than we would consider appropriate for a shopping centre carpark," Mr Bandt told parliament.
Mr Zappia said it was not appropriate for the committee to inquire into a matter before the courts.
"In fact it felt it would be improper to do so," he said.
The legislation specifically deals with the site nomination process.
"The nomination of a site does not guarantee the establishment of a radioactive waste facility," Mr Zappia said.
Mr Bandt will vote against the National Radioactive Waste Management Bill 2010 and move an amendment delaying its passage until Resources Minister Martin Ferguson consults with traditional owners.
His Senate colleague Scott Ludlam said if the lower house move failed the Greens would introduce a series of amendments in the upper house, including tightening the discretion given to the resources minister.
"This just gives total and unfettered discretion to the minister to put this thing wherever he thinks," Senator Ludlam told AAP.
The Greens want to establish a commission to look at alternative ways of dealing with the waste.
"We're looking for a process rather than a postcode," Senator Ludlam said.
"The government has moved straight to the postcode and said it's going to be at Muckaty.
"We think they've just got it completely backwards."
Senator Ludlam said if a domestic nuclear power industry was established the temptation to expand a dump at Muckaty would be "irresistible."
The push to get the draft laws through before the federal court action was "revolting."
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