Phil, I remember this from the time. It was news nationwide, not just in SA. There was the notion that South Australia's already radioactive deserts (British WWII testing) would be a good place to store the world's nuclear waste, for a fee. We don't have a nuclear power plant and we have a single medical grade reactor at Lucas Heights on the outskirts of Sydney. This proposal would have meant political death to any Party and leader had it gone ahead.
Some tried to argue we had an obligation to house this waste as it was Australia that supplied the original fuel. The problem with spent fuel waste, as we all know, is it's property of being quite long lived. It wouldn't just be our grandchildren that are left to deal with it. SNF containing U-233 has a half life of 159200 years. Areas used for this purpose can never be "cleaned up" by mankind.
The waste product of making luminous watch dials in the early 20th century, containing Radium, is thought to be responsible for the deaths of people who lived in the harbourside suburb that housed the factory. Google Nelson Parade Hunters Hill Attempts to relocate the contaminated earth from the site became a political hot potato.