Political consensus appears to be building in support of a radical plan for South Australia to store the world's high-level nuclear waste.
A royal commission headed by former governor Kevin Scarce has tentatively found that SA could host a viable and highly profitable waste storage and disposal facility.
The controversial proposal has been slammed by green groups, who have promised to campaign fiercely during a period of public consultation.
While both major parties at a state and federal level are awaiting the royal commission's final report before formally responding, neither have ruled out support for a waste dump.
Labor's national platform, which states that the party is "strongly opposed to the importation and storage of nuclear waste" in Australia, had been seen as a major hurdle.
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But Opposition Leader Bill Shorten on Tuesday appeared to offer his qualified support, saying his views were aligned with SA Premier Jay Weatherill.
"What we need to make sure if it's going to be high levels of storage, getting into the international business of storing other people's nuclear waste, is that there's an economic benefit, that it meets all the environmental concerns, and that there is community support," Mr Shorten said.
Federal Resources Minister Josh Frydenberg said there was economic merit in waste storage as well as a need to dispel myths about the process.
"If the South Australian people and the South Australian government want to go down the path of bringing in high-level waste, it would be a brave federal government that stood in its way," he told the National Press Club.
Building public consensus may prove to be a far more difficult task.
Aboriginal elders on Tuesday accused authorities of paying lip service to traditional owners' fears that waste could be dumped in the outback.
Australian Nuclear Free Alliance co-chair and Kokatha-Mula woman Sue Coleman-Haseldine says the proposal threatens her people's spiritual health.
"We can't survive in this world without our culture and the land is the main part of that. We've got sacred sites, we've got Dreamtime stories out there," she told AAP on Tuesday.
"We don't seem to be able to get this through the government's heads, the people's heads. All they see is the dollar signs."
