The Flinders Ranges will no longer be considered a potential site for a nuclear waste facility.
The Federal Government was considering Wallerberdina Station, near Hawker, for a facility that would permanently store low-level nuclear waste and temporarily store intermediate-level waste.
Hawker, along with other Flinders Ranges communities were given the opportunity to vote on whether they supported the facility.
That ballot showed 454 votes opposing the facility and 408 supporting it.
That represented a 52-48 split.
"While the community ballot was just one of many measures I am considering, I have said that achieving at least a majority level of support was a necessary condition to achieving broad community support," Resources Minister Matt Canavan said.
"This ballot does not demonstrate a sufficient level of support and I will no longer consider this site an option for the facility.
"I especially want to thank the communities of Hawker and Quorn for their patience and resilience through this process. They are a fantastic community that I have had the privilege to know better through this process."
'The result we were hoping'
Greg Bannon lives at Quorn and has been a vocal opponent of the facility for the past four years.
He said it was a "huge relief" the facility would not go ahead near Hawker.
"It puts an end to four years of argument and debate and trying to make the case to preserve the Flinders Ranges," he said.
"It's been a long process but in the end, we got the result we were hoping to.
"We still believe the Flinders Ranges was never the right place.
"We've always said that the process was wrong, that it's not fair to do this, to make one small community make the decision for the whole of Australia's nuclear waste."
Job opportunities dashed
For those who supported the facility, the possibility of 45 jobs for small communities was very alluring.
Adnyamathanha man Malcolm McKenzie supported the facility from the beginning, saying it would bring much-needed Aboriginal jobs.
"It's a sad day, I think," he said.
"Aboriginal people are not participating in jobs, business opportunities and this would have given us a great opportunity," Mr McKenzie said.
"It was joining Aboriginal people — our family and Adnyamathanha — with the Hawker community, creating jobs and opportunity."
Kimba votes in favour
The Flinders Ranges was only one of two sites being considered for the facility.
The other one was Kimba, on the Eyre Peninsula.
That town had a similar ballot, which found more than 60 per cent of voters were in favour of the facility going ahead.
Mr Canavan said a final decision on where the facility would go would be made in 2020.
"I will make a formal announcement early next year on the site-selection process and would like to thank everyone who participated in the ballots and other consultation mechanisms," The Minister said.
