And the local media can’t be blamed for the delay.

From the moment Resources Minister Josh Frydenburg announced that Sallys Flat was one of six shortlisted sites to host a new nuclear waste dump, Mr Cobb should have been screaming “not on my watch”.

Instead, he put the interests of his Canberra colleagues first to say that the proposal did not concern him.

Worse, he claimed the waste earmarked for the new dump was so benign you could “sleep on it”.

That’s a quote that will haunt him all the way to the next election – should he choose to run again.

Now, though, the language has changed markedly and Mr Cobb has given a guarantee that there will be no nuclear waste dump in Sallys Flat without the support of the community. It was a bold statement and an unequivocal one.

And given there is no chance that the majority of people living in Sallys Flat, Hill End and Turondale will ever support the dump, it’s a statement that leaves Mr Cobb with zero room for negotiation.

It’s just what his constituents have wanted to hear.

The problem for the federal government might come, though, if communities in all six shortlisted sites object to a nuclear waste being established in their backyard if all six communities have been given the same guarantee as the people of Sallys Flat.

Presumably, that would send the federal government back to the drawing board to find a site that has the support of all residents. 

And that would mean the angst of the past week has all been for nothing.

Nonetheless, the goal here has been to ensure no nuclear waste dump is established in the Central West. 

And if Mr Cobb is as good as his word, then we should now be certain it will never happen.