Juukan inquiry for NT traditional owners
A delegation of Northern Territory traditional owners will likely testify before a federal inquiry into a massive lead and zinc mine's impacts on Aboriginal sacred sites.
Glencore's McArthur River Mine - about 750km southeast of
Darwin - has been dogged by environmental incidents and alleged damage to
cultural sites.
Committee members from the Juukan Gorge inquiry into the
destruction of 46,000-year-old caves in Western Australia have travelled to
tiny Borroloola, about 60km from the mine, for informal talks with concerned
native title holders.
"I was a bit worried when they first came in,"
Garawa elder and Borroloola Aboriginal leader Jack Green told AAP.
"But after talking to them I thought they'd do the
right thing by the four clan groups."
Mr Green says the committee has invited the traditional
owners - the Gudanji, Yanyuwa, Garawa and Marra peoples - to Canberra to speak
on the record in the parliament.
"We want to show non-Aboriginals and the government
what they've done," he said.
Native title holders are troubled by the lack of
consultation with the expanding mine and its impact on 22 sacred sites and the
land.
"They're going up very close to the barramundi
(dreaming sacred site) and an artefact site, which are very important to
Aboriginal people."
Glencore wants to increase the size of a nearby waste rock
dump from 80 to 140 metres high and move an archaeologically significant stone
tool quarry.
It previously made an expansion agreement with six
traditional owners, promising each an $85,000 car and monthly food and fuel
vouchers.
But the NT Aboriginal Areas Protection Authority refused to
issue an Authority Certificate to allow the mine to lawfully carry out the work
over consultation concerns.
Glencore appealled to NT Heritage Minister Chansey Paech to
override that decision but has since agreed to start talks with the Northern
Land Council and traditional owners.
Unlike most mines in northern Australia, McArthur River has
never had a comprehensive native title agreement despite diverting a river to
expand its operations.
The company now hopes to negotiate an Indigenous Land Usage
Agreement for the mine and the Bing Bong loading facility on the Gulf of
Carpentaria.
This will involve consultation over sacred sites and
cultural heritage protection.
Labor Senator Malarndirri McCarthy told AAP the region's
traditional owners were concerned about the lack of information from the mine
and felt disrespected.
"That the four groups came together was powerful,"
she said.
"There was a sense of unification. Hope was
renewed."
Ms McCarthy is not a committee member and went to the recent
talks as an NT senator and traditional owner of the Borroloola region.
She also travelled with 16 other traditional owners and the
committee for a tour of the mine and two sacred sites and an archaeological
site.
"I felt there was a mix of emotions. It was deeply
hurtful to witness a lot of things. There's a lot of history here where the
people here fort very strongly to protect the river and not have it
diverted," she said.
"Because of the rainbow serpent dreaming and the impact
of cutting that river meant you would cut that songline. It was a very sad
moment for many of us."
Asked about the mine waste dump and the barramundi dreaming
site, Ms McCarthy said it was: "Way too close but I'm not a traditional
owner of that site so I can't speak for it."
McArthur River Mine general manager Steven Rooney said
protection of sacred and cultural heritage sites was of "critical
importance" to the mine.
"We value relationships with traditional owners and are
committed to taking these relationships forward," he said.
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