CEO’s plan for personal millions from Indigenous mine deal exposed

In late September 2023, as the hot north-east winds whipped over the Gulf of Carpentaria, the chief executive of one of the Northern Territory’s powerful land councils pressed for a payday that stood to make him a multimillionaire.

The non-Indigenous chief executive of the Anindilyakwa Land Council (ALC), Mark Hewitt, is in effect a salaried public official answerable under Commonwealth laws that safeguard the Aboriginal land council resources.

Anindilyakwa Land Council chief executive Mark Hewitt.Credit: Anindilyakwa Land Council

Even so, he asked Indigenous clan leaders to give him and his wife a shareholding in a landmark minerals project the council is driving which will generate an estimated $1 billion in revenue over its 10-year life.

Leaked confidential documents obtained by this masthead reveal that Hewitt’s pitch was initially endorsed by several Anindilyakwa leaders, guardians of the remote tract of pristine water and land off the eastern coast of Arnhem Land, including Winchelsea Island, where manganese was to be mined.

Groote Eylandt has been home to the world’s largest manganese mine since 1964. Credit: Anindilyakwa Land Council

He argued it was his hard work and ingenuity that had been key to the Anindilyakwa’s progression of a mining venture that territory and federal officials heralded as a template for traditional owners dealing with resource and energy projects on their lands. The model would transform them from royalty recipients to active owners.

Hewitt was also armed with legal advice from a big corporate law firm that noted his play for a shareholding worth many millions, or even tens of millions of dollars, would not be unusual in the private sector.

But this was not the private sector, and the share plan unravelled after a young land council lawyer discovered the deal, sparking claims of impropriety and, recently, a confidential investigation by the Albanese government.

“Hewitt is an employee and servant of the mob, and he is paid to empower and build the wealth and wellbeing of the Anindilyakwa people,” said Curtin University professor Stephen van Leeuwen, an Indigenous leader who specialises in building relationships between traditional owners and land managers.

Groote Eylandt is part of a remote archipelago.Credit: Anindilyakwa Land Council

He described the attempted share grab as “an outright conflict of interest and just bloody wrong”.

The controversy, which happened soon before the young lawyer was let go by the council, raises questions that resonate well beyond the Northern Territory.

If the Winchelsea Island mine represents the future of how Indigenous people can capitalise on the nation’s energy and mineral resources, the internal tussle over how its spoils should be distributed raises critical questions around protecting their interests when big money, corporate dealmaking and lawyers come to town.

Van Leeuwen says that while the situation is improving, especially when it comes to large miners such as BHP and Rio Tinto, far more work is needed to ensure traditional owners not only understand their rights in negotiations with large resource firms, but have the power and agency to exercise them.

“One thing that needs to happen is the mob need to be informed about their rights, the principles of free, prior and informed consent, and how they can use their rights to achieve better outcomes for community and Country.”

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Groote Eylandt is the largest of the islands in an archipelago about 650 kilometres from Darwin. The island was named in 1644 by Dutch explorer Abel Tasman. The traditional owners are the Anindilyakwa, many of whom still speak their own language as their first language.

The population is as tiny as the area is remote. In 2018, there were an estimated 1600 Aboriginal people living in the Groote Archipelago and a further 1000 non-Indigenous people.

Groote is famous for one thing: manganese. From 1964, it has hosted the world’s largest manganese mine, an open-cut strip-mining operation.

It produces high-grade ore and has, via its owner, the Groote Eylandt Mining Company (owned jointly by listed mining heavyweights Anglo American and South32), distributed $646.6 million in royalties and rents over the past decade.

It has been much-needed money. According to a parliamentary submission by the land council in 2018, the Anindilyakwa experience “the widest gap in life outcomes between Aboriginal people and the wider community of any jurisdiction in Australia, and low life expectancy, poor educational results, and high unemployment”.

News that same year that the mine would shut down in 2031 prompted traditional owners to back a new mining proposal, on neighbouring Winchelsea Island, with estimates it could extract manganese worth more than $1 billion if successful.

An existing mine on the island is due to cease production.Credit: Anindilyakwa Land Council

This venture, too, would be different. For the first time, the Anindilyakwa would be in the driving seat as mine owners.

Winchelsea Mining was formed with 70 per cent of its shares held in a not-for-profit vehicle owned by traditional owners and the other 30 per cent held by a private Chinese investor.

The champion of this vision was Mark Hewitt, a businessman and administrator who had worked in the diamond trade in Europe before taking on a series of executive roles with Australian mining and government agencies that placed him at the coalface of projects where Indigenous rights overlap with commercial interests.

After Hewitt was appointed the chief executive of the ALC in 2011, he became a driver of what he called a “two-stream economy” that sought to use “mining royalty monies” to build sustainable development and preserve the culture of the Anindilyakwa.

The Winchelsea mine could provide economic certainty for years to come.

Earlier this year, he told a federal Senate committee: “As well as creating jobs for local Aboriginal people, the Winchelsea Mining project will most importantly contribute the additional revenue that will be lost when the GEMCO/South32 mine closes in 2031.”

But Hewitt’s wasn’t merely an altruistic stance. The laws and rules governing the land council and associated bodies required him to work for the interests of the local Indigenous people, rather than for personal gain.

Anindilyakwa Advancement Aboriginal Corporation chairman Bradley Bara in a manganese deposit on Groote EylandtCredit: Anindilyakwa Land Council

This left Hewitt in an increasingly difficult position when he sought appointment in 2018 as co-CEO of the company responsible for developing the Winchelsea mine, a firm over which the land council, which Hewitt would continue to head, would hold significant sway.

A leaked September 2018 letter from Hewitt to then-Indigenous affairs minister Nigel Scullion reveals that the land council boss promised to disclose and manage this conflict, taking a reduced salary and vowing to recuse himself from land council dealings on the mine venture.

But despite these efforts, Hewitt, who was paid a package worth more than $438,000 in 2023 for his job as chief executive of the land council, was still faced with accusations he risked straying over ethical lines in seeking a shareholding in the company.

In May 2023, Australia’s national audit office (ANAO) raised concerns about “a risk of conflicted interests” that arose given Hewitt’s role leading a land council directing millions of dollars in royalties to the Winchelsea mining entities that Hewitt also led. The fact his wife, Sophy Liu, worked at one of these firms also raised a potential for conflicts of interest, the audit office warned.

Groote Eylandt is home to a proposal for a landmark manganese development driven by local Indigenous people.Credit: Anindilyakwa Land Council

“The ANAO observed disproportionate benefit to the entities with which the chief executive [Mark Hewitt] is associated,” the audit noted.

In February, at a federal Senate committee, Hewitt conceded that while governance surrounding his overlapping duties could be tidied up, his multiple hats were aimed solely at securing the future of the local Indigenous people he and his land council served.

It was “very important to note the significance of the Winchelsea Mining proposal to the future financial stability of the Groote Archipelago”, he told the committee.

But the senators questioning Hewitt didn’t have all the information.

Internal records leaked to this masthead reveal that in late September and early October 2023, Hewitt twice met with traditional owners in charge of the Aboriginal corporation responsible for overseeing the 70 per cent stake in Winchelsea Mining “for the benefit of all the traditional owners of the ALC region”.

But these meetings weren’t just about the locals, Hewitt was seeking a personal windfall. The records reveal he sought a stake of up to 10 per cent in Winchelsea Mining through a family trust controlled by his wife and himself, Silkway Investment Pty Ltd ATF Hewitt Liu Family Trust.

The shareholding, Hewitt argued, would recognise his previous work developing the Winchelsea Mining proposal, including his efforts to obtain funding and support from the land council of which he was chief executive, and the “Australian government”, which he had also pushed to support the mine in his capacity as land council boss.

A document dated September 27, 2023, records Hewitt having “requested” the Anindilyakwa clan leaders “recognise this past contribution” and “consider” a “share allocation … be provided at this point in time”.

Once the shareholding was granted, the documents reveal Hewitt would focus only on the mine “for the future generations of Groote Traditional Owners” and “transition out of his CEO role in the Anindilyakwa Land Council”.

To further his case that Anindilyakwa hand over a slice of the community’s shareholding, Hewitt produced legal advice prepared by a senior partner of law firm HWL Ebsworth.

But the advice did not look at the public resource protection obligations faced by Hewitt under federal laws as a chief executive of a land council, a Commonwealth statutory body.

It also didn’t analyse the conflicts of interest Hewitt faced in protecting the interests of the Anindilyakwa people if he obtained a large personal gain. Instead, the legal advice noted that employee and management share incentive schemes were “widespread” in the nation’s corporate sector and that 10 to 15 per cent was “reasonable” for a mining executive.

This argument resonated with the Anindilyakwa. The leaked records reveal that on October 4, the traditional owners “agreed to transfer 7 per cent” of their shareholding on the condition the mine’s Chinese co-owner handed over 3 per cent of his one-third stake in the company. Two days later, the deal appeared sealed.

Based on internal documents, the shareholding about to be handed to Hewitt was worth an estimated $13 million as a stake in the project’s current value.

But if the mine’s potential was unlocked, the council estimated that value could grow up to $50 million based on his share of the expected profits.

Before any formal agreement was inked, leaked files reveal a young lawyer working for the land council complained about the proposed share deal. The lawyer pressed for a second legal opinion. That advice, delivered by barrister Ron Levy on December 5, backed the lawyer’s concerns.

The Groote Eylandt coastline.Credit: Anindilyakwa Land Council

Hewitt relented, agreeing to forgo his push for a shareholding until he stood down as Anindilyakwa Land Council chief executive. Two weeks later, the young lawyer was sacked.

When contacted by this masthead, Hewitt defended his attempt to obtain shares.

“Historically, there can be a lack of stability in Aboriginal leadership. I wanted some assurance … I would have some stability for myself moving forward.”

Hewitt also insisted he promptly abandoned the share grab when Levy, the barrister, “made it very clear I couldn’t do that”.

Hewitt initially denied sacking the young lawyer who challenged the share deal, claiming “he resigned”, but later conceded he told the lawyer: “I’m not going to renew your contract.”

He said the sacking was unconnected to the attempted share deal.

This masthead has confirmed that the share affair has been referred by the Commonwealth Ombudsman to the government for investigation.

Leading integrity expert Geoffrey Watsonc, SC, who was previously counsel assisting the NSW anti-corruption agency ICAC as it probed suspect deals involving land councils, said Hewitt’s attempt to obtain shares warranted a thorough, formal investigation.

“This is emblematic of the vulnerability of land councils to be swayed by those who may not act in the best interests of the land council,” Watson said.

“It matters because land councils extend over the whole of the face of Australia, and many of them are sitting over really valuable assets. It is worthy of a full inquiry that can then be used as template into risks faced by other land councils.”

Hewitt is unrepentant about his efforts to make himself a potentially wealthy man. He said his passion for improving the lot of the Anindilyakwa had brought them to the cusp of a brighter future, and he was only seeking a fair recognition for his efforts.

As he told this masthead: “What would my retirement situation look like?”

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