‘Falls into maladministration’: Calls for clarity after McPhillamys gold mine ban

The CEO of the Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land Council has accused the state and federal governments of engaging in “maladministration”.

State and federal governments are engaging in “maladministration” that threatens to “bastardise” Indigenous culture by ignoring local land councils, a leading Aboriginal leader says.

The comments from Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land Council CEO Nathan Moran come ahead of a crisis meeting to be held in Orange later this month to bring “to a head” the question of who speaks for “country,” after Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek’s decision to veto a $1 billion gold mine in Blayney despite the land council having no objection to the project.

Ms Plibersek’s decision snubbed the Orange Local Aboriginal Land Council (OLALC), the body with statutory authority to speak for the local Wiradjuri people, with her decision relying in part on a highly contested Indigenous dreaming story.

Nathan Moran, the CEO of the Metropolitan Aboriginal Land Council. Picture: Supplied

Ms Plibersek released her reasons for blocking the McPhillamys gold project’s tailings dam last week, revealing that she relied on evidence from the Wiradjuri Traditional Owner Central West Aboriginal Corporation (WTOCWAC) in making her decision.

Senior state government officials from Planning, the Premier’s Department, and the office of Aboriginal Affairs will be attending the October 30 meeting, to which CEOs of all 121 local land councils have been invited.

“On all accounts, the Minister has ignored the Local Land Council and engaged an individual or corporation to provide advice on culture and heritage that, quite frankly, for myself, is not authentic,” Mr Moran told The Daily Telegraph.

“It’s about getting together to discuss how the very people who establish us, the very rules that govern us, are not being followed,” Mr Moran said.

The entrance to McPhillamys Gold Project.. Picture: Rohan Kelly

“We have to call it to a head (and) call for government to follow its own law, to implement its own processes, rather than hand select someone that, it appears, suits their narrative,” he said.

Mr Moran said that governments engaging the wrong people for advice, including in some cases people without Indigenous heritage, threatened to “bastardise” Aboriginal culture and heritage.

He said government is ignoring its own law by snubbing the views of land councils.

“It nearly falls into maladministration,” Mr Moran said.

Former NSW Aboriginal Land Council Chair Roy Ah-See said the meeting will seek to determine “who speaks for country where there is no native title claim”.

Mr Ah-See called for a parliamentary inquiry into what advice can be relied on by governments when it comes to Indigenous culture and heritage.

“It’s going to interrogate the evidence, it’s going to interrogate the decision making process” he said.

Roy Ah-See and Jim Beyer, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Regis Resources at The Daily Telegraph’s Bush Summit. Picture: Rohan Kelly

Ms Plibersek’s decision to protect an area of land relied on information about a contested dreaming story that the local land council says does not exist.

The Minister also directly overruled evidence provided by the OLALC regarding the importance of a specific area.

“I understand that the OLALC disputes this claim as they have no evidence or knowledge of the use of the specified area for ceremonial purposes,” she wrote in the statement released last week.

“I am satisfied that this lack of knowledge is consistent with Aboriginal tradition that not all people are aware of the location of such ceremonies, particularly where those ceremonies pertain to men’s or women’s business.”

Originally published as ‘Falls into maladministration’: Calls for clarity after McPhillamys gold mine ban