Juukan Gorge caves: Rio Tinto boss breaks silence on heritage blast
The mining giant’s destruction of 46,000-year-old Aboriginal heritage sites in WA is the subject of a parliamentary inquiry.
Rio Tinto chief executive JS Jacques has publicly apologised for the company’s destruction of 46,000-year-old Aboriginal heritage sites after a parliamentary inquiry into the affair was confirmed.
Labor on Thursday successfully moved for an inquiry into Rio Tinto’s destruction of the Juukan Gorge caves last month, which has drawn global condemnation of the miner and sparked intense scrutiny of Aboriginal heritage rules and practices.
Mr Jacques, who up until now has been silent on the crisis, said in a statement on Friday that the company would “fully cooperate” with the inquiry by the Joint Standing Committee on Northern Australia while also supporting the WA’s government’s reform of the contentious Aboriginal Heritage Act that cleared the path for the caves’ destruction.
“We are committed to engaging with the rest of the industry, Traditional Owner Groups, and federal and state governments across a number of areas relating to cultural heritage approvals and processes, and the broad contribution of the resources sector to Australia,” he said.
But the Chamber of Minerals and Energy of Western Australia, a mining lobby group of which Rio Tinto is a member, was less receptive to the inquiry, arguing that the move would “dilute” the WA government’s own efforts to reform the relevant legislation.
CME chief executive Paul Everingham said the regulation of cultural heritage was a state responsibility, and must be addressed by state-based reform.
“Efforts must be directed to this important WA state reform and not diluted by a far-removed inquiry,” he said.
The mining industry, including Rio Tinto, have supported the push by WA’s Aboriginal affairs minister Ben Wyatt for an overhaul of the WA legislation that would give indigenous groups greater rights on cultural heritage matters.
Linda Burney, Labor’s indigenous Australians spokeswoman, said the inquiry would be a joint approach between the government and Labor.
“This inquiry will look into the issues around Aboriginal cultural heritage and the relationship with mining companies,” she said.
“We believe that the resources industry is incredibly important to the Australian economy, and we want to see better practices. But most importantly, this is about self-determination. It is what the decisions are made between mining companies and the Traditional Owners.”
A similar motion from the Greens, calling on the mining industry to immediately abandon any plans to destroy any sites of indigenous heritage and culture, was comfortably defeated in the senate.
The statement from Mr Jacques, meanwhile, ended his long public silence on the crisis since news of the caves’ destruction broke three weeks ago.
He echoed the earlier apology from the company’s iron ore chief, Chris Salisbury, to the traditional owners of Juukan Gorge, the Puutu Kunti Kurrama and Pinikura (PKKP) people.
“We are very sorry for the distress we have caused the PKKP in relation to Juukan Gorge and our first priority remains rebuilding trust with the PKKP,” Mr Jacques said.
“Rio Tinto has a long history of working in partnership and creating shared value with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities around our operations and across Australia more broadly. We remain absolutely committed to continuing to do so.”
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