Secret business is for the bees

Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek has shown bad judgment from the start in vetoing the proposed $1bn McPhillamys goldmine near Blayney in central west NSW. The Orange Local Aboriginal Land Council – which has cultural authority for the area under NSW law – did not object to the goldmine after conducting its own surveys and finding it would not affect any sites of high significance. Ms Plibersek’s decision reportedly was influenced by an 18-member dissident body of activists.

Earlier this week Ms Plibersek cited a mural on a post office in Bathurst as proof of the existence of the blue-banded bee Dreaming story, one of the central reasons she killed the Blayney goldmine proposal, despite evidence from the local land council that the story is not Wiradjuri tradition.

And as Paige Taylor and James Dowling report on Thursday, the anthropologist whose research helped debunk “fabricated” secret women’s business at the Hindmarsh Island Bridge Royal Commission, Philip Clarke, has cast serious doubt on the claims.

Dr Clarke, whose work has supported Indigenous groups in their land rights claims for decades, described the blue-banded bee story as “highly unlikely”.

Despite her own department originally approving the project and the Orange Local Aboriginal Land Council challenging the grounds of her decision, Ms Plibersek has said she declared an Indigenous protection order over the Regis Resources goldmining project near Blayney because of its importance to the Wiradjuri people of central NSW. But The Australian has confirmed that Wiradjuri authority Uncle Neil Ingram told Ms Plibersek in February that the story was not true.

Protecting important Indigenous heritage sites is vital. But as Orange land council adviser Roy Ah-See says, weaponising that culture for “hidden environmental agendas” is “always going to end in tears”. And it will make the process harder, he says, when protection is needed for significant sites. Nor should green lawfare be misused to block projects that generate wealth and jobs. Gold, critical minerals and mining are “absolutely crucial for jobs and investment in regional NSW”, Premier Chris Minns points out. He is a staunch opponent of Ms Plibersek’s 11th-hour decision, which appears designed to appeal to activists in her Sydney electorate rather than local Indigenous families who need work. As opposition Indigenous Australians spokeswoman Jacinta Nampijinpa Price says, Ms Plibersek’s decision will “keep them on welfare”.