Indigenous group dispute blocking major highway duplication

A bitter dispute between indigenous groups over trees is threatening to derail Victoria’s treaty with traditional owners.

Protesters converge on Victoria’s Parliament on Tuesday. Picture: Twitter

A bitter dispute between indigenous groups over trees that stand to be bulldozed to make way for Victoria’s Western Highway duplication is threatening to derail the Andrews government’s signature policy of negotiating a treaty with traditional owners.

Chanting “no trees, no treaty”, a group of up to 500 protesters — led by Djab Wurrung elder Sandra Onus and former Greens MP and Gunnai-Kurnai and Gunditjmara woman Lidia Thorpe — marched on state parliament on Tuesday, calling on the government to re-route the planned road to save centuries-old “birthing” trees they argue are sacred.

Meanwhile, indigenous bodies including Aboriginal Victoria, the ­Federation of Victorian Tradition­al Owner Corporations and the Victorian Aboriginal Heritage Council said they were satisfied all cultural heritage affecte­d by the road duplication would be “appropriately protected and managed”, and called on the protesters to “stop undermining the decision-making process” and allow the project to proceed.

Activists set up camp at the site, between Buangor and Ararat, in June last year, staging an ongoing protest at the “Djab Wurrung Heritage Protection Embassy”, which has delayed construction ever since.

Ms Thorpe told the rally the loss of the 800-year-old Djab Wurrung trees amounted to “cultural­ genocide”. Destroying the trees “destroys us”, she said, warning that it would also jeopardise­ treaty negotiations between traditional owner groups and the Victorian government.

In June, the government’s Victorian Treaty Advancement Commission was forced to extend­ the deadline for its First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria election process by 11 weeks, after too few candidates nominated. With voting set to begin next Monday, Ms Thorpe said only 2000 people of an eligible 35,000 had enrolled to vote, and she and other traditional owners were considering withdrawing as candidates.

“This (Western Highway dispute) will put a lot of people off in terms of the government going into these (treaty) discussions in good faith,” Ms Thorpe told The Australian.

She accused the state’s indig­enous peak bodies of being unrepresentative. “The Federation of Traditional Owner Corporations represents six or seven ­nations out of 38 nations,” Ms Thorpe said. “They are very well resourced by the Andrews government and they provide the Andrews government with a very quick decision-making process which allows for the destruction of our cultural heritage and our sacred sites.”

Transport Infrastructure Min­ister Jacinta Allan said the government had listened to and negotiated with relevant indigenous groups, declaring the road upgrade had to proceed as soon as possible in order to save lives. “In the past six years, 11 people have died on this stretch of road — close to one life every six months,” Ms Allan said.

“A further 100 drivers have crashed, with more than 50 people seriously injured.”

Ms Allan said the government had worked with the Eastern Maar Aboriginal Corporation, members of the Djab Wurrung clan who support the road upgrade, to save 17 significant trees, before the group gave the project the go-ahead.

“We’ve been very careful to listen and respect the views and voices of the indigenous groups who represent those communities,” Ms Allan said.

A spokeswoman for Aboriginal Affairs Minister Gavin Jennings said there could be “no true reconciliation without Treaty.”

“That’s why we’re pushing ahead — we’ve established the Victorian Treaty Advancement Commission and passed Australia’s first Treaty legislation — to ensure we achieve self-determination and better outcomes for our First Peoples,” the spokeswoman said.