Indigenous groups wrestle over Blayney mine heritage crisis
An Aboriginal land council destabilised by opponents of a NSW goldmine has passed an administrative review, while its rival pushes to limit its exposure in legal proceedings.
The Aboriginal land council maligned by opponents of the $1.3bn Blayney goldmine has been cleared of nepotism and financial mismanagement accusations but remains under threat of an administrative crisis amid a dispute over the site’s Aboriginal heritage value.
Orange Local Aboriginal Land Council has been at loggerheads with the dissident Wiradyuri Traditional Owners Central West Aboriginal Corporation – and more recently some of its own members – since the mine dispute began.
Now with a court battle on the horizon, the Wiradyuri Corporation is seeking to limit its legal and financial exposure.
Former environment minister Tanya Plibersek used Aboriginal heritage laws to make a late intervention in the project last August, blocking a proposed tailings dam at the headwaters of the Belubula River. Approaching one year since the decision, its ramifications for both local Indigenous groups have been disruptive and protracted.
The decision preferenced evidence by the Wiradyuri Corporation over six ethnographic studies and testimony from members of the land council.
The land council said Ms Plibersek was taken in by the “baseless claims” of a fringe group about a blue-banded bee dreaming that the land council said “never previously existed”.
The Australian has been told that while the land council does not resile from its view that the goldmine can go ahead without any damage to Aboriginal heritage, allegations by mine opponents have been destabilising.
Some members’ suspicions were raised when The Australian in October revealed the Wiradyuri Corporation had written in March last year to then-Indigenous affairs minister Linda Burney and claimed the land council had sought “financial support” from mine developer Regis Resources.
The Wiradyuri corporation did not provide evidence of the claim, and the land council has denied receiving royalties from the project. While the email to Ms Burney cited a submission the land council made to the NSW Independent Planning Commission on the project, it makes no mention of a request to Regis for money, instead suggesting the mining conglomerate employ its services to help undertake “social and cultural mapping”.
By April, 47 complainants – including 22 of the land council’s 220 members – had signed a no-confidence petition against senior leadership, alleging nepotism and conflicts of interest in the organisation, which they argued lacked transparency and accountability.
The Orange Land Council in May announced it had commissioned an external review of its operations. At the time, Wiradyuri leader Roy Ah-See said Ms Plibersek’s heritage decision had contributed to a broader destabilisation of the NSW statewide network of 121 land councils.
Lawyer Reay McGuinness of Webb Henderson Solicitors spoke to 35 witnesses and considered thousands of land council documents. On Wednesday night, the land council gave members the findings of that review at a special meeting in Orange, including that Mr McGuinness concluded the board had complied with its statutory obligations and he had found “no evidence that employees have been appointed to positions not on merit but because of family connections”.
He also found “no evidence of material financial mismanagement that would warrant review”.
A summary of the review said it had seen little uptake from the original complainants and conflict was “materially impacting on member participation”, which would continue without reform and better communication. The partial boycott by initial complainants narrowed the review’s utility.
Land council chairman Jamie Newman said all the recommendations would be implemented.
“Self-determination isn’t just about rights but also responsibilities and accountability. That’s why this review was essential,” he said.
“We can’t allow ourselves to be diverted by personal grudges, petty vendettas and malicious claims with no evidence to support them. It’s time to end the distractions and recommit to working together for the Aboriginal families of Orange.”
The Wiradyuri Corporation and Ms Plibersek, meanwhile, are set to be hauled before the Federal Court by Regis to defend the Blayney heritage decision.
The Wiradyuri Corporation on Tuesday said it may try to drop out of proceedings should it be threatened with expensive potential legal cost orders.
Barrister Tim Goodwin, appearing on behalf of the Wiradyuri Corporation at an interlocutory hearing in the judicial review, pushed its case for a court order that would cap the amount of legal costs it could be asked to pay and insulate it from the risk of bankruptcy, saying its members may seek to “abandon the proceedings” without such assurances.
“I want to turn now to a relevant factor about the potential for the (Wiradyuri Corporation) to abandon the proceedings,” Mr Goodwin told the court on Wednesday. “We don’t have a crystal ball into what is likely to occur in the matter and who might be successful, but if the applicant is successful … (the Wiradyuri Corporation) remains concerned about potential cost exposure.”
In media statements and private correspondence, Regis and its subsidiary LFB Resources have said they do not intend to seek costs from the Wiradyuri Corporation. Another respondent in the matter – anti-mine advocate Aunty Nyree Reynolds – already dropped out of the judicial review, which is set for a full hearing in December.
“While looking simply at the (Wiradyuri Corporation’s) retained earnings year on year might show a rosy picture, the net profit … is not substantially large,” Mr Goodwin said. “It presents the (Wiradyuri Corporation) with a very difficult choice to make in relation to its capacity to play an active role.
“As an Aboriginal corporation that is a not-for-profit organisation, it is far from wealthy.”
Wiradyuri Corporation co-director Arlia Fleming estimated the group could incur up to $59,000 in unforeseen expenses, but Mr Goodwin suggested a maximum costs order be set at $20,000.
Speaking on the potential contents of proceedings, Mr Goodwin said the Wiradyuri Corporation could occupy “a unique position between the respondents”, particularly on why “the minister accepted my client’s explanation as to why the blue-banded bee dreaming was only raised at a later stage in the (heritage protection) application process”.
Ms Plibersek was not represented at the hearing.
Judge James Stellios reserved his interlocutory judgment on the request.
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