NSW land council chiefs to hold crisis meeting on Tanya Plibersek

Indigenous leaders from NSW’s network of 121 land councils are preparing to discuss the consequences of Tanya Plibersek’s intervention that halted the $1bn Blayney goldmine.

Former NSW Aboriginal Land Council chair Roy Ah-See, left, and Regis Resources chief executive Jim Beyer. Picture: Rohan Kelly

Indigenous leaders from NSW’s network of 121 land councils are preparing to converge in the state’s central west to discuss the consequences of Tanya Plibersek’s intervention that halted the $1bn Blayney goldmine for cultural heritage reasons, a decision she made on advice from a small dissident group.

The Australian has learned that CEOs of every land council in NSW are being invited to ­Orange next month to address growing concern over the federal Environment Minister’s decision to discount Orange land council’s advice that the proposed mine at Blayney would not impact significant Aboriginal sites.

Ms Plibersek blocked Regis’ proposed tailings dam near the Belubula River at the urging of the Wiradyuri Traditional Owners Central West Aboriginal Corporation, a registered charity with 18 members according to the Office of the Registrar of Indigenous Corporations. The entire mine, including the tailings dam, had passed state and federal environmental assessments.

Regis says the ruling defies 15 expert reports and it will take five to 10 years to find another tailings dam site. Land council leaders and members fear the magnitude of the decision could upend the state’s land rights regime.

They worry it is a fillip to activist groups that are not necessarily representative or subject to the same rigour, audits, Indigeneity tests and governance rules as land councils are bound by.

Elder Phillip Hall, a veteran of the 1965 Freedom Ride with Charles Perkins, is among leaders across NSW joining the call to ­action at Orange on October 30.

Organisers say the extraordinary meeting is an urgent discussion about culture and heritage in the context of Ms Plibersek’s ruling to declare the tailings dam site a protected area because of its significance to Wiradjuri people.

Mr Hall, CEO of the Bowraville land council, told The Australian on Wednesday that the debate over the mine had become political but it was the principle of listening to democratically elected land councils that was important. “An instrument has been set up by the government and if that’s going to be dismantled in any way, what is the point,” he said. “It causes a lot of confusion, it brings division within the community.”

In Canberra on Wednesday, Ms Plibersek delivered a speech to the Minerals Council of Australia that addressed a long-­anticipated overhaul of the federal Indigenous Heritage Act that she used to halt Regis’ mine.

“We will methodically and carefully continue to work through any proposed changes and test them broadly before introduction,” she said.

Ms Plibersek said the best way to ensure cultural heritage was protected was to engage early with “the right people … but for that to happen, business needs to know who they need to consult – who are the right people to talk for country?”

“Engagement requirements need to be clear so everyone knows when the process is complete,” she said. “That’s what the First Nations Engagement Standard under our new laws will need to do: provide certainty about requirements and certainty about who to talk to. We’ll take our time to get it right. We won’t be rushed. And everyone will get a say.”

Former NSW Aboriginal Land Council chair Roy Ah-See is among Indigenous leaders who believe Ms Plibersek undermined 40 years of NSW land rights legislation when she went against Orange land council advice on the Regis mine.“We have had the minister … override a network set up to give Aboriginal people a voice,” he said on Wednesday, and that “has huge implications for land rights across the country … What if this unrecognised group had given the go-ahead for the mine? Would greenies be cheering for them then?”