Aboriginal Land Councils say Albanese government has ‘disregarded’ their voice
A fiery ‘truth telling’ meeting of Aboriginal land councils says Indigenous voices have been “disregarded” by the Albanese government over the Blayney gold mine.
NSW
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The Albanese government has been likened to Indigenous “mission managers” who are “disregarding the voice” of Indigenous communities at an explosive meeting of NSW Indigenous land councils.
Local Aboriginal Land Councils and state government bureaucrats have gathered at a “truth telling” meeting in Orange after Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek controversially stalled a gold mine in the NSW town of Blayney.
Ms Plibersek slapped a Section 10 Aboriginal heritage protection order on the site proposed for the mine, on the advice of a local Aboriginal group that is not affiliated with the land council — the legal representatives of Aboriginal people in the area.
The decision has dogged Ms Plibersek for months, with anger from land councils reaching fever pitch at the Wednesday meeting.
The chief executive of the Orange Local Aboriginal Land Council said she was initially persuaded to oppose the controversial gold mine, but acknowledged the information she received was incorrect.
Annette Steele told the gathering the federal government were like “mission managers” who refused to do what the Indigenous community wanted.
“The state government … are supportive of us, but it’s a federal decision,” she said.
“The federal decision always outrun the state. It’s a bit like mission managers you know … ‘we understand what you want’, and they do the exact bloody opposite.”
She asked the Wiradjuri people in the group if any of them had heard of the “blue banded bee” dreaming story that Ms Plibersek used to claim the mine could not go ahead of the planned site.
No one at the gathering knew of this dreaming story.
EXPLOSIVE CLAIM
Ms Steele said the woman leading the opposition to the mine was a former employee of the land council, who during her employment did not identify as Indigenous.
Ms Steele said at the meeting the woman reached out to her, claiming she had spoken to the relevant elders and found the site to impede on Indigenous heritage.
But on closer inspection, Ms Steele claims, the land council found the women’s claims were false.
“When she worked for us she didn’t identify … all of sudden now she’s an Aboriginal woman,” she said.
“She used Aboriginal cultural heritage, like Plibersek, to overturn a decision that should have been made under the environmental act,” she said.
“If those laws don’t work, change them. Do not use Aboriginal cultural heritage as a political tool to overturn decisions or use it as a strategic framework to keep the Greens on side.”
Ms Steele said Ms Plibersek’s decision to use the contested Indigenous heritage claims by a group other than the Aboriginal Land Council, empowered “any Tom, Dick and Harry” to become an Indigenous elder.
She also dismissed claims a skull found on the site was a symbol of Aboriginal significance saying any suggestions of them belonging to Indigenous people on the basis of skull thickness were “racist”.
She said Indigenous people buried their dead during the Frontier Wars, and did not leave them on the site.
BLAYNEY PLEA
The land councils are pleading with Premier Chris Minns to lobby the Albanese government on federal law reform that will ensure land councils are the official representatives of Indigenous communities, even on a federal level.
The calls to pit the Labor state government against a Labor federal government come after Ms Plibersek stalled the gold mine’s progress on the advice of an Indigenous group over the Aboriginal land council.
Land council leaders from across NSW have gathered in Orange to discuss how to protect their rights as Aboriginal spokespeople in the face of federal law.
“This ensures that the voice and authority of the Local Aboriginal Land Councils are respected in federal level decision making, particularly in cases concerning land that falls outside the scope of native title,” a position paper put together by the group said.
“(We want) formal recognition that the authority to act in land matters originates from the Aboriginal people of the area, as represented by the Local Aboriginal Land Council.
“This authority should exclude any claims by other individuals or groups that do not have legitimate representation or consent from the local Aboriginal communities.”
‘LOOSE’ LEGISLATION
Orange Aboriginal Medical Service chief executive Jamie Newman said the self-determination of Indigenous people was being undermined.
“What we are discussing today is crucial to the self-determination of our people,” he said.
Mr Newman said the process of halting the Blayney gold mine had been shrouded in secrecy.
Audience members chimed in saying they had to tell people “all the time” that they were not traditional owners or Indigenous elders.
Forster Local Aboriginal Land Council acting chief executive Roy Ah-See said the laws which allowed Ms Plibersek to slap a section 10 heritage order on the site of the gold mine were so “loose” he could stop a project in another town if he wanted.
“With this section 10 legislation, I can stop a development in Cherbourg (in Queensland) even though I’m Wiradjuri,” he said,
“That’s how loose this legislation is.”
‘FAILED ACT’
Mr Ah-See invited Gary Highland to speak who said the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Protection Act is a “failed act”.
“It was introduced 40 years ago with the best of intentions but it failed and it divided the Aboriginal communities. It reduced economic opportunities for Aboriginal people,” he said.
Mr Highland, who has previously worked with land councils, said under the law a person just needs to be able to say they are of Aboriginal race to intervene in projects in communities even if they are not from there.
“It’s crazy that the same piece of legislation that failed to protect 50,000 year old artefacts at Juukan Gorge that is also responsible for the atrocity (at Blayney).
“A person from Townsville, where I come from, could put in an application for Orange and it doesn’t make any distinction and it also doesn’t require the minister to talk to the people who have democratically elected authority and cultural authority.”
Mr Highland urged audience members to start a campaign calling for reform to the legislation so the laws can be one Australians are proud of and not “embarrassed” by.
‘STAT DEC BLACKFELLAS’
The meeting subject broadened into Indigenous heritage and identity concerns, with Metro Local Aboriginal Land Council chief executive Nathan Moran saying there were people doing Welcome to Country ceremonies who have “no background, no authority, they don’t even have identity”.
He pushed back against the concept “stat dec blackfellas” saying people were claiming Indigenous heritage simply by signing a statutory declaration.
Mr Moran accused the government of practising “select their own white person to be a black person” after several Indigenous speakers gave accounts of people claiming to be Indigenous custodians and leaders without any legitimate ancestry.
“You pay someone to be Aboriginal because they did an Ancestry.com search and then all of a sudden they are doing national art projects, maybe designing NBL team logos,” he said.
“We’re calling out the Commonwealth, state, local governments and private companies … stop picking your own to be us.”
He said he has met Federal Aboriginal Affairs Minister Malarndirri McCarthy and NSW Aboriginal Affairs Minister David Harris to ignore statutory declarations about Aboriginal heritage.
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Originally published as Aboriginal Land Councils say Albanese government has ‘disregarded’ their voice
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