Antinuclear

Aboriginal community leaders refute Marcia Langton’s claim that minng is the solution to Aboriginal progress

As Aboriginal community based leaders we take issue with Professor Langton’s suggestion that
embracing mining is a positive option for Aboriginal people if they are to engage with the modern
economy. In her lectures Professor Langton paints a rosy picture of the services and employment
which some mining companies offer Aboriginal people as part of Native Title ‘agreements’. There
is only passing reference to the fact that Native Title does not allow Aboriginal people to say no
to mining.

Mining is inherently short term but the problems it brings to country last well beyond the life of
any mine.

Peter Watts (Arabana)
Mitch (Aranda/Luritja)
Kado Muir (Wongutha) 4 Feb 13, We write as co-chairs of the Australian Nuclear Free Alliance (ANFA) in response to recent
comments by Professor Marcia Langton in her Boyer Lecture series “Indigenous People and the
Resources Boom”. ANFA brings together Aboriginal people, environment, health groups and trade
union representatives to discuss the impacts of the nuclear industry on land and communities.
ANFA opposes uranium mining, exploration and the dumping of radioactive waste on Aboriginal
land.

Uranium mining, exploration and the dumping of radioactive waste on Aboriginal land is
detrimental to the health of Aboriginal people, Aboriginal lands and our collective environments.
Mining generally is an extractive industry that by its very nature destroys land often at the
expense of spiritual and cultural connections of Aboriginal people. Income generated from mining
comes at a cost and often ignores the possibility of creating alternative sustainable economic
opportunities that need not rely on extraction as its primary economic base.

As Aboriginal community based leaders we take issue with Professor Langton’s suggestion that
embracing mining is a positive option for Aboriginal people if they are to engage with the modern
economy. In her lectures Professor Langton paints a rosy picture of the services and employment
which some mining companies offer Aboriginal people as part of Native Title ‘agreements’. There
is only passing reference to the fact that Native Title does not allow Aboriginal people to say no
to mining. Professor Langton suggests that ‘translating the recognition of their Native Title rights
into tangible economic and social benefits’ by supporting mining on country will lead to positive
outcomes for Aboriginal communities. This is clearly not the case as can be attested by the many
communities divided over the comparatively meagre spoils offered through such agreements and
the the intergenerational legacy of extractive industries on our lands, people and culture.

Mining is not a panacea for addressing the social, cultural and economic disadvantage of
Aboriginal people. Governments must be held to account to meet their responsibility to provide
the roads, schools, housing, health services and other infrastructure that people in cities and
towns take for granted.

It is important that Aboriginal people have the opportunity to participate in economic
development on their country but this must never be at the expense of custodial responsibilities
or community wishes.

Mining is inherently short term but the problems it brings to country last well beyond the life of
any mine.

February 20, 2013 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | aboriginal issues, AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL