Northern Land Council did not consult Aboriginal landowners on Muckaty nuclear waste dump plan
COMMENT “Real Fella – Anthropologists can effecitvely make up whatever they like to suit their employer. It’s not an objective process. If they go to one Traditional Owner who says its his land, and ignore 20 other Traditional Owners s saying its not, then he can produce a report saying its the land of the 1 Traditional Owner despite all the conflicting evidence. This is exactly what the NLC did in this case, it didnt actually talk to most TOs, and worst it didn’t even show people the report once it was written so that they could confirm it or not.”.
Nuclear dump in question, Northern Territory News, BONNY SYMONS-BROWN | June 7th, 2011 NORTHERN Land Council chief executive Kim Hill has not met with traditional owners of the area earmarked for Australia’s first nuclear waste dump. Continue reading
ERA’s hidden agenda for expanding Ranger uranium mine
Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) spokesman Dave Sweeney says ERA has its eyes on a bigger prize than just expanding its existing Ranger Uranium Mine operations.
“It wants to stay active and in the region and wear people down, and wait for times to change,” he said….
A new report prepared for the Federal Government shows climate change could damage mine infrastructure and pose challenges to its processing systems over the next 60 years.
Mr Sweeney says Ranger Uranium Mine’s location within the boundaries of Kakadu National Park makes it too risky to expand.
Critics turn up heat on uranium miner – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation), By Lucy McNally, Jano Gibson and Rick Hind Jun 3, 2011 Environmental groups are warning Territorians to pay attention to a plan by Energy Resources of Australia (ERA) to expand its uranium mine in Kakadu National Park.
They say they believe the ultimate goal of the company is still to mine Jabiluka. Continue reading
Murdoch press backs calls for a second Aboriginal intervention
John Howard used their plight to enact a long prepared plan to close “economically unviable” communities, open up Aboriginal land for exploitation and private profit, and develop a cheap labour force…
a new media campaign, particularly in the Murdoch-owned Australian and NT News, to pave the way for another round of punitive measures against Aborigines…….federal opposition leader Tony Abbott made a much publicised visit to Alice Springs late last month to announce his plan for a “second intervention”
The Aboriginal “intervention” in Australia: four years on, World Socialist Website, By Susan Allan30 May 2011 As the fourth anniversary of the Northern Territory (NT) intervention approaches, calls are being made for a new round of regressive measures against Aboriginal people, including a “second intervention”……
..The expressions of humanitarian concern were, however, a smokescreen for a socially retrograde agenda. Continue reading
Big mining companies cannot be trusted in dealings with Aboriginal people
The vast majority of the deals have occurred in a ‘David and Goliath’ scenario. On the one side, a team of mining magnates, expertly-trained negotiators and top lawyers have been armed with technology and strategic action plans. They routinely have access to and support of politicians and have often indulged in ethically-flawed tactics to divide the other side. The other side has usually consisted of community representatives without the training or skills to negotiate at this level, many of whom could not even read.
The mining agenda from a Yamatji perspective – The Drum Opinion (Australian Broadcasting Corporation), Colin McKinnon-Dodd 30may 11“…..…the people that benefit least from mining are the people removed from the land to allow it.Indeed the mining industry’s track record with Indigenous landholders is appalling. Time and again the big miners have shown that they cannot be trusted in their negotiations with Aboriginal people. For a very long time economic giants such as Rio Tinto, BHP and Fortesque Minerals have been taking advantage of their negotiating power with traditional owners in Australia and overseas. Continue reading
Aboriginal Catholic Ministry welcomes U.N. probe into Northern Territory Intervention
On her arrival in Darwin, Ms Pillay was handed a petition signed by 6500 Australians calling for her support in restoring the rights of Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory….Ms Pillay also said the Aborigines told her they were under pressure from the Govern-ment to sign 99-year leases over their land which they saw as “a land grab”…….The enabling legislation for the intervention expires in June next year.
UN NT probe, The Catholic Leader, 29 May 2011, By: Paul Dobbyn A TOP United Nations official’s Australian visit to investigate the Federal Government’s Northern Territory Intervention has been welcomed by the head of a ministry to Aboriginal Catholics. Continue reading
Australia’s “Murdochracy” and the grab of Aboriginal land
The Murdoch press has been the most lurid and vociferous in promoting the “intervention”, which a United Nations special rapporteur has condemned for its racial discrimination….There is an old-fashioned colonial grab of mineral-rich land in the Northern Territory
How the Murdoch press keeps Australia’s dirty secret , New Statesman, John Pilger 12 May 2011 News Corp papers across the world propagate the myth that prejudice has no effect on the lives of modern-day Aboriginal people n his native land, Australia, Murdoch controls 70 per cent of the capital city press. Continue reading
Noongar Aboriginal people confront Warren Mundine on uranium mining
Noongar people berate Mundine over uranium, National Indigenous Times, 3 May 11, Noongar anti-nuclear activist, Marianne McKay interrupted a speech by Warren Mundine at the Australian Uranium Summit in Perth to tell him he had “no shame” if he wanted to promote and support uranium mining. Continue reading
Aboriginal objections to uranium mining’s “Self Regulation”
150,000 litres of contaminated water a day escapes from a tailings dam at Rio Tinto’s Ranger mine, in Kakadu.
Mining must come clean, Northern Territory News, ELLIE TURNER | May 3rd, 2011 TRADITIONAL landowners and support bodies are pushing for an overhaul of the uranium mining industry’s “self-regulation”. Continue reading
Call for political action on dispossession of Aboriginal land
The core of the latter legal application will focus on the absolute dispossession of Aboriginal lands that has caused us to become internally displaced Peoples and refugees………this country was and always will be Aboriginal land………
Call for dramatic return to proactive political action at Aboriginal summit, Indymedia Australia, By Michael Anderson and Ellie Gilbert, Canberra, 25 April 2011, Anzac Day — The Aboriginal New Way Sovereignty Summit here over Easter was informed that given the state of Aboriginal Affairs in this country today it is now time to make a dramatic return to proactive political action. Continue reading
Uranium mining is not like other mining
WANFA believes that the costs of uranium mining far outweigh any short term cash payment. We can’t close the gap by increasing the number of radioactive holes in the ground. Aboriginal people should not have to sacrifice the country of future generations, for basic health, education and infrastructure. There are far more jobs and opportunities in a conservation and culture economy, and in caring for country.
“We Can’t Close the Gap by Digging a Deeper Hole” WA Nuclear Free Alliance Conference Statement: The Western Australia Nuclear Free Alliance (WANFA), made up of Aboriginal Traditional Land Owners from the Pilbara, the Kimberley, the Goldfields, the Great Victoria Desert, the Central Desert, the Gascoyne, Perth and the South West and their allies, met from 2-4 April 2011 on Noongar lands near Perth.
Since the beginning of time, Aboriginal people have been the proud custodians of our land Australia. Still today, with new technology, new ways and new friends, Aboriginal people continue looking after country. In Western Australia looking after country means preventing uranium mining. Continue reading
Australian mining companies’ power to manipulate Aboriginals
I believe we are failing indigenous Australians,” he said.
“What is a multi-billionaire company doing negotiating directly with these people? We’re talking about people who are in general, poor and marginalised and often neglected by the state.
“They’re being offered these employment opportunities and income by a corporate giant and they are not in a position, in my view, to make a fully-informed decision.
Aborigines thrown to the mining wolves: expert, WA Today, Lucy Rickard, 18 April 11, The state government has abandoned Aboriginal people, leaving them to unfairly negotiate multi-million dollar deals with mining corporations and their armies of lawyers, according to an economics policy expert. Continue reading
Rio Tinto chief avoids discussion of Jabiluka uranium mine
ERA chief executive Rob Atkinson told The Australian that ERA did not want Jabiluka –.. to become part of Kakadu…If Rio approaches the Mirarr people about development and gets knocked back, it is unable to make another approach for four years…
Du Plessis sidesteps questions on Jabiluka uranium * Matt Chambers The Australian * April 16, 2011 RIO Tinto chairman Jan du Plessis has sidestepped questions over the future of the Jabiluka uranium mine in the Northern Territory, with the traditional owners of the area wanting it merged into Kakadu National Park so it cannot be mined. Continue reading
Letter to United Nations from Yvonne Margarula
Yvonne Margarula’s letter to the UN expressing solidarity with the people of Fukushima , | Indymedia Australia, 16 Apr 2011 Below is a letter sent by Yvonne Margarula of the Mirrar people to Ban Ki Moon the Secretary General of the UN on the 6th of April 2011. The Mirrar are the traditional owners of the land that Ranger and Jabiluka Uranium mines are located on. These mines have been developed without the consent of the Mirrar people. The letter expresses solidarity with the people of Japan and sorrow that uraniun from the land of the Mirrar was used in the Fukushima plant. Continue reading
Uranium mining has done damage enough to Mirrar Aboriginal people
“Uranium mining has also taken our country away from us and destroyed it – billabongs and creeks gone for ever. There are hills of poisonous rock and great holes in the ground with poisonous mud.”
Aborigines to block uranium mining after Japan disaster, The Independent, By Kathy Marks, 14 April 2011 “………..Uranium mining has a troubled history in the area. The Ranger deposit – now operated by Energy Resources of Australia (ERA), a subsidiary of the Anglo-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto – was developed against the Mirarr’s wishes. Continue reading
Radioactive water risk keeps Ranger uranium mine closed
a threat of contaminated water leaking from Ranger into nearby waterways could keep the mine closed for the rest of this year….there’s no way the company will be able to safely treat the contaminated water stored at Ranger by the time the mining lease expires in 10 years….
AUDIO AM – Traditional Aboriginal land owners pressure uranium miner to shut up shop 08/04/2011 ABC Radio National. 08/04/2011 TONY EASTLEY: The Australian company that produces 10 per cent of the world’s uranium is under increasing pressure by Aboriginal traditional owners to shut up shop.The Mirarr people own the section of the world heritage listed Kakadu National Park that includes the Ranger uranium mine operated by Energy Resources of Australia. Continue reading
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