Courageous Aboriginal owners value their land above money
In a letter to the United Nations Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, this week, Ms Margarula said it was “with great sadness” the Mirarr people learnt of the suffering of the Japanese people following the earthquake and tsunami.
Ms Margarula told Mr Ban her people had been blocked from opposing the export of uranium from their land to Japan…..
Jeffery Lee, the sole member of the Djok clan, offered Koongarra to the 
government, shunning the chance to become a billionaire, saying he is happy to work as a ranger protecting the land….
Forget the billions, return Jabiluka site to Kakadu, say traditional owners, Sydney Morning Herald, Lindsay Murdoch Jabiru April 7, 2011 ABORIGINAL traditional owners have declared they want the multibillion-dollar Jabiluka uranium deposit to remain undeveloped and be incorporated into Kakadu National Park. Continue reading
Australia’s seizure of Aboriginal land for uranium mining
……..mining has a lot to do with the Northern Territory Intervention. Australia has 23% of the world’s known uranium deposits……Since the Intervention, the Territory’s government has allocated AU$14.4 million to expanding its mining industry....
…communities have been offered homes in exchange for 40 year leases. Thus, the Intervention, has wrested indigenous land from its owners by force and bribed indigenous communities to barter their rights for basic amenities…
the seizures of their land, the bribes to get them to hand over control of more land, and the attempts to shift them from outstations are not about protecting children or building new homes. They are about getting access to mineral wealth and sweeping indigenous people out of the way in order to do so..
Aboriginal Peoples Lose Rights and Mineral Rich Land in Northern Territory Intervention. The Women’s International Perspective , Sarah Irving, 1 April 11, “……..indigenous voices heard in Our Generation, an important new film documenting the impact of the ‘Northern Territory Emergency Response.’ Continue reading
Aboriginal resistance to Australia’s nuclear waste dump plan
Japan disaster sparks nuclear dump concern ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation), Mar 31, 2011 Traditional owners say the nuclear crisis in Japan shows plans to build a nuclear waste storage facility near Tennant Creek, in Central Australia, should be reassessed…… Continue reading
Legal proceedings begin on Muckaty nuclear waste dump plan
“Everyone knew that the wrong people gave permission to have that land destroyed by these government people who weren’t listening to the main Traditional Owners.
Traditional Owners angry at Muckaty decision, ABC Rural, Northern Territoary, By Caddie Brain, 25/02/2011 Mediation proceedings begin today in the court challenge over the nomination of Muckaty station as the proposed site for a nuclear waste dump.Traditional Owners have reaffirmed their opposition to the facility claiming that the government failed to consult all traditional owner groups. Continue reading
Mirrar Aboriginals tell European Parliamentarians of Ranger uranium mine dangers
Speaking through an interpreter, Mirarr elder Annie Ngalmirama said the people’s key concerns included mine waste and water management, contamination threats and the long-term social and cultural impacts of mining.
Australia’s secretive nuclear waste Bill tramples on Aboriginal rights
“It’s a secretive piece of legislation in that it takes away people’s rights. It specifically removes procedural fairness and legal recourse from the people of Muckaty and it really restricts options for people all round Australia to have their say.
SBS Podcasts : Podcasts: World-News-Australia
25 Feb 2011,By Santilla Chingaipe, Controversial legislation allowing the creation of Australia’s first nuclear waste dump has been passed in the House of Representatives. Continue reading
Aboriginal traditional owners challenge Australian government to meet them over nuclear waste dump issue
“Come Out and Camp with Us” Traditional Owners Challenge Government to Meet Over Muckaty Waste Dump, 26 Feb 2011, Muckaty Traditional Owners met outside the offices of the Northern Land Council in Tennant Creek today to protest the passing of the National Radioactive Waste Management Bill through the House of Representatives.
The protest coincided with a federal court mediation in Melbourne about the contested Muckaty site nomination, attended by Traditional Owner Mark Lane Jangala. The Traditional Owners resolved to continue fighting the proposed waste dump and reiterated calls for politicians and the NLC to come to Tennant Creek and meet with the community. Continue reading
Muckaty Aboriginal owners do not want nuclear waste dump
Muckaty Traditional Owner Dianne Stokes says: “All along we have said we don’t want this dump on our land but we have been ignored. Martin Ferguson has avoided us and ignored our letters but he knows very well how we feel.
MUCKATY TRADITIONAL OWNERS – PROPOSED RADIOACTIVE WASTE DUMP AT MUCKATY NT, by Jim Green, Feb 2011, Mr Ferguson claims that Ngapa Traditional Owners support the nomination of the Muckaty site. However he knows that many of them oppose the dump. He received a letter opposing the dump in May 2009 signed by 25 Ngapa Traditional Owners and 32 Traditional Owners from other Muckaty groups. While some members of the Muckaty Land Trust support a national waste dump in return for cash benefits and access to improved services, many do not. Continue reading
Northern Territory Intervention aboriginal land grab is discriminatory
Intervention still discriminatory: Gooda, Sydney Morning Herald, Julian DrapeFebruary 10, 2011 – Social justice commissioner Mick Gooda has attacked federal Labor over its redesign of the Northern Territory intervention, arguing key elements remain racially discriminatory. Continue reading
Aboriginals want a GENUINE study into Ranger uranium mine and water
ERA rejects ‘poison’ mine water worry – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation), By Anna Henderson Feb 9, 2011 A senior traditional owner in Kakadu National Park is calling on the Australian government to reject plans to expand the Ranger uranium mine. Continue reading
Prominent Australians call for stopping Northern Territory Intervention
AUDIO Plea for intervention into Intervention, ABC, The World Today, Rachel Carbonell reported this story , February 8, 2011 12 ELEANOR HALL: The Federal Intervention in the Northern Territory is under renewed attack today.The former chief justice of the Family Court in Australia, Alastair Nicholson, and the former prime minister, Malcolm Fraser, are just two people on a list of prominent Australians who are pleading for urgent changes.In their Statement on Aboriginal Rights, they say there hasn’t been adequate consultation, the Intervention remains discriminatory……….. Continue reading
Change Australia’s national day to one with a positive meaning
Wattle Day, the first day of September is an ideal day for this purpose….As a symbol of nature, it is a sign of the depth of feeling Indigenous people have for their land. Their ecological practice is an outcome of their relations of kinship with the natural world and they contribute a great deal to land management across Australia based on their eco-knowledge.
Why Wattle Day should be our national day, Eureka Street, Paul W. Newbury January 23, 2011 I am one of many Australians who cannot commemorate Australia Day on 26 January because I find it impossible to celebrate national unity on a day that divides the nation between the Indigenous survivors of invasion and those who inherited the spoils of their dispossession…. Continue reading
Judge rules for Aboriginal landowners against mining company
`The native title in the land of the traditional owners in preventing mining are significant and genuine,” he said…. ‘the Kokatha people’s genuine, longstanding and consistently voiced opposition to mining weighed against approval.’
SA judge’s blow to Straits, Argonaut | Perth Now, 17 Jan 2011, A SOUTH Australian court has denied Straits Resources and its joint venture partner Argonaut Resources the rights to explore a region around Lake Torrens. Continue reading
Australia’s new Consitutional Committee – for uranium miners more than for Aborigines?
Noel Pearson,……. increasing his personal wealth through deals with mining companies and rightwing politicians.….. It would also be a very good idea for Marcia Langton and Pat Dodson to inform the Aboriginal people of the purpose and outcomes of their private meeting with Queen Elizabeth II in London 1999. This was a meeting, I understand, organized by the hierarchy of Rio Tinto. How can we place or have any trust in these sorts of people?……
Appalled at the people on the constitutional committee. Indymedia Australia, Commentary by Michael Anderson, last survivor of the four founders of the Aboriginal Embassy and leader of the Euahlayi Nation. Goodooga, northwest NSW, 18 January 2011
I am appalled at the announcement of the people who are to sit on this farcical constitutional committee to consider a proposal for the recognition of Aboriginal people in the Australian constitution… Continue reading
W.A. govt ready to over-ride Aboriginal landowners’ rights
The rightful traditional owners have been promised a generous benefits package whether the project proceeds with their consent or not.
Another native title claim over gas hub land – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) 12 Jan 2011, A third over-lapping native title claim has been lodged over the land chosen for the $30 billion gas hub in Western Australia’s Kimberley. Continue reading
1 This month
of the week – Australians for War Powers Reform (AWPR)
To see nuclear-related stories in greater depth and intensity
Antinuclear 