Larissa Waters (Queensland, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I would like to first acknowledge the presence in the public gallery of some traditional owners from the Cape. It is their homelands that will be affected by Gina Rinehart's application to mine these ancient Indigenous rock art galleries, some of which are more than 30,000 years old. In a motion that has been worded to call on this federal government to do everything it can to protect these rock art galleries—which the traditional owners want to be protected under a World Heritage listing that has not yet been delivered—I think it is a craven shame that this chamber is not lifting a finger to express its concern and its desire to protect these ancient cultural sites. I would just like to apologise to the folk in the gallery for the result today and let them know that the Greens are behind them and we do not give up.