Dorinda Cox (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I know it's some time, as others in this place have mentioned, since the Governor-General actually gave his address. In that address the Governor-General stated:

The Government commits to engage closely and respectfully with First Nations people, and the Australian community more broadly, ahead of the referendum.

It shouldn't actually take an item of the government's agenda to treat First Nations people in this country with respect. This respect should not be limited to a referendum process, and First Nations people should be treated with respect from the day our land was actually invaded and every day since then.

Yet, First Nations people are continuing to fight for their land and their sea country, for the protection of their cultural heritage and, in particular, for their human rights in this country. Unfortunately, much of this has already been destroyed. We see this particularly at Murujuga and Juukan Gorge and the development projects such as Barossa, Beetaloo, Scarborough and the Narrabri gas fields. The list goes on and on and is quite extensive, and time and time again we have seen the cultural heritage of traditional owners tossed aside in the name of corporate interests.

Murujuga contains the largest and oldest collection of rock art in the world. As of this week, it has been referred to the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, yet this government will not commit to stopping the expansion of projects on the Burrup Peninsula that continue to destroy this ancient cultural heritage. They have in fact continued to help fast-track Pluto 3 and 4, with the acid rain that rains down from the emissions destroying this wonderful rock art and, in fact, impacting on the songlines of the seven sisters in this area. Traditional owners refused permission to have these rocks relocated on multiple occasions—particularly the Circle of Elders—making it clear that their preference was for this rock art to remain undisturbed and intact. They agreed to the removal of those rocks that contain that rock art only once they were advised that it wasn't possible or even an option for that to remain intact.

Nothing about this process at Murujuga respects the principles of free, prior and informed consent. It is coercion, it is manipulation and it is continued through a 40-year-old BMIEA agreement between the state and the traditional owners in that area. This agreement allows industry to run rampant, and traditional owners to have a little say on the side and be consulted with, but in fact nothing in this agreement is about consent. It clearly does not outline their consent in relation to the removal of those rocks, what's happening with Pluto 3 and 4, and the expansion of the Woodside project there. The traditional owners clearly did not consent after much discussion with the state and federal government. In fact, the campaign on Save our Songlines has submitted their section 10 protest to this removal of rocks, both here where the fossil fuel industry grows right before their very eyes and at the Perdaman Euroa fertiliser site.

Let's move to the Tiwi Islands, where traditional owners challenged NOPSEMA, the independent regulator, and Santos over their lack of consultation. 'Lack of consultation' is putting that really nicely for the Barossa gas project. But guess what? They won. They won because there were two emails and an unanswered phone call—that was all that Santos thought the traditional owners from the Munupi clan—one clan group of eight—deserved as part of consultation. Tell me, fellow colleagues in this chamber, does that sound like respectful engagement to you for people whose land it is? This case has set a legal precedence now to put fossil fuel companies in this country on notice—and so it should. This has sector-wide implications, and I congratulate the Munupi people of the Tiwi Islands, their traditional owners, for taking a stand against industry. In fact, they are the cultural giants. They are the people that deserve to be consulted and to provide their consent for what is happening on their land and sea country.

These sites are important not only to traditional owners but also to all of us in this country—First Nations people or not. This is our collective history. It is our culture, and we should all be proud of this. We should all be eager to protect it. It's unacceptable that, time and time again, First Nations people are being forced to give up and, in fact, made to stand by and watch as people rip the soul out of our country and destroy our water. We are left standing there as innocent bystanders, unable to say anything because cultural heritage is for sale in this country and it's for somebody else's profit.

Time and time again, we've heard that cultural heritage laws in this country are too weak and they must be strengthened. The government now must walk the walk, because at this moment, they're doing what the government did before, and before, and before. Successive government legacies are left behind about taking advantage of these weak laws at the expense of traditional owners in this country and at the expense of First Nations cultural heritage in this country. You may ask, 'What is the solution to that?' The solution is very simple. It is to adopt all three elements of the Uluru Statement From the Heart plus stronger cultural heritage laws and other legislative changes like the ratification of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People. These all play a pivotal and important role in protecting our cultural heritage, and I will keep fighting for all of them to be included.

The quote of the Governor-General during his speech is:

… the Government will invest in First Nations management of lands and waters, humbly recognising the skills and knowledge gained over tens of thousands of years.

It is a great statement, but, once again, we must centre and we must make sure that the respect for First Nations science, which should have already been done from day one, is actually actioned, is done, is there, isn't allowed to be moved and taken away. With our deep connection to our water, our land and our precise methods of maintaining our vast and diverse lands that have been supported and not systemically destroyed by people who came here after that, we could be living, in fact, in a very different nation now. But, once again, we have to fight for hundreds of years just to have our ancient knowledge acknowledged, respected and taken seriously.

As the Australian Greens portfolio hold for science, I really look forward to seeing government's genuine investment in First Nations science and the government treating it on equal footing with Western science in this country. One is no better than the other, and they are systems with deep understanding of which the world we live. We, as the traditional owners and custodians of this country, have been caring for it for tens of thousands of years. It is well beyond time that we strengthen and make stronger legislative standards surrounding First Nations cultural heritage and allow First Nations people to take a self-determined role to care for their own land and water. We may not be able to recover what we've lost, but by God we could absolutely protect what is still left. But we have to act now.

It is, in fact, why I am here in this place. I will continue to raise my voice and to hold this government to account just as we've heard from members of the opposition. The Greens will continue to talk about the issues that are important, because we don't want this referendum to be a farce. We don't want this process not to deliver any of the important things that I've just referred to and that the Governor-General came into this place and talked about when we all started here last year. We want a process that is fulsome, that is going to deliver outcomes for First Nations people in this country, because we can't just keep hearing the rhetoric that people keep using about this as if it's 'over there'. This is an issue that needs to be centred in this place, and it is now time.