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

What the actual flip is this disallowance supposed to do? I know Senator Duniam doesn't live here on the mainland with the rest of us, but it is shameful, actually, that we have the coalition standing up here on this disallowance motion in relation to a government decision about the headwaters of this wonderful, wonderful place at Belabula—in the headways of that river, in fact. It's another example of how big money in this country thinks it can bully and silence First Nations people's voices, and it's atrocious.

It is absolutely atrocious that traditional owners met with us today to talk us through the six times that the consultation was put out for this particular process. In the last few weeks, those traditional owners have been bullied and personally attacked. Their motives around why they're protecting country have been questioned. It causes extreme and great distress. They are the custodians of this country, of that land and of those waterways. It causes them great distress, because it is an attack on their reputation, cultural knowledge and ability to protect that country by people who think that they can go in there and just ram through an objection to all of that based on the fact that you want to make money off it. It is ridiculous!

And how disrespectful to think that these people would make this up. I mean, you stand up here in this place and say people lying. What benefit do you think that they get to lie about this—to put themselves through the emotional stress and economic distress? They have had to not work for weeks on end while they are fighting to protect their country and their water. They have blocked the construction of the tailings dam because of the precious cultural heritage connection that they have to this place. It's not just about the Dreaming story; it's about the creation story that exists in there. It is about the artefacts that have been found in that place. It is about the totemic system and the biodiversity that exist here. It is not the government blocking the McPhillamys gold mine. So let's clear up that fact to start with.

The traditional owners' application was supported by some of those archaeological surveys. In every part of this country—in every corner of it—there is an archaeological, cultural heritage survey that happens under the law.

That was actually done by Regis Resources for McPhillamys gold mine. It found that there was an extensive collection of archaeological sites that were identified and recorded. There are 19 artefacts scatters, 18 isolated finds and one open artefact site which were mapped. The outcome of that survey is publicly available. So, contrary to what Senator Duniam has said in this place tonight, they are publicly available. You can all see those.

In the plains region this is a very significant area. It's about the three brothers' dreaming story, and it's well known in this region. There are songlines that run through this area, so the tangible and intangible cultural heritage is so important. This was previously recognised by the coalition's own minister, former minister Ley from the other place, in the section 10 declaration back in 2021 to protect the desecration of this proposed site from a go-kart track.

The elders that I met with today have not just jumped up as has been assumed. What Senator Duniam has brought to this place is that they just jumped up one day and said: 'We'd like to stop a gold mine. We'd like to stop it from going ahead. We don't want anyone to muck it up. We will, in fact, lock up the lands.' That's what Senator Duniam has said, which is absolutely untrue. This is untrue because these dreaming stories are part of that connection that First Nations people have to these cultural places, and the Wiradjuri people of this region, in particular, know of the stories of the three brothers dreaming.

The water that runs through this area, which has a matriarchal—a women's—connection to this place, is so important. There are strong connections to the waterways in this area. By overturning this decision, the government, in fact, sought to protect these waterways, because part of that living being of water that they are looking to protect is part of their identity and poisoning that through putting a gold mine close by is poisoning their spiritual connection to their culture. As someone who has lived in the Goldfields area of Western Australia, I can very much vouch for the mines getting bigger and bigger as their profits do and poisoning the waters in and across the northern Goldfields. As people continue to pillage our country, it has such a significant impact on our waterways.

If miners want to continue to do this in this country, they need to conduct their operations through free, prior and informed consent. We know from the Joint Standing Committee on Northern Australia's inquiry into Juukan Gorge in the A way forward report that we absolutely need free, prior and informed consent. This government accepted the majority of those recommendations, and I had the pleasure of serving on that committee We absolutely need standalone cultural heritage, which this government committed to at the last election. We're still waiting to see that draft legislation. But I am pleased that Minister Plibersek from the other place has taken the stance as the federal minister for the environment to absolutely do her job under section 10 and make sure that she heard the elders, the traditional people, the custodians of this area to look after the cultural heritage that needed to be protected under this. In this instance, the government has absolutely done their job, and I would love to see more and more instances where section 10 is utilised to protect country.

Nobody has been blindsided in this instance. Nobody has been led down the garden path. This is not causing uncertainty. This is about protecting country. Every day we stand in this place and talk about acknowledging country. Know that this was walked upon. These are ancient lands. There are ceremonial grounds. There are artefacts. There are people's bones under where you walk and where you put your buildings and drive your cars in this country.

The fact that a goldmine can't go ahead and we hear 'boohoo' in this disallowance is disgraceful. This decision simply means that the Minister for the Environment and Water, Minister Plibersek, has chosen in this instance to protect a very culturally significant site.

What we know is that goldmining has a significant impact on First Peoples' protection of their country. The UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People is so important. Australia is a signatory to that, and we're still waiting, 10 months later, to hear the government's response to the inquiry into it. I look forward to hearing what the formal mechanisms are in which we tell the truth. Well, this is truth-telling. In New South Wales this group of custodians have led truth-telling, and the framework for truth-telling, in their part of the country, and we should applaud that. We should not be thinking about the absolute mess that will be left behind from this goldmining, and the fact that the tailings dam just happens to be where there's a cultural heritage site. Do you know what? Find another location. If you are so damned intent on ruining the environment, don't put it in a culturally significant place; find somewhere else to do it.

As for the reference to jobs, what we know in Australia—what I know through my research as the spokesperson for resources—is that in this country we actually employ more people in nursing and in hospitality than we do in mining. So people need to stop saying that. I'm someone who comes from a state that is very rich in mining, but it's not the be-all and end-all. We need to look after those workers but we also need to look after the First Nations people who live in those towns, because they actually had their own culture before FIFO came along, and we're not doing that.

I congratulate this government. I congratulate the minister for the environment on the decision she made. It is the right choice to make at this time, and absolutely we need more decisions like it.