Mehreen Faruqi (NSW, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

It is very rare that the Labor government does something good or worthwhile or strong enough for the environment. In fact, time and time again, they do the exact opposite. They refuse to fix broken environmental laws. They refuse to end native forest logging. In the middle of a climate crisis, they are approving coal and gas projects like there's no tomorrow. They are thinking of watering down their already weak proposal for a national EPA. They are killing the environment, and it is death by a thousand cuts.

But the declaration to preserve and protect an area which comprises parts of the Belubula River, its headwaters and its springs at Kings Plains near Blayney in my home state of New South Wales as a significant Aboriginal area is that rare occasion. It's a good decision. When they do actually do something to protect the environment, land, water and, most importantly, Aboriginal and cultural heritage, the Greens will support it.

We will be opposing this disgraceful disallowance because already, in the more than 200 years of colonisation, too much Aboriginal heritage has been destroyed and desecrated. Too much land and water has already been polluted and plundered. Every single bit of Aboriginal heritage must be protected and preserved.

The proposed McPhillamys goldmine site in Kings Plains is in the Central West of New South Wales and threatens the cultural heritage of the Wiradjuri people who are the sovereign owners of that area. Their elders have been fighting rightly to defend their culture and heritage. Wiradjuri elders that I met today have told us that the water from the springs, which are at risk, is sacred. They told us the association of the place with Dreaming stories. They told us of the blue-banded bee, and they told us of their songlines. They have told us about the artefacts that are there and how each piece of evidence scaffolds the other. They told us they had no agenda but to simply protect country and protect their stories, which are written into the landscape.

Their stories have been buried by colonisation. These stories must be heard. They must be brought into the limelight. They must persevere for generations to come.

After pushing hard, Wiradyuri Traditional Owners Central West Aboriginal Corporation and elders have finally been successful, after years, in getting the government to issue a protection declaration. But now they are, shamefully, being harassed, threatened and slandered, and the coalition, moving this disgraceful disallowance motion today, is feeding right into those attacks. So, shame on you. First Nations people have for millennia protected and cared for land, water and culture, which we know have been destroyed since colonisation.

Now the coalition wants to undo one of the few things the Labor government have done on the environment. Well, we're not going to let you do that. We know you are the mouthpieces of the dirty mining lobby and their mega profits, because some of those profits come back into the party coffers. We know you don't care about First Nations heritage and you don't care about the environment. But we do, because we listen to and believe First Nations people when they tell us a site has spiritual importance. When they tell us that, it does—that's it. We respect them when they say, 'We are country, and country is us.' We are with them when Aunty Leanna says: 'It affects your family, your livelihood. It consumes every corner of your world. Everything we do, we do for the love of country. We've got nothing to gain from this. We just want it left the way it is, sitting in country forever.' Thank you, Aunty Leanna. First Nations culture and heritage should sit in country forever.