Christine Milne (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate—

(a)

notes that:

(i)

the South African Minister of Minerals and Energy, Ms Buyelwa Sonjica, in the week beginning 21 September 2008 put on hold the mining rights previously awarded to the Australian company Mineral Commodities Limited and its South African partner Transworld Energy and Mineral Resources,

(ii)

this planned sand mining operation along a 22 kilometre stretch of coastal dunes on South Africa’s wild coast would have changed the way of life of the AmaDiba people who have lived in the area for centuries, and

(iii)

such changes may cause further social conflict, forced evictions, loss of access to farmland, relocation of ancestral graves, destruction of culturally-important archaeological sites and unacceptable environmental and health impacts; and

(b)

calls on the Government to investigate whether human rights abuses, violence and conflict have occurred or are occurring, as a result of this Australian company’s activities and planned mining operations.

Question put.