Traditional owners of land containing uranium across Australia have consistently opposed the mining of this special element. Below is an official statement from the senior traditional owners of the Jabiluka mineral lease, the Gundjehmi people, and the recently formed Alliance Against Uranium, a global coalition of numerous Aboriginal and Environment groups from all over Australia.
Gundjehmi Statement and Alliance Against Uranium Jaqui Katona's Speech - MAPW Conf. April 1997
Statement from the Gundjehmi Aboriginal Corporation We, the Mirrar Gundjehmi, Mirrar Erre, Bunitj, and Manilakarr clan leaders, have met to talk to each other about the future of our people and protection of our country.We have many concerns about mining in our country. We do not feel that our people or country have been protected since mining came here. Government has forced us to accept mining in the past and we are concerned that you will force mining development upon us again. Previous mining agreements have not protected us or given our communities strength to survive the development.
A new mine will make our future worthless and destroy more of our country. We oppose any further mining development in our country.
We recognise and affirm the responsibility of the senior traditional owner, Yvonne Margarula, to decide on the future of Mirrar lands and we support her opposition to mining. We have no desire to see any more country ripped up and further negative intrusions on our lives.
Our future depends on our culture remaining strong. It is important for our obligations to each other to be recognised and our responsibilities for country to be met. Our cultural values cannot be traded for money. Our country, and the cultural values of our people, is recognised by World Heritage standards and we call on your Government to honour these obligations. These obligations can not be dismissed. We call on all Australians to honour these obligations.
Government has forced us to trade our citizenship rights for mining development. No other citizens are asked to make this sacrifice. The lack of Government support has had a permanent impact on our community, there have been great changes which have had a permanent negative impact. We believe the decisions that are made by Government about our future also reflect on the rest of Australia.
We have to deal with the massive intrusions that development brings to our country. Our priority is protecting country and by doing this protecting our people and our future.
We say no to mining at Djabulugku.
Yvonne Margarula Jacob Nayinggul Bill Niedjie
Alliance Against Uranium A recent meeting in Alice Springs saw the formation of the Alliance Against Uranium :"We the Martu, Arabanna Murran, Gangalida peoples have met with the environment groups; Australian Conservation Foundation, The Wilderness Society, Friends of the Earth, Arid Lands Environment Centre, Western Australian Anti-Uranium Coalition, Greens WA and Gaia Foundation, Nuclear Issues Centre SA to talk about our opposition to Uranium mining.
We share concerns with local, national, international impacts of present and proposed uranium mines. We don't want uranium from our country to be used to hurt other peoples. The Aboriginal experience of uranium mining continues to result in genocide of our country and destruction of our homelands and country.
Our future depends on all cultures remaining strong. Our cultural values cannot be traded for money. Our country and law and power and cultural values have been recognised by the High Court.
We call on all Australians to recognise and affirm these Native Title obligations to protect country and culture now and for the future.
Together we have developed a time table for action to oppose uranium mining and export at all levels and to actively work towards reducing all forms of nuclear threat."
Speech by Jaqui Katona - MAPW Conference, April 1997 I'd like to thank the organisers of this conference for an opportunity to speak with you today on the issue of uranium mining on Mirrar land. I work for the Mirrar people in Kakadu National Park for the Gundjehmi Aboriginal Corporation.
The Mirrar, and other people of the Kakadu region, have dealt with the consequences of uranium mining for the past twenty years. When uranium was discovered in large quantities in our area, the Federal Government faced a significant dilemma. There was widespread support for the legislation of the Aboriginal Landrights Act to recognise the important relationship of Aboriginal people to the land, and the need for Aboriginal people to be empowered, to make decisions about the management and control of their country. However, mining companies were determined to capitalise on a resource boom of the most dangerous mineral on the face of the earth.
Our people have always been opposed to uranium mining. Our people have an obligation, recognised and imposed by our law - Aboriginal law - to protect country. Our people have been well aware of the destructive force of uranium beyond mining, and held fears for the use of uranium when it left Kakadu. The opposition of Aboriginal people created a problem for the Government. How could they give Aboriginal people control of their land if the demands of industry could not be satisfied?
So the government created a process, the Fox Inquiry. The aim of this Inquiry was to look into the feasibility of opening four uranium mines within an eighty kilometre radius of each other. The Inquiry was charged to investigate the likely social and economic impacts on the Aboriginal community, the nuclear fuel cycle and the environmental consequences.
The Inquiry recognised that Aboriginal people had a clear and unquestionable right to successfully claim their land. It found that Aboriginal people were absolutely opposed to the mining of uranium. It also found that the opposition of Aboriginal people should not prevail, and instead, Kakadu National Park should be created, a township would be established and strict environmental controls would monitor the four uranium mines.
Our people continued to oppose uranium mining. Government representatives visited our community and told the people they couldn't say no. There was a media lockout. The Northern Land Council was advised that if approval was not given by Traditional Owners then the Landrights Act would be dismantled. Our people were told that approval for Ranger was in the national interest. Independent advisers were refused permits by the Northern Land Council, and in the words of one of the Land Council members, the Ranger agreement was signed through lies and trickery. This agreement went on to become the subject of legal action against the Commonwealth.
It's clear that the Ranger agreement was signed under duress. Landrights have become a meaningless platitude. Landrights protected the rights of the powerful, and condemned our people as passive recipients of the consequence of resource development. A new regime of management and control was set out from Mirrar land, outside the direct control of Traditional Owners. Next came the approvals process for Jabiluka. Our people continued to oppose uranium mining. In this case, the land was still under a claim under the landrights Act, a claim which was strenuously opposed by the mining company, Pancontinental. The campaign of aggression then took another step. In exchange for opening limited negotiations on the agreement, before approval for the project had been sought, the Northern Land Council suggested to the company that they would draw their opposition to the land claim. Pan Continental agreed. In fact Pan Continental were so supportive, so grateful for the limited negotiations which they opposed with further duress, that they paid a large part of the cost of the land claim. They also paid a large cost involved in negotiating the agreement.
It was clear to our people then that their right to say no which was expressly legislated for in the Aboriginal Landrights Act would conveniently evaporate for what Government called Australia's future. This has been a high price for our community. We have watched our people die in the shadow of industrial gain. Our community is regarded as fringe dwellers in our country. As soon as the ink was dry on the agreement, our citizenship rights were withdrawn.
There were many promises made to our people about the benefits of mining. School, housing, employment, health services and investments. Well, we have no Aboriginal graduates of secondary education. Housing is substandard. The vast majority of the community is unemployed. Health services are minimal. And those strategic investments are losing value each year. Consumption of alcohol and dependence on welfare are inescapable problems.
Aboriginal people in our community are not regarded as citizens. If these problems are to be addressed, there is only the offer of a new mine for us to be able to achieve a better standard of living.
The dominance of multi-national mining companies on our country has cost our community a high price. We have paid not only by losing our country, we have paid by living out the consequences of decisions taken by others, made about our future.
Our interests are not protected by mining agreements. Our people are not the millionaires the media would have you believe, although these agreements have been held up as some sort of model for negotiating agreements to benefit Aboriginal communities.
No effort has been made by government to ensure that social and economic conditions have been, or will be improved for our people. Only the offer of further development. Energy Resources of Australia, the leaseholders for the Ranger and Jabiluka deposits, releases contaminated water from the Ranger mine into our wetlands every year. These wetlands are protected, by a garden variety of cross hatched environmental standards - National Heritage Estate, Ramsar Convention, National Parks status, and World Heritage Listing. We have been devastated to learn that neither Traditional Owners' opposition, nor internationally recognised standards are capable of reventing further release of contaminated water. How much is Australia prepared to sacrifice to meet the needs of an industry which so callously disregards the consequences of its activities?
Is Australia prepared to continue to sacrifice the rights of indigenous people and environmental standards for short term private profit for a company ?
Nothing can replace our country when its mined. Nothing can reverse the damage to our water system and our food sources. Our culture can't be replaced by money. Inherent in our laws and culture is an obligation to protect and preserve our homeland for future generations. It isn't negotiable. It isn't a matter of convenience It's our tacit responsibility to future generations. In fact, its a right recognised by the High Court.
Stopping the Jabiluka mine is the first step in changing the future for our community. We have a responsibility to our children, and grandchildren and their children, to strengthen their heritage by acting now. This is our future. Without industrial domination. Without aggression. With meaningful positive change. For us, by us.
We say No to uranium mining now and for the future. Our right to say no comes from our ancestors, our heritage, our law and culture. Our Native Title. The Federal, State and Territory Governments are now moving to extinguish Aboriginal Rights. They will create a meaningless piece of legislation, which will, like the Aboriginal Landrights Act, again marginalise Aboriginal people, their role in managing and controlling our future.
Other countries have successfully dealt with indigenous people's rights without extinguishment. There have been a number of comprehensive agreements reached in Canada to ensure that Aboriginal people have the ability to exercise their rights as equals, through recognised laws. Those ideals of equality, respect and recognition are a manifest requirement in this country also.
We will continue to fight uranium mining on our land by pursuing whatever legal avenue is open to us. We believe that the mineral lease issued for Jabiluka is invalid, and the Northern Land Council has written to the company and the Government seeking clarification without a response and we will now seek a determination in the courts. We have met and established the Alliance Against Uranium, and with other Aboriginal people and environmental groups, we are committed to the following declaration:
We, the Martu, Mirrar Erre, Arabanna, Murran and Gangalida people have met with the environment groups of Australia. We share concerns with local, national and international impact of present and proposed uranium mines. We don't want uranium from our country to be used to hurt other people. The Aboriginal experience with uranium mining continues to result in genocide of our community and destruction of our homeland and country.Our future depends on all our cultures remaining strong. Our cultural values cannot be traded for money. Our country, the law and power, the cultural values, have been recognised by the High Court. We call on all Australians to recognise and affirm these Native Title obligations, to protect country and culture, now, and for the future.
Together we have developed a timetable for action, to oppose uranium mining and export at all levels, and to actively work towards reducing all forms of nuclear threat. It's forums like this one that are important. It's been demonstrated to us that there is a section of society willing to acknowledge the importance of the Aboriginal contribution to the future of Australia. For protection, management and control of the country. Aboriginal people have been defeated at every turn when they oppose uranium mining.
Our struggle is under-resourced, and our voices are pushed aside. We need to fight uranium mining collectively, recognising the rights of Aboriginal people to a better future, and acknowledging the importance of a nuclear free future.
Although I'm a guest at this forum, I'd like to put it to you here today to consider a motion of support for our efforts, and the efforts of other Aboriginal people and non-Aboriginal people to prevent uranium mining. I propose a motion as follows:
That this conference mindful of the social, cultural dislocation experienced by Aboriginal communities in the mining of uranium, mindful of the worker and public health risks, and acknowledging the inescapable links between the civil and military nuclear cycle, calls upon National Government to reduce all forms of nuclear threat. I put that this MAPW conference specifically calls upon the Australian Government to acknowledge its responsibility to present and future generations. To actively work to reduce mining and export of Australian uranium, and in particular I put that this conference calls upon the Australian Government to heed and act upon the continuing opposition of Aboriginal people to uranium mining and to work actively and responsibly to phase out this industry and to oppose its expansion. Your support is invaluable. Your recognition is welcomed.
We hope that together our efforts will build a more honest future for all of us.
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