Mining companies told to ‘wake up’ or risk relationship with shareholders in wake of Juukan Gorge inquiry
Mining companies in the Pilbara need to “wake up” to the recommendations of the parliamentary inquiry into Rio Tinto’s destruction of Juukan Gorge or they will be in “serious trouble” from their shareholders and the public, who will not tolerate another disaster of its kind, the Labor senator Pat Dodson said.
Speakingon the release of the interim report on Wednesday, Dodson repeated his comments that mining companies who continue to destroy Aboriginal heritage in the Pilbara were committing a form of “incremental genocide”.
“I still have that view, because these section 18s are still there, they’re still capable of being exercised,” he said. “Unless the companies take and the governments take stock of it, it will lead to that.
“Because what you do is you destroy the evidentiary base of the traditional owners whose lands these companies are operating upon, you remove any heritage, any evidence of their occupation, any evidence of their story, song, dance or their location and say, there’s nothing here, you don’t belong here because it’s all destroyed, and you consented to it being destroyed. I mean, how unjust is that?”
“A country that engages and permits that by way of crown writ has got some culpability associated with it, and wanting to wipe out the heritage of First Nations peoples, that’s really about destroying them as a people. That’s got to be an incremental process of genocide.”
The interim report, titled Never Again, made seven recommendations including that the Australian government outlaw the use of gag clauses in agreements between mining companies and traditional owners.
It also called for Rio to negotiate a restitution package with the Puutu Kunti Kurrama and Pinikura peoples (PKKP) and ensure a full reconstruction of the rock shelters and remediation of the site, at its own expense, as well as fund the creation of a keeping place for the 7,000 artefacts removed during excavations there.
All mining companies have been called on to commit to a voluntary moratorium on applying for new approvals to destroy heritage until Western Australia’s outdated laws are replaced by new legislation, which is slated to be introduced to parliament after the state election in March.
The committee also called for a moratorium on the issuing of all approvals under section 18 of the Aboriginal Heritage Act – unless there is clear evidence of free, prior, and informed consent from traditional owners – until the new laws are introduced.
But the WA Aboriginal affairs minister, Yamatji man Ben Wyatt, said a moratorium on new section 18 applications was “not a practical solution”.
The PKKP peoples welcomed the preliminary findings.
“The destruction of Juukan Gorge was a global disaster that hit at the hearts of the PKKP people and the greater community,” said a PKKP Aboriginal Corporation spokesman, Burchell Hayes.
“We have started the long road to healing and repairing our relationship with Rio Tinto, but there is still a long way to go. We remain steadfast in our conviction that a tragedy like this should never happen again; and that Rio Tinto now needs to turn its words into actions.”
The main report acknowledged that “the traditional owners of the Pilbara are not opposed to mining” but “they do not accept, and we should not accept, that the destruction of their ancient culture and heritage is the price to pay for potentially short-term prosperity.
The Greens senator Rachel Siewert said the report showed “multiparty support for strong reforms within the mining industry and state and federal legislation”.
The resources minister, Matt Canavan, and the Liberal National party MP George Christensen are among those who supported the majority report. The inquiry was chaired by the LNP MP Warren Entsch.
Siewert said the McGowan government was “missing in action” on the protection of Aboriginal heritage, saying: “This happened under their watch and under legislation that they well knew to be inadequate.”
The report said WA’s Aboriginal heritage laws were “outdated, unfit for purpose and in urgent need of replacement”. Despite beginning a review of the laws in early 2018, the McGowan government “has done little to curtail the existing regime that enables the destruction of Aboriginal sites”.
The report also said a lack of communication between the offices of the federal Indigenous affairs minister, Ken Wyatt, and the federal environment minister, Sussan Ley, “frustrated the PKKP’s efforts to protect the Juukan rock shelters from destruction and denied the PKKP the option of injunctive relief”.
Ben Wyatt, the WA minister, said most projects which require a section 18 approval to destroy, damage, or impact on Aboriginal heritage are “uncontentious”, and that he wouldn’t be considering applications for section 18s “where native title parties have not been appropriately consulted”.
He said the new heritage laws would “put Aboriginal people at the heart of decision-making about their heritage, and I am confident that the broad consensus for these reforms will allow the best possible chance for a Bill to be supported by the 41st Parliament”.
James Fitzgerald from the Australian Centre for Corporate Responsibility said if it weren’t for the condemnation of shareholders – led by major investors Legal & General and backed by Australian superannuation firms – Rio Tinto may not have faced sanction.
“Rio Tinto’s behaviour and culture may have remained largely without sanction but for the admirable and unprecedented intervention of the company’s own shareholders, who demanded more than the token consequences first proposed by Rio Tinto’s board,” Fitzgerald said.
In a statement, Rio reiterated its apology to the traditional owners of Juukan Gorge and said it would review the report’s recommendations in the coming days.
“The destruction of the Juukan rock shelters was wrong; it should not have happened and it does not reflect the values that Rio Tinto aspires to.”
The company’s chair, Simon Thompson, said Rio had made important changes to the way it manages cultural heritage sites, including a commitment to modernise our agreements.
“We recognise the destruction of the Juukan rockshelters caused significant pain to the Puutu Kunti Kurrama and Pinikura people and we are working very hard to progress a remedy with them,” Thompson said.
Ken Wyatt and Ley have been contacted for comment.