Rio blasted over gorge destruction

Juukan report urges reforms

TRADITIONAL owner groups would have the power to sue mining companies over the destruction of heritage sites under sweeping legal reforms recommended by an inquiry into Rio Tinto’s destruction of 46,000-yearold heritage sites in the Pilbara.

The parliamentary inquiry into Rio Tinto’s destruction of the Juukan Gorge rock shelters delivered its final report on Monday, recommending legislative changes to prevent a repeat of the event.

Rio’s decision making in the lead up to the blasting of gorge represented “at best, corporate incompetence or, at worst, deliberate corporate misdirection leading to the deception of a group of Aboriginal peoples and the destruction of their sacred heritage”, the report says.

Queensland LNP MP Warren Entsch, the chairman of parliament’s joint standing committee on Northern Australia, said it was critical that key elements of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) now be enshrined in heritage legislation across the country.

Mr Entsch said the destruction of the Juukan Gorge sites caused “immeasurable cultural and spiritual loss, as well as profound grief for the Puutu Kunti Kurrama and Pinikura peoples (PKKP)”, the traditional owners of the sites.

“It is time for the legislative frameworks in Australia to be modernised to bring meaningful protection to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural heritage to ensure that nothing like Juukan Gorge ever happens again,” he told parliament.

The report recommends the federal government legislate to make the Minister for Indigenous Australians responsible for all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural heritage matters, and legislate minimum standards for all state and territory heritage laws.

“Traditional owners should be able to effectively enforce commonwealth protections through civil action,” the report says.

The report says federal intervention in Indigenous issues is needed, bluntly arguing that the states “have failed”.

The parliamentary inquiry, called after Rio’s decision to blast the sites caused global outrage that ultimately cost chief executive Jean-Sebastien Jacques his job, delivered its interim report to parliament in December 2020.

A spokesman for the PKKP Aboriginal Corporation said that traditional owners would take some time to consider the final report and its recommendations.

Rio Tinto CEO Jakob Stausholm said the miner had been working hard to rebuild trust and meaningful relationships with the PKKP people and other traditional owners.

“Rio Tinto is absolutely committed to listening, learning and showing greater care, and this remains a top priority,” he said.

Rio Tinto shares closed up 1.9 per cent at $101.45.