Last week Ngalia elder Kado Muir addressed the United Nations expert mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, speaking about Western Australia’s outdated Aboriginal Heritage laws, and the state government’s failure to redress the problems that allowed Juukan Gorge to be destroyed. Kado Muir’s voice joins the Kimberley Land Council, the WA Alliance of Native Title Representative Bodies and Service Providers, the Australian Archaelogical Association, and the Australian Association of Consulting Archaeologists, who are all concerned about what has been called a “façade of modernisation”. Today on Understorey, Adrian Glamorgan brings you ANTAR’s John McBain, who adds to these many voices by calling for the McGowan government to act on our shared cultural and human rights obligations. Will Aboriginal people be allowed to speak freely, straight up, and able to say no?
Rio Tinto chair to leave over handling of Australia heritage sites Rio Tinto chair to leave over handling of Australia heritage sites 03 March 2021 - 13:24 James Thornhill A Rio Tinto alumina refinery. Picture: REUTERS
Sydney Rio Tinto Group chair Simon Thompson will not seek re-election at the miner’s annual meeting in 2022, saying that he’s accountable for the failings that led to the destruction of an ancient Aboriginal site in Australia in 2020.
The fallout from Rio’s actions at Juukan Gorge in the Pilbara iron ore region of Western Australia last May has already led to the departure of former CEO Jean-Sébastien Jacques and other senior executives, while Thompson himself had come under pressure from investors to step down.