Rio Tinto’s actions form part of a broader discriminatory pattern of development in Australia. Traditional owners are denied the right to object and as a result, Aboriginal heritage is routinely destroyed.
Ensuring governments listen to the evidence
After Murdoch University’s Lorraine Finlay wrote Think the dual citizenship saga does not affect state parliamentarians? It might be time to think again, the Standing Committee on Procedure and Privileges in the West Australian parliament called an inquiry into the issues raised by The Conversation’s article and have recommended that state constitutional amendments be introduced.
After University of Sydney’s Leanne Cutcher and Swinburne University’s Graham Dyer wrote ‘I can still picture the faces’: Black Saturday firefighters want you to listen to them, not call them ‘heroes’, Graham was invited by the Country Fire Authority to give feedback to the emergency management sector. Victoria’s Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning also used the article as a basis to support an Australian Research Council Discovery Grant.
A parliamentary inquiry in Australia has recommended the Anglo-Australian mining company, Rio Tinto, compensate the Indigenous people in the country for the destruction of two ancient sites, and criticised the government for failing to protect the Aboriginal group.
In an interim report entitled, Never Again, released on Wednesday, the panel also recommended that the mining giant impose a moratorium on mining in the Juukan Gorge in Western Australia, and rehabilitate the sacred sites, which are estimated to be 46,000 years old.
Rio Tinto triggered a public outcry in May when it blew up parts of the Juukan Gorge, as part of an expansion to extract $135m worth of iron ore.