Kerins believes much of the problem goes back to how the trust was set up, with traditional owners shut out of negotiations and the NT government and MRM deciding how the trust would operate.
“The mine refused to meet with Aboriginal groups who wanted to organise under their law,” he said. “Instead they parachuted in someone MRM chose and set up a proxy organisation with mine-links that didn’t represent the people.”
Garawa elder and Borroloola Aboriginal leader Jack Green said the trust should be handed over to the four Aboriginal groups in the region to decide how it’s used.
Aboriginal sacred sites are being wiped out at Northern Territory mine, Juukan Gorge inquiry hears sbs.com.au - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from sbs.com.au Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
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A delegation of Northern Territory Traditional Owners will likely testify before a federal inquiry into a massive lead and zinc mine s impacts on Aboriginal sacred sites.
Glencore s McArthur River Mine - about 750km southeast of Darwin - has been dogged by environmental incidents and alleged damage to cultural sites.
Committee members from the Juukan Gorge inquiry into the destruction of 46,000-year-old caves in Western Australia have travelled to tiny Borroloola, about 60km from the mine, for informal talks with concerned native title holders. I was a bit worried when they first came in, Garawa elder and Borroloola Aboriginal leader Jack Green told AAP.