Claims WA government ignored own advice on indigenous cultural heritage - Bush Telegraph - ABC Rural (Australian Broadcasting Corporation):
The WA government knew of the threat to culturally significant areas at James Price Point but supports the development anyway, according to lawyers for the Goolarabooloo.
Andrew Chalk who is representing the Goolarabooloo and native title claimant, Joseph Roe, claim Woodside wrote to the WA government asking them to withdraw a letter which stated there are areas of cultural significance.
Studies by the Aboriginal Cultural Material Committee (ACMC) conducted in 1991 showed evidence of indigenous heritage sites at James Price Point.
WA minister for Indigenous Affairs and Energy, Peter Collier declined our invitation to speak on Bush Telegraph, as did Woodside petroleum.
Photo Damian Kelly
ACTION OF THE DAY
A MAJOR national bank has been forced to remove more than 100 misleading out of order signs from its ATMs after being targeted by anti-coal activists.
A MAJOR national bank has been forced to remove more than 100 misleading out of order signs from its ATMs after being targeted by anti-coal activists.
A score of ANZ Banking Group machines sprawled across six capital cities were plastered with "out of order" signs on Sunday after campaigners launched their latest bid to draw attention to the bank's funding of the coal industry.
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re : ABC Kimberley Facebook page.
ReplyDeleteVery strange,the ABC were reporting rather well on the JPP protests - up until last Friday when the stench of corruption became overwhelming.
There hasn't even been a mention of the people up the drill rigs.
They are in total shutdown mode,heads in the sand style.
WTF !!!
More of the stench of corruption :
ReplyDeletehttp://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-09-11/yindjibarndi-say-sacred-sites-destroyed/4255368?section=wa
An Aboriginal corporation says Department of Indigenous Affairs documents show two Aboriginal heritage sites in the Pilbara were destroyed by mining operations last year.
Last year, the Yindjibarndi Aboriginal Corporation alleged Fortescue Metals Group destroyed sacred sites near its Solomon Hub mine, allegations FMG rejected.
However, the corporation obtained documents under the Freedom of Information act which reveal Department officers surveyed the area and found up to 90 per cent of the two sites were destroyed, with a third damaged as well.
The group's CEO, Michael Woodley, says the documents prove what the group has known all along.
"Someone needs to be accountable for this," he said.
"It's an important significant site to the Yindjibarndi people.
"The people that are supposed to be looking after it for us seem to be covering it up for the sake of development so it's a serious issue."
FMG and the Department of Indigenous Affairs have both been contacted for comment.
http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/wa/14829099/labor-mp-fires-gas-hub-broadside/
ReplyDeleteRetiring Labor MP Tom Stephens yesterday accused the Barnett Government of "corrupting the processes of government" during a spirited speech in Parliament on the $40 billion James Price Point gas hub near Broome.
The State Opposition moved to censure the Government for its "mishandling" of the contentious development, condemning conflicts of interest in environmental decision-making and a disregard for "indigenous cultural and heritage sensitivities".
Mr Stephens, the member for Pilbara, said Mr Barnett "constantly compromises projects in this State" and "deliberately set out" to threaten local Aboriginal groups with compulsory acquisition.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-09-11/opposition-motion-against-government-gas-hub/4255828?section=wa
The State Opposition has moved a motion in Parliament condemning the Government's handling of the proposed Kimberley gas hub.
Labor has accused the government of having disregard for the Indigenous cultural sensitivities of the area at James Price Point.
It has also criticised the environmental assessment process after the decision to recommend the project's approval was made by the chairman of the Environmental Protection Authority alone.
The Opposition Leader Mark McGowan says the Premier has overseen a series of failings on the issue.
"You have threatened commercial interests, you have threatened Indigenous people, you have torn the community of Broome apart," he said.
"You have had an environmental process which has been an outrageous corruption of what was the intended process when the EPA was set up."
The stench of corruption may not be the only stench we may have to put up with.
http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/newshome/14826543/water-corp-warns-of-sewerage-blockages/
WA's sewerage system is at greater risk of blockages and leaks because of budget cuts, the State-owned water utility has warned.
The Water Corporation has told the State Government parts of its business are at an "unacceptably high risk of non-compliance" from an erosion of its capital spending program.
Barnetts great port plans take another hit.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/mining-energy/oakajee-port-and-rail-infrastructure-facing-a-slow-death/story-e6frg9df-1226472140456
THE troubled $6 billion Oakajee port and rail infrastructure in Western Australia is facing a "slow death" in its current form as the falling iron ore price challenges the bankability of the Japanese-backed project and its proposed mine designed to support the infrastructure.
China has had it with being burnt.
http://www.theage.com.au/business/china-plans-to-tread-with-more-care-20120911-25qjs.html
The commission's overhaul of the outbound investment regulation follows a rising number of failed projects abroad and political backlash against Chinese investment in countries such as Australia and the US.
Chinese authorities have also been alarmed by loss-making investments in magnetite iron ore projects in Western Australia, such as CITIC Pacific's Sino Iron project.
http://www.theage.com.au/business/stimulus-may-not-be-all-it-seems-20120911-25qio.html
Credit Suisse bankers warn many stimulus announcements have been released without many details, especially crucial details on funding sources, so these are not stimulus spending ''strictly speaking''.
One Chinese policy adviser said the government would not act unless there was a massive unemployment problem.
FMG not so rosy.
http://www.theage.com.au/business/fortescue-lender-still-looking-for-backer-20120911-25qis.html
The self-styled ''new force in iron ore'' held a teleconference last week to reassure lenders about the company's financial position after a series of dramatic spending cuts, but Bank of America Merrill Lynch, the loan's underwriter, has yet to find willing parties to share in the spoils, says a Bloomberg report.
FIFO life not all it's cracked up to be.
http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/newshome/14827121/mining-wives-bear-brunt-of-rise-in-domestic-vioence/
Women's refuges have reported a surge in demand from the abused partners of men who are fly-in, fly-out workers or employed on working visas.
Angela Hartwig, from the Women's Council for Domestic and Family Violence Services, said there had been a marked increase in women with partners on skilled migration or temporary work visas who were seeking help because of domestic violence. She said FIFO families were an "emerging issue".
One of Perth's biggest women's refuges, run by the Salvation Army, said FIFO work was having a significant effect on family relationships and in some cases led to domestic violence. An even bigger problem was related to men coming into Australia on working visas.
Spokesman Warren Palmer said the Graceville refuge, which can take up to 40 women and children a day, was having to deal with many frightening and complex cases involving distressed women and children.