INTERVIEW JO AND BILLY MACKIE

http://youtu.be/ChJ0K_VP1rU

We found Jo and Bill Mackie from Rosewood in Queensland camping at Middle Lagoon. This is their first visit to the Kimberley. We talk to them about a potential gas plant on Dampier Peninsula.

- INTERVIEW TEXT -Date & Location : Saturday 20 October 2008, 4.22pm, Middle Lagoon - Dampier Peninsula - Western Australia
INTERVIEW BILLY AND JO MACKIE
INTERVIEWER Good morning and thanks for agreeing to talk with us. And I’m just inquiring what your names are and where you’re from?
JO MACKIE We’re Billy and Jo Mackie and we’re from Rosewood which is between Brisbane and Toowoomba in Queensland.
INTERVIEWER Fantastic. Have you been to the Kimberleys before?
JO MACKIE No, this is our first time.
INTERVIEWER What do you think of the Dampier Peninsula?
JO MACKIE It’s beautiful. We were saying that we have been on the Queensland coastline, this is far more beautiful. It’s not as touristy. Doesn’t seem to be as developed as much. So it’s just beautiful, it’s just natural.
INTERVIEWER Do you understand that the State Government is proposing a site about 10 kilometres from here to build a LNG gas processing plant?
JO MACKIE Yeah
INTERVIEWER How do you think that will affect the tourism industry or how will it affect local communities along this coast?
JO MACKIE I think it will be a real shame to see something like that put in such a beautiful natural spot like this. To having something sticking up in the sky there, places. I just think it would ruin it. It really would.
INTERVIEWER Are you aware that this area is very famous as a whale nursery
BILLY MACKIE I never. We weren’t aware of that
INTERVIEWER It’s a major nursery breeding ground, for whales, humpback whales and you can actually see that on kimberleywhales.com
BILLY MACKIE Alright
JO MACKIE Ok
INTERVIEWER The processing plant, how do you think that’s going to affect the environment?
BILLY MACKIE It will be really bad for the environment
JO MACKIE Yeah
BILLY MACKIE I mean, even like these big conglomerates and all this say they never pollute the environment but you can see it already is everywhere in the world where they have a lot of pollution pipelines going out into the sea even influence seeping out into the sea and things like that even though they say that they never pollute. I always think that they always will you know. It’s all hush hush. It’s really bad for the environment. Yeah. Especially a beautiful place like this. Like now. You know. Yeah.
INTERVIEWER And as far as global warming goes, how do you think, do you think that this gas plant is the answer to global warming? They’re saying that gas is cleaner.
JO MACKIE Definitely not. I don’t think. I think anything else would contribute to global warming it’s still going to contribute, it’s not going to take away the problem that’s there at the moment..
INTERVIEWER And would you like to come back to the Kimberleys?
JO MACKIE Yes, definitely
BILLY MACKIE Yes, definitely
INTERVIEWER And if you did come back how would you like to find it?
JO MACKIE Still the same as it. Unspoilt and you know, clean. Yeah.

INTERVIEW ALBERT WIGGAN 3 KMS DOWN THE ROAD, NORTH OF THE PROPOSED SITE

http://youtu.be/bA2Lp0DCy-o

Albert Wiggan talks about his interest in establishing his own tourism venture to get some sustainability for his children. He says "It's a scary reality for us people." and "Scary power of politics can dictate everything in our lives, our traditional homelands". He wants to say to Aboriginal people they have the ability to create and develop their own sustainable infrastructure to establish their own means of contributing to the Federal economy in the same terms and levels as the average Australian person." Albert was interviewed recently on 4Corners program 'Bran Nue Deal' - see link. He lives three kilometres from the proposed site.



- INTERVIEW TEXT -

Date & Location : saturday 20 October 2008, 6.33pm, Beagle Bay - Dampier Peninsula - Western Australia

INTERVIEWER: Mr Albert Wiggan, you’re quite a famous man for being strong and standing up for your country. Can you please tell us what you’re feelings and what you’re thinking about this proposed LNG plant on North Head?

ALBERT WIGGAN: Well, as you say I’m from the Dampier Peninsula I actually live here now. I’m about three kilometres down the road. I’ve got a small outstation on the coast which is about three kilometres north of where this proposed site is.

I have a I’ve had vested interests in creating my own investment up on the coast line there. I’ve got 15 acres of property that I was looking at to establish some sort of caravan or accommodation tourism facility to invest into my family to try and generate some sort of infrastructure I guess, some sort of sustainability for my children and now with this gas proposal going up ahead and running and with this threat of development on our coastline. It’s quite a scary reality for us people who have been a part of this country for a whole lifetime, you know.

We’ve always had some sort of connection and some level or to some degree with this country and it’s just scary to think that the powers of politics you know can, can dictate anything you know in people’s lives. And it’s more or less playing such a strong presence now in our lives because we are watching politics more or less dictate the terms and conditions of our own traditional homelands now you know. Places that we’ve always had you know a sense of connection and belongingness we are now being told that you know this homeland or this country now is going to be used for other means like industrial development.

And, my concern now, or one thing that I’m fighting for now is to try and say to the government, say to people of Australia now, is the fact that, gone are the days of Aboriginal people being told what to do and always being told that, you know, governments and political policies have always known what would be the best interests of Aboriginal people. Those days are gone now, you know. What we are seeing or what I’m witnessing now and what I believe in now is the fact that Aboriginal people who live in their remote homelands have the ability to create and develop their own sustainable infrastructure you know. To establish their own means of contributing back to, you know, the Federal economy, you know, and contributing on the same terms and levels as the average Australian person, you know. But, they’re not getting the opportunity now because of the threat of industry, the threat of development, especially, there are other threats, like agriculture, there are other forms of development that threaten Indigenous people from creating their own sustainability, you know.

And that’s, inevitably that’s what we’re after, you know we’re just after Australia recognising us as Aboriginal people who can run our own affairs, who can create our own economy, you know, and who can generate revenue to contribute to other Aboriginal people around our area, you know. We want to show Australia that we are capable, capable you know of doing this. And, you know, gone are the days of the government telling us what we need, government you know saying that we’ve got all this money to try and establish this sort of infrastructure, this sort of sustainability for Aboriginal people, you know . And they’ve never done it, nothing’s happened, we’re now still sitting on our arses thinking, you know, what has actually happened, what sort of say do we have in it, what sort of authority do we have and we don’t have any authority. We’ve got no say.

And you know, so more or less we need to do that we need to focus on that now as Aboriginal people, we need to focus and build ourselves together. We need to get together and we really need to look at how we can better represent ourselves independently and from a place where we generate our own source of power our own source of support. And then once we come from that place, once we come from that sort of representation then we will be a lot, you know content as to what will happen in regards to development on our country, you know. That’s about it.

DREAM ON HOLD Interview Mina and Robert Stem live 5km from North Head

http://youtu.be/gnSTl1iHFuE

Interview Mina and Robert Stem of Neem Aboriginal Community live 5 kilometres from North Head. They tell of their hopes and dream for the country, "coming back to country" and "Arbitrary decisions that have been made already without the peoples knowing of anything" and their concerns. "..... It's bad, it's really bad, cowardly..."
http://handsoffcountry.blogspot.com/

- INTERVIEW TEXT - Date & Location : Saturday 20 October 2008, 3.50pm, Neem Aboriginal Community - Dampier Peninsula - Western Australia
INTERVIEWER First of all please tell me your names and where you live?
MINA STEM My name is Mina Stem and this is my husband Robert Stem and we live in Neem Wonderland, Neem, Neem Aboriginal Community.
INTERVIEWER And how far are you from North Head where the proposed LNG plant will be?
ROBERT STEM I guess, from about 5 kilometres in a straight line.
INTERVIEWER Can you tell me what this country means to you?
MINA STEM Everything its freedom for us finally, after coming from a place like Beagle Bay you know being brought up in the dormitory with the nuns and the priests that was really wonderful but having a place to come to having a place a belonging yeah. Country.
INTERVIEWER What is your dream for Neem?
MINA STEM As to have the same kind of life that we’ve had before only turned around with the good things in life, helping people and with kindness and you know like a rehab like bush rehab. We run a bush hostel here and pick the peoples up from in town disadvantaged kids, um troubled kids old people and this is home for them this is where they can get that good feel of coming back to themselves and coming back to country.
INTERVIEWER What do you think about this LNG gas processing plant? What do you feel? What does your lian tell you?
MINA STEM I feel no good about it. I feel terrible that this whole place is going to be turned upside down arbitrary decisions that have been made already without the peoples knowing of anything it’s bad it’s really bad it’s cowardly.
ROBERT STEM Well you can go. Decisions that can be made practically made overnight and here through the struggle of the years of basically trying to get help or something out here and then there is this huge decision making process that’s gotta happen and they take years and years and years and then you get tired from that. And then you turn around and watch a project like this they can just get up and happen overnight.
MINA STEM Money splashed right on your country just like that. Billions of dollars. So much is interest in this country in this place yet there was nothing for us. Nothing. They tried to push us off to all these other different places so that we can and go and work for someone else. Where we here are trying to establish a life.
ROBERT STEM The people have had ideas of how to help themselves how to help the country how to help the communities and those decisions don’t get listened to. But then all of a sudden you get projects like this that come up and its like this this is how you’re going to live this is what you’re going to do and this is what we’re gonna make available to you.
INTERVIEWER How do you think this decision has affected yourselves not just the decision but this whole process this whole talk of a gas plant? How do you think its affected you your lives and say the Beagle Bay community? Has it divided people? Has it separated people? Or is there a united front against this?
MINA STEM Well I really hope there is a united front up against it and of course there are mixed feelings with a lot of people because you know change might be different for some might be good for some but this place has been like this forever all this peninsula, all this country up here and it has been very hard watching the traditionals fight for their country to try and keep it, you know, keep it together keep it how it always is going to be how we always dreamed that it was going to be. But now with something just built it looks so foreign in this country. Why? Arbitrary decisions.

INTERVIEW MINA AND ROBERT STEM

INTERVIEWER Bob, I understand that you’re living here on Neem community I was just wondering what were your concerns are regarding the LNG gas processing plant that they are planning to do on North Head?
ROBERT STEM Well, My concerns are first concern is the initial thing the government comes up with the amount of local labour that it can provide and I believe that’s all hollow, hollow facts. As in this business is just so huge that all the labour and everything will be from interstate other countries things like that as in the machinery that’s required to construct all this to the workshops that will be around the place to build all of this we have none of that available locally. It will come interstate or overseas. And these companies will bring their own workers right down to their own servicing crews and everything like that. Broome hasn’t got the facilities to supply that. There’s nobody around here who in the timeframe that’s available, is able to be either ticketed go through their apprenticeships and get to the stage of being tradesmens or anything like that, right down to the clearing of the place the digging up of the ground for the foundations the supply of the materials. It wont come locally it will always be interstate or overseas. The other thing that I believe, and you know like once all the gear starts coming here and then there’s the actual clearing of the ground and then you’ve got to dig the foundations all of that will come from their labour forces. There’s nobody, there’s no small companies around here that can support such huge projects like that. And then the only available work that will come to the local people here will be the hands on pick and shovel type jobs, that get around, right down to I guess in the foundations of the steel fixing the concreting and the things like that. From there on I guess once they start importing all their fabricated materials into the place it starts all over again you’ve got all your trucks and the transport companies cranes all of these are big major companies that will have their own workforce.

INTERVIEW MINA AND ROBERT STEM

INTERVIEWER Workers that will come onto this Peninsula, How do you think that will affect the fishing the swimming the sacred sites. How do you think 3000 people coming to the Peninsula to live and work is going to affect your way of lifestyle?
ROBERT STEM Well it will be near on like having a full on tourist season for a 12 month you know a continuous 12 month period and we notice already that during a normal tourist season here the fishing the crabbing everything there diminishes over that time and then there is a break where things can recuperate. The extra people that are moving around. There’s always people that will be exploring the place and our communities are left open. People are welcome to come in and visit but I mean where do you pull up at. As to putting fences up again and things are saying we’re closed or we’re not open and nobody’s home. I’m frightened of it. I don’t know if we’re ready to even look into a strategy of trying to support it.
INTERVIEWER If you could say one thing to Colin Barnett if he came here for a cup of tea, to have a cup of tea with you Bob, What would you like to say to Kevin Barnett? Colin Barnett.
ROBERT STEM Colin Barnett
ROBERT STEM Well personally I would like to see him just come here and I’ll offer him a cup of tea and see how we gotta go about making it and things like that. I mean as for a question I’d just like him not to come and have a cup of tea but spend a bit of time here and actually experience how we live and what we do. I guess be part of the lifestyle and exist here and he might have a better understanding of it, than coming in with a new mat a blanket and just laying it on the ground there and not knowing what’s underneath, what’s around the place he just covering everything up and then plonking on top of it he’s new picnic set. Sort of thing.

INTERVIEW MINA AND ROBERT STEM
MINA STEM Prime Minister. What’s his name?
INTERVIEWER Kevin Rudd.
MINA STEM Kevin Rudd Mr. Kevin Rudd Where are you in all of this? How come you’ve never shown your face or taken an interest in anything that’s been happening here in this Kimberleys. All the way round these Kimberleys. Where have you been? What are you doing? You’ve not had one say in this thing only come 5 minutes on TV and that’s all we know about you. You don’t know nothing about us people. Come, take an interest. See what it’s going to do to our people. And how your arbitrary decision is going to affect the whole of this Kimberley.

Interview with Kerrianne Cox, speaking about proposed LNG Hub planned for her country

Youtube: http://youtu.be/Vs66-XG6JkA

Kerrianne Cox speaks about the impact of the proposed gas processing hub on her country and the far-reaching and the extremely negative consequences for both her community of Beagle Bay and the outlaying Indigenous Outstations and eco tourism ventures.

Gas processing and explorations will result in the destruction of traditional Indigenous economies and communities. The Indigenous peoples of the Dampier land have legitimate reasons for being deeply concerned about the planned gas hub in their country as developers interests normally prevail
wherever and whenever Indigenous peoples interests and rights clash with development projects.

http://www.kerriannecox.com/

WE HAD TO SPLIT THE INTERVIEW INTO TWO PARTS BECAUSE YOUTUBE HAS A RESTRICTION FOR BIG FILES (sorry for the inconvenience)

- INTERVIEW TEXT -Date & Location : saturday 20 October 2008, 5.20pm, Beagle Bay - Dampier Peninsula - Western Australia

( the text of the interview will be online soon )

Youtube: http://youtu.be/BCG0XalcRCU

Interview with Mr. Camel Wongi

We had the pleasure to meet Mr. Camel Wongi and ask him what he thinks about the GAS LNG processing plant proposed to be 10 km from his home by Mr. Barnett.




-INTERVIEW TEXT-
Date & Location : saturday 18 October 2008, 4.08pm, Munget Community - Dampier Peninsula - Western Australia

Mr Camel Wongi: ............
Francesco: Thank you.

http://youtu.be/Zl96FnK_6A8