Arabunna people: Stop Roxby mine!
By Emma Webb
ADELAIDE = The Arabunna people, traditional owners of the Lake Eyre region in South Australia, say that Western Mining Corporation has pursued a deliberate policy of "divide and rule" of Aboriginal people in order to claim it has their consent for expanding the Roxby Downs uranium mine.
The mine is located in Kokotha country, but WMC crosses into Arabunna country to extract water for the mining process. Arabunna people have never consented to WMC accessing their water or land.
In order to secure access, WMC signed an agreement with the Dieri-Mitha Association in January 1995. The Dieri-Mitha people do not have ownership or custodianship of the land under Arabunna law.
Financed by WMC, the Dieri-Mitha Council brought people from the Northern Territory to perform a ceremony on Arabunna land in an attempt to prove traditional links to the land. This led to violence between Arabunna and Dieri-Mitha people in Marree.
A queen's counsel financed by WMC represented Dieri-Mitha people charged over the riot. Less than a week after the ceremony and its violent result, the Darwin-based law firm Barristers and Solicitors lodged a Dieri-Mitha land claim with the National Native Title Tribunal. The firm's biggest client is WMC.
The claim boundary is identical to the Arabunna's native title claim, lodged in 1993, but later withdrawn.
In 1996, the Dieri-Mitha Council was incorporated and continues to be funded by WMC. WMC obtained the council's approval for pipeline work and a new bore-field and test bores on Arabunna land.
In 1997, the Arabunna Nulla Kari-Ku Wanga Association was formed to fight polices and practices that infringe on Arabunna cultural heritage. In January 1998, the Arabunna native title claim was lodged. The claim embraces Lake Eyre, Marree and the area surrounding and west of Oodnadatta almost to Coober Pedy.
Genocide
On March 26, the day the Roxby mine expansion was launched, Arabunna elder Kevin Buzzacott launched legal action against WMC managing director Hugh Morgan, federal environment minister Robert Hill, foreign affairs minister Alexander Downer and the commonwealth. He is charging them all with genocide.
The case against Morgan is being heard by the Supreme Court of South Australia. Central to the case is the argument that an act of genocide (as defined by the Genocide Convention Act 1949) is a civil wrong giving cause for action under South Australian law, and that actions causing serious mental harm to the Arabunna people and imposing conditions of life likely to destroy the Arabunna are acts of genocide.
The Arabunna are seeking a preservation order for the land and all their other property, including their culture, laws and spirituality. They are also seeking an interim injunction restraining Morgan and WMC from entering Arabunna land, compelling them to stop mining and all associated activities, and requiring them to leave Arabunna land immediately.
The Arabunna people say they have never ceded sovereignty and therefore never consented to the occupation of their land by any non-Arabunna people.
They are arguing that Morgan has imposed uranium mining on the Arabunna land and people; made racially discriminatory statements about Aborigines; pursued a divide and rule policy resulting in serious mental and physical harm to Arabunna people; used duress, undue influence and misrepresentation to attempt to obtain consent to mining activities; and was instrumental in the decision by Hill not to proceed with World Heritage listing of Arabunna land. The foreseeable and intended consequences of all these actions, say the Arabunna, constitute genocide.
They also argue that the latest expansion of Roxby Downs mine has caused serious mental harm to the Arabunna and that since this was a foreseeable consequence, it was also an act of genocide.
On April 14 Justice Nyland, who is hearing the case, said she needed more specific evidence against Morgan and WMC. She did not dismiss the case, but dismissed the application for an injunction against Morgan's mining activities. The Arabunna are considering an appeal and other legal action. WMC is applying for legal costs to be awarded to it.
World Heritage listing
Buzzacott and the Arabunna are also charging Hill, Downer and the commonwealth with genocide in the Federal Court.
The Arabunna say that Hill's refusal to proceed with an application for World Heritage listing of the Lake Eyre region, despite the area meeting all the criteria for listing, caused serious and foreseeable mental harm and deliberately imposed conditions of life on the Arabunna that had the foreseeable consequence of destroying the Arabunna.
The case against Downer claims that he knew that Hill, in declining to proceed with World Heritage listing, was committing an act of genocide. The Arabunna allege that Downer failed to take any action to rectify this situation.
According to the Arabunna, other traditional owners in northern South Australia and environment activists, the decision not to proceed with World Heritage listing is related to the plans for the Billa Kalina waste dump and the Beverley uranium mine in the region.
The Arabunna are arguing that the commonwealth bears ultimate responsibility under both international and domestic law for the actions of Hill and Downer, and that it has deliberately failed to enact genocide legislation, as it agreed to do 50 years ago. The failure to pass such legislation, say the Arabunna, is an act of genocide in itself, allowing many acts of genocide against Aboriginal people, such as deaths in custody, removal of children and sterilising of women.
The relief sought by the Arabunna includes an injunction compelling Hill, Downer and the commonwealth to proceed with World Heritage listing of the Arabunna land and an injunction restraining them from allowing any activity which may affect the World Heritage value of the land.
On April 13, Chief Justice Black directed that the genocide claims against Hill, Downer and the commonwealth be heard by the full bench of the Federal Court on May 10. Buzzacott is continuing to ask the Federal Court to go to the Arabunna Going Home Camp at Lake Eyre South. Lawyers acting for Hill and Downer are applying to have the proceedings struck off.
Buzzacott said: "It's good that the full bench of the Federal Court will hear our plea ... We are preparing for that. Justice Nyland ... had technical difficulties with the claim against Hugh Morgan. We have spoken enough. She needs to come to Lake Eyre for the full picture.
"There are also financial discussions — who is to wear the cost? Looks like poor people can't have a chance against this system. If the Australian government is wearing the costs to represent Hill, Downer and the commonwealth, why can't they wear the costs for my lawyer?
"While the courts are mucking about trying to work out how they are going to deal with these genocide charges, we have to sit back and suffer. If genocide is not a crime, how do we stop it? The court system seems to cater for the wrongdoers. We need a people's government, a proper system that can cater for all."
Two weeks ago, Buzzacott drew attention to the possible use of Roxby uranium by NATO forces in Serbia in the form of depleted uranium ammunition, used extensively during the Gulf War. "I have good reason to believe that nine countries that are part of NATO are buyers of uranium from Roxby Downs and are using my sacred water from the Lake Eyre Basin to treat this uranium", he stated.
Many activists have visited the Arabunna Going Home Camp, set up on March 26, and more are planning to go. In Adelaide, the Keepers of Lake Eyre have formed to provide solidarity with the Arabunna and to campaign against the Roxby mine. The Arabunna urgently need donations to help fund their legal action and the camp. For more information, phone KOLE on (08) 8232 8595.