By Jacqui Katona
I speak on behalf of members of my family and countrymen who belong to the Mirrar clan, Yvonne Margarula, Annie Ngalmirama, Junior Gardell, Stephen Nabinardi and Debbie Jentian.
You might know Mirrar land to be part of Kakadu National Park, which received World Heritage listing for its unique natural and cultural values.
It is the place where we gather food, fish and hunt; educate our children; where our old people are buried; where our people are born; where we live: it is our home. Our land has nurtured our people for thousands of years; it is our responsibility to protect it.
The Mirrar and other peoples of the Kakadu region have lived through the consequences of uranium mining for the past 20 years.
Uranium
Our people have always opposed uranium mining. Our people have an obligation, recognised and imposed by our law, to protect country. Our people have been well aware of the destructive force of uranium and held fears for the use of uranium when it left Kakadu.
So the government created the Fox Inquiry, which ultimately marginalised the input of our people. The aim of this inquiry was to look into the feasibility of opening four mines within an 80-kilometre radius. The inquiry was charged to investigate the likely social and economic impacts on the Aboriginal community, the nuclear fuel cycle and the environmental consequences.
The inquiry recognised that Aboriginal people had a clear and unquestionable right to claim their land. It found that Aboriginal people were absolutely opposed to the mining of uranium.
It found that, in spite of their right to say no under the Aboriginal Land Rights Act, the opposition of Aboriginal people "should not prevail" and instead that Kakadu National Park should be created, a township established, an environmental scientist would oversee uranium mining, and a land council would protect the interests of Aboriginal people.
Our people continued to oppose uranium mining.
Government representatives visited our communities and told people that they couldn't say no. The Northern Land Council (NLC) was advised that if approval was not given by the traditional owners, the land rights act would be dismantled. Our people were told that approval for Ranger was in the national interest.
It is clear that the Ranger agreement was signed under duress.
A new regime of management and control was set for our Mirrar lands, outside of the control of the traditional owners.
Next came the approvals process for Jabiluka. Our people continued to oppose uranium mining and the land was still subject to a claim under the act, a claim which was strenuously opposed by the mining company, PanContinental. The campaign of aggression was stepped up. This time the NLC asked traditional owners for authorisation to speak with the mining company about their opposition to the land claim.
Immediately following that meeting, the NLC wrote to PanContinental and opened negotiations on Jabiluka. They proceeded with some 150 meetings with traditional owners.
At the final meeting, where traditional owners were asked whether they actually wanted the mine to go ahead or not, senior traditional owner Yvonne Margarula's father said, "I'm tired now, I can't fight any more". That was taken as consent.
The company's answer to the social problems created by the present regime is for the traditional owners to say yes to Jabiluka.
There were many promises made to our people about the benefits of mining: schools, housing, employment, health services and investments.
We have no graduates of secondary education, housing is substandard, the vast majority of the community is unemployed, health services are minimal, and those strategic investments are losing value each year. Consumption of alcohol and dependence on welfare are inescapable consequences.
There has been no fair dealing by industry, the government has not addressed the findings it commissioned, and it is our community which has paid the price of development.
Our interests have not been protected by previous mining agreements; the tales of the rich and fabulous traditional owners of the park are just fairytales peddled by government and industry to prop up their blackmail.
Even more insidious, these fairytale agreements are now being used to further disempower our people.
The beneficiaries of these agreements are the shareholders and the government. Of the "Aboriginal dollar", the NLC and the Aboriginal Benefits Trust Fund are the major beneficiaries.
The majority of the remaining funds have been invested. These so-called investments aren't required to make a commercial return. In fact they don't even have to be managed by Aboriginal people; they are managed on our behalf — investment through welfare — which adds a moral to the fairytale.
The Mirrar people have successfully claimed back their land under the Aboriginal Land Rights Act. They are owners and they are being treated as tenants.
ERA
Two years ago, Energy Resources of Australia (ERA), wanted to release 500,000 cubic metres of highly contaminated water from the Ranger uranium mine. This wasn't because of any climatic consequence; this was because it had failed to calculate the output of contaminated water over the life of the mine. ERA wants to treat the waterways and wetlands of Kakadu National Park as the lowest form of industrial stormwater drain.
In January, like every year for the past 15 years, ERA began releasing contaminated water into our wetlands. These wetlands are "protected" by a broad range of environmental standards. None of these internationally recognised standards are capable of preventing the release of more contaminated water.
ERA cannot deliver on their flimsy assurances of environmental protection. Their environment impact statement is a project advocacy document. This company has the resources to continue its campaign of lies and distortions, to blur the facts and belittle traditional owners' opposition.
Nothing can replace our country when it is mined. Nothing can reverse the damage to our water systems and our food sources. Our culture cannot be replaced by money. Inherent in our law and culture is an obligation to protect and preserve our homelands for future generations. It is not negotiable. In fact, it is a right now recognised by the High Court of Australia: it's called native title.
Future
Stopping the Jabiluka mine is the first step in changing the future for our community.
We are now witnessing wholesale attacks on Aboriginal rights. We know that this government will attack the Aboriginal Land Rights Act again. If they can amend the Racial Discrimination Act to undermine Aboriginal rights, they will.
ERA's response to traditional owners' opposition is to threaten arbitration. ERA now disregards the Aboriginal Land Rights Act and announces that the social impact study will be used to negotiate the terms of a new agreement.
We will not be part of any future mining development. We refuse to simply be left to arrange the flowers on the coffins of any more of our mob.
ERA is not going to get approval from traditional owners this year, next year or ever. We will not agree to this mine, and we will take whatever action is necessary to halt the desecration of our country, our lives and our future.
[Jacqui Katona is executive officer of the Gundjehmi Aboriginal Corporation, which is campaigning on behalf of the Mirrar people. This is abridged from a paper presented to the Students and Sustainability Conference in Townsville in July.]