Hindmarsh Island bridge inquiries
By Richard Owen
Environment, Resources and Development Committee Inquiry (1993)
An open inquiry that recommended: that the bridge be stopped and the ferry service upgraded; the development of a regional environmental management plan; that the competing interests of heritage, environment and development be seriously addressed; and that the environmental impact of any residential development on Hindmarsh Island be rigorously assessed. The state Labor government ignored the recommendations.
Jacobs Inquiry (1994)
In late 1993, the state Liberal government commissioned Sam Jacobs QC to investigate legal and contractual issues associated with the bridge. The Aboriginal Legal Rights Movement requested that Jacobs' terms of reference be broadened to include Aboriginal heritage issues, but this was refused. Jacobs found that the state was contractually bound to build the bridge and, if it did not go ahead, litigation would be more costly than the bridge itself. The inquiry report has never been made public.
Saunders Inquiry (1994)
The Labor federal government appointed Professor Cheryl Saunders to report on the significance of the area to Ngarrindjeri people. On the basis of her report the minister placed a 25-year ban on building of the bridge. The developers appealed against the ban and had it quashed by the Federal Court. Aboriginal heritage issues were not part of the appeal grounds. The government prepared for a second inquiry, but was pre-empted by the Liberal state government's Stevens Royal Commission.
Stevens Royal Commission (1995)
It concluded that the "women's business" was invented in 1994 to prevent the bridge from being built. The Ngarrindjeri women, whose claims about the significance of the area were being investigated, refused to participate in the commission. Churches, environmentalists, women's groups, trade unions and Aboriginal groups also opposed the commission. The Ngarrindjeri proponent women said they would cooperate with a second federal inquiry, but they could never condone an inquiry into their religious beliefs.
Mathews Inquiry (1996)
The second federal inquiry into the significance of Kumarangk to Ngarrindjeri people. The final report was in the hands of the new Coalition minister when the High Court declared that the reporter, Justice Jane Mathews, ought not to have been appointed to carry out the task. This had nothing to do with the legitimacy of the Ngarrindjeri heritage claims. While it has no legal standing, details in the Mathews Report discredit the Stevens Royal Commission conclusions.
Evatt Inquiry (1996)
Increasingly, blame for the impasse over the bridge was being placed on unworkable Aboriginal Heritage acts. Justice Elizabeth Evatt recommended that confidentiality provisions in Aboriginal heritage legislation be strengthened. The federal Coalition and Labor parties claim to support this but will not allow the Ngarrindjeri women's claims to be tested under improved legislation.
[Abridged from Kumarangk News #14.]