Aboriginal Affairs & Heritage

Greens MP Sees a Better Way of the Future

6^th May 2013

Greens WA Member for the Mining and Pastoral Region, and spokesperson on Aboriginal issues, Robin Chapple MLC, has praised Kalgoorlie MLA Wendy Duncan’s call for a local remand centre.

“I agree that there is an urgent need for facilities such as these to be available in regional areas.

“Few things I encounter in public life are as heart-rending as the stories which I hear concerning young people torn away from their country by our inadequate justice system.

“In many cases, these youngsters are not convicted, but they and their families and communities wind up suffering this horrendous sentence of deprivation and abandonment nonetheless.

“This week’s turnabout from the government on justice reinvestment, through its new Corrective Services Minister Joe Francis, gives me hope that we might at long last make some progress towards a better way - where communities might see far fewer of their future citizens enmeshed in our current one-size-fits-all system.

“Let’s work really hard to keep our regional kids out of the system – local remand facilities are a good interim measure, but not good enough to be seen as the complete solution”, Mr Chapple concluded.

Good News for Martu Aboriginal People

24^th April 2013

Greens WA Member for the Mining and Pastoral Region and Spokesperson on Aboriginal issues, Robin Chapple MLC, today described his feelings of joy after having attended the Declaration Ceremony for the Birriliburu Indigenous Protected Area (IPA), held yesterday at Well 6 on the Canning Stock Route.

“At this time in our history, when it seems only conflict between people is newsworthy, what a joyous event was witnessed out here in the Little Sandy Desert bio-region.

“After a long and thorough development process, this is a magnificent result for the Martu people, who have now achieved full recognition of their role in managing this land for thousands of years.

“With the rapid increase in whitefella four-wheel drive tourism along the Canning Stock Route, this new IPA arrangement has not come a moment too soon”, said Mr Chapple.

“Over millennia, the Martu people, through their waterholes, expert fire management, rock art and all the other evidence of their care for this land have shown us that their descendants are the rightful custodians of the current day health and management of their country.

“This country is fragile, and the assistance that comes with this IPA declaration will enable the Birriliburu native title holders to carry out their desire of ‘looking after country’ in all the environmental and cultural ways that this simple phrase entails.

“For example, the region includes important ‘law’ areas for the native title holders, and is home to threatened species of fauna and flora.

Greens member for the Mining and Pastoral region Robin Chapple MLC has welcomed the news that officers from the High Court are conducting an investigation into allegations of improprieties regarding a Former State Manager of the National Native Title Tribunal.

“I was shocked when last November I saw a 7.30 Report story that alleged conflicts of interest by both the former NNTT State Manager and her partner, a former Fortescue Metals Group employee, in respect of their involvement with FMG’s bid to mine in Yindjibarndi country.

“What I saw in that story, especially in the footage of the meeting between FMG, Yindjibarndi and Wirlu-murra held in March 2012 set my mind whirring with questions, none of which have been answered to date.

“It is to the benefit of everybody that we get to get to the bottom of this matter as soon as possible.

“I congratulate the NNTT President Graeme Neate for launching the inquiry’” Mr Chapple said.

For more information please contact Robin Chapple on 0409 379 263 or 9486 8255

Greens WA Member for Mining and Pastoral Robin Chapple MLC has called on the State Government to investigate allegations of impropriety and illegal activity by Andrew Forrest’s Fortescue Metals Group in relation to native title and Aboriginal heritage at its Solomon Hub iron ore project in the Pilbara.

“The Government needs to investigate the growing number of claims made by a number of people about FMG and its activities in relation to its Solomon lease on Yindjibarndi country,” Mr Chapple said.

“The company has admitted destroying Aboriginal sites and yet the Department of Indigenous Affairs has decided not to prosecute.

“A former lawyer with FMG has blown the whistle on the circumstances surrounding a meeting convened by the company in March this year, saying it was ‘illegal’ and in contravention of ‘good faith negotiations’, which is a right under the Native Title Act.

“There are clear statements coming from both Eureka (an archaeology company) and Brad Goode & Associates (Consulting anthropologists and archaeologists) that they had been told to remove certain sections of their reports and to delete references to the heritage significance of the Kangeenarina Creek.

“When they refused, their reports did not see the light of day and FMG commissioned a third firm, MGA Consulting, who was more compliant.

“At the same March meeting Mr Forrest expressed his love for Aboriginal people. Now let’s see him extend that to those who dare to stand up to him.Mr Chapple said.

“It is time the Government fulfilled its responsibilities to the Yindjibarndi people and convened a full investigation into the matter.”

Greens Member of Parliament Robin Chapple MLC has lashed out at the Barnett/Grylls Government’s refusal to extend the deadline of the Stolen Wages Reparation Scheme, accusing the Premier and the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs Peter Collier of being unjust, unfair and mean-spirited.

“The WA Government is very good at paying lip service to the needs of Aboriginal people but puts its head firmly in the sand when it comes time to follow through with practical assistance,” Mr Chapple said.

“The $2,000 payment to compensate Indigenous workers who had their wages held in trust by successive state governments until the 1970s is paltry enough.

“But to deny people even that tiny sum by closing the scheme just 9 months after it was announced is nothing short of malevolent.

“Compare the situation in this ‘boom’ state with Queensland and New South Wales, where similar schemes ran for four and five years respectively.

“Mr Barnett has got his priorities seriously wrong when he spends millions of dollars on a glitzy harbor development in downtown Perth while he short-changes Aboriginal people their entitlements.

“Not only does the deadline for the current scheme need to be extended, reparation should also be offered to Aboriginal station workers—the backbone of the pastoral industry for many decades—whose wages were withheld before the legislation changed in the 1970s.

“I take no comfort from Mr Collier’s mollifying words of ‘understanding’ and ‘sympathy’ for Aboriginal people who miss out on compensation or ex gratia payments, nor his assurances that the Government strives to work towards reconciliation.

“And I cannot forgive him for acknowledging that previous discriminatory legislation has led to considerable disadvantage and disharmony for Aboriginal people, while refusing to share more than the crumbs from his table.

“The current closing date for the Stolen Wages Reparation Scheme is 30^th November 2012. The Aboriginal Legal Service of WA is asking for an extension to March 2017, to bring WA into line with other states, and I am supporting that call.”