Australian Greens: Greens condemn Labor’s failure to save Murujuga songlines

Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek has failed to save the Murujuga songlines, in allowing the Perdaman fertiliser plant to continue development on the Burrup Peninsula despite Traditional Owners’ application for World Heritage listing of the site.

The following lines are attributable to Gunnai Gunditjmara DjabWurrung Senator Lidia Thorpe, the Greens spokesperson for First Nations:

“This is a clear violation of free, prior and informed consent as it is defined in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People (UNDRIP).

“The UNDRIP states that, ‘States shall consult and cooperate in good faith with the Indigenous peoples concerned through their own representative institutions in order to obtain their free, prior and informed consent before adopting and implementing legislative or administrative measures that may affect them.’

“First Nations people in this Country are a part of the oldest living culture in the world. Our representative institutions are tens of thousands of years older than Land Councils. The colonial project has been trying to control whose voice gets heard from First Nations communities since colonisation.

“When Traditional Owners are saying that there is no consent to destroy their heritage, this Government needs to listen.” Said Thorpe.

The following lines are attributable to Yamatji-Noongar Senator Dorinda Cox, the Greens spokesperson for Resources:

“The movement of that rock art will be it’s destruction. This is Juukan 2.0. We cannot continue to allow projects to go ahead that wreck the climate and destroy cultural heritage.

“The UNDRIP is an important instrument, both at a global level and within Australia. It protects free, informed, prior consent. What we’re seeing happen across this country is manufactured consent.

“Happening right now in Darwin and on the Tiwi Islands, is a landmark court hearing is will determine what constitutes consultation with Traditional Owners about the environmental, cultural, social and spiritual impacts of mining projects.

“Murujuga and the Burrup Peninsula are due for World Heritage listing next year, we need this fast-tracked to protect the ancestral rock art, stories and turtle dreaming, unique to the area.

“I’ve spoken directly with mining companies, urging them to sit with Traditional Owner groups. I’ve sat with First Nations women in Murujuga at the exact site where Perdaman propose to build their fertiliser plant, on top of one of the oldest women’s law grounds in the world.” Said Cox.