24 May 2013
FMG’s “milestone” is Yindjibarndi’s millstone
On Thursday 23 May, in reference to Fortescue’s infrastructure sale, The Australian Financial Review reported “one of the issues to emerge is whether final approvals have been met on its $5 billion debt deal”; and, “It is understood Fortescue had 270 days to get final approval from stakeholders, including traditional owners, in order to legally secure the loan […]“. (Fortescue bidders check dates as deadline nears)
The Yindjibarndi Aboriginal Corporation would like to make clear that Fortescue have not obtained the consent or approval of Yindjibarndi native title holders for their Firetail and Solomon Project operations.
FMG do not have an Indigenous Land Use Agreement (ILUA) with the Yindjibarndi People, and operate outside the security of such an agreement. Despite a Federal Court decision that decisively settled who legitimately represents Yindjibarndi native title at Fortescue’s Firetail/Solomon operations, Fortescue continues to trash Yindjibarndi native title rights. This disregard of Yindjibarndi native title leaves the company liable for compensation under the Mining Act once the Yindjibarndi #1 claim is determined.
FMG’s “milestone” is Yindjibarndi’s millstone
With the opening of its Firetail mine, FMG celebrated “one of the most significant milestones in its 10-year history”.
For the Yindjibarndi People however, the opening of the mine is a millstone around the neck of their ancient society; one that will extinguish religious ceremonies that have been carried out, for more than 46,000 years, in a part of the country the Yindjibarndi call “Ganyjingarringunha” (Kangeenarina).
Unlike Western religious traditions, Yindjibarndi religious ceremonies must be carried out at sacred sites in Yindjibarndi country. Michael Woodley, CEO of the Yindjibarndi Aboriginal Corporation (YAC), which is the only body authorised to make decisions affecting the rights of the Yindjibarndi People, explained:
“The sites in Ganyjingarringunha, which are being destroyed for Firetail, are the ‘churches’ of the Yindjibarndi People. We must fulfill our religious ceremonies and rituals at those sites because of the promise made by Minkgala (God) to our spiritual ancestors.
“In our religion, Minkgala gave Yindjibarndi country to the Yindjibarndi People and promised that Yindjibarndi country would always provide for the needs of our people, but only if we look after our country and perform our ceremonies and rituals, following the laws Minkgala gave us. That is what we have always done. But our country is being changed, blow by blow, by the mining destruction of our religious sites.
“Mining companies are supposed to rehabilitate the country after mining, but no rehabilitation can bring back our religious sites. How can FMG recreate sites put there for us by Minkgala, in the times we call “Ngurranyujunggamu”? How can FMG recreate the burial chambers of our ancestors? How can they rebuild the ochre quarries we need for our ceremonies?
“In the face of this disaster, YAC has been fighting for fair compensation from FMG so that at least we have a chance of creating a new and sustainable way to carry our religion and culture.
“YAC and Juluwarlu Group are working hard to avoid the washing away of our people into assimilation, by building a cultural archive; creating books and media that will keep our language and culture alive; and creating jobs that deeply respect, and are connected with all the life and spirits in our land. We are creating an alternative way of knowing and practicing our culture, which we can pass on to our children.
“What FMG offers is just dumbed-down assimilation.”
In their latest Section 18 application to the Minister for Indigenous Affairs, on 14 March, which attaches the ‘consent’ of the bogus ‘rep’ group FMG helped establish and now finances (Wirlu-Murra/WMYAC), Fortescue ask for approval to “de-water”, mine and destroy entire stretches of Ganyjingarringunha Wundu (Kangeenarina Creek), which runs through the heart of the Yindjibarndi religious precinct in the Solomon project area.
It remains that the overwhelming majority of Yindjibarndi people oppose Fortescue’s Solomon Project; and that while FMG has some tenure for the Solomon Project, the vast majority of tenure sought by FMG for Solomon is pending.
YAC will move for determination of their native title claim in the Solomon Project area later this year, and a claim against FMG for compensation will follow.
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15 March 2013
Barnett government blind, dumb and deaf to Fortescue’s grim ‘circus’ of manipulation and ‘cleansing’ of Yindjibarndi heritage
Yesterday the National Indigenous Times (NIT) reported that Bruce Woodley, chairman of the Wirlu-Murra Yindjibarndi Aboriginal Corporation (WMYAC), was “bullied and intimidated” into standing down because he told ABC’s 7.30 and the NIT that FMG and its “snake in the grass” agent, Michael Gallagher, controlled WMYAC; and because he sent letters complaining of malfeasance at WMYAC to ORIC and ASIC.
DOWNLOAD 20130313 Bruce Woodley walks out
WMYAC Business Manger, Bruce Thomas, has also been sacked following on the assistance he provided to Chairman Woodley in releasing damning WMYAC minutes, invoices and emails corroborating conflicts of interest by Mr Gallagher.
FMG has on three other occasions tried to silence whistleblowers, namely: Lawyer Kerry Savas of Corser & Corser; Anthropologist Sue Singleton of Eureka Heritage; and Anthropologist Brad Goode.
DOWNLOAD Whistleblower news reports
Moreover, the legal firm Corser & Corser was sacked as the Legal representative of WMYAC following attempts by Mr Savas to initiate mediation between WMYAC and Yindjibarndi Aboriginal Corporation (YAC).
FMG’s routine method has been to ensure that any personnel who reveal evidence contrary to the spin Fortescue deploy to gain government approvals for mining, are removed and silenced by intimidation and threats of legal action. This intimidation has extended to media such as The Australian, Mornings with Geoff Hutchison (720 ABC Perth), The National Indigenous Times, and ABC’s 7.30 program.
According to the NIT, lawyers representing WMYAC—(the public record shows that Integra Legal represent WMYAC)—responded to revelations by Bruce Woodley and Bruce Thomas by writing Statutory Declarations in which Thomas and Woodley recant their previous statements and actions, and then bullied them into signing these Declarations.
The NIT cites a statement released by Bruce Woodley last week which names “Mr Gallagher and a lawyer acting on behalf of WMYAC in having ‘pressured and coerced’ him into signing two Statutory Declarations ‘that I had no part in drafting’.” The report states that Bruce Woodley and his wife Wendy Hubert have “described the Statutory Declaration as fraud”; and said “Mr Woodley did not know what he was signing and he had been bullied and intimidated into signing them”.
DOWNLOAD 20130305 Bruce Woodley statement following Resignation
Bruce Woodley also reconfirms that WMYAC is “nepotistic, a front for the mining company [Fortescue Metals Group] which exclusively funds it and that its personnel had degenerated into bullying, intimidation, coercion and fraud”.
In regard to Mr Thomas, the NIT reports:
“WMYAC Business Manager, Bruce Thomas approached the National Indigenous Times and not only corroborated everything Mr Savas and Mr Woodley had reported […] but added a litany of staggering allegations of gross misconduct, nepotism and in fact what amounted to allegations of corruption within WMYAC.”
[Mr Thomas] has since claimed he signed the Statutory Declaration because he believed he had no choice at the time. He said he signed it to protect his job so he could continue on with the organisation and right wrongs from the ‘inside’” […] He is now ‘broken’ and ‘messed up’ by what has eventuated and regrets being ‘intimidated’ into having signed a Statutory Declaration he knew to be false. He did not see the termination of employment with the WMYAC coming.”
Indeed, just one week earlier, in FMG’s Perth offices, Mr Thomas took his place in a publicity shot for the announcement of the FMG/WMYAC Joint Venture.
This “circus”, as the NIT describes it, has gone on for two years now, with consequences so destructive for the cultural heritage of Yindjibarndi country, that they constitute cultural genocide—a ‘cleansing’ of heritage sites and the ancestral connection, and the religious observance they verify.
FMG’s Solomon project will entirely destroy stretches of Ganyjingarringunha Yaayu Wundu (Kangeenarina Creek East) where Gandi [sacred stones] are ‘summoned up’ and collected for use in ceremonies; and along with it, hundreds of Yindjibarndi sites dating back forty thousand years, including caves and walled niches holding ancestral remains, rock art, ochre quarries and other sacred resources employed in contemporary Yindjibarndi religious practice.
Despairing at the cultural annihilation she saw coming, one of the professionals sacked and silenced by FMG appealed to the Department of Indigenous Affairs (DIA): “It is quite ironic that a project that has facilitated the discovery of such an amazing resource into knowledge and discovery of the traditional life and practices of the Yindjibarndi will now also facilitate its destruction. In this light, I respectfully urge the DIA to inquire further into the levels of ethnographic enquiry carried out by FMGL and ensure that an appropriate and acceptable level of cultural heritage management is carried out before the opportunity is forever lost due to the total destruction of the resource.”
Ms Singleton’s appeal met deaf ears, blind eyes and dumb mouths.
With their cynical manipulation of a few Yindjibarndi people at WMYAC, FMG have driven trucks through provisions of the Native Title Act (NTA) and State Aboriginal Heritage Act (AHA), which claim to, but fail to right the wrongs of the past or protect Aboriginal culture—all so that Fortescue can get dirt cheap access to Yindjibarndi lands for its Solomon mining project.
FMG have shown not just the lie of the native title promise and State heritage provisions, but the moral vacuum at the heart of the Barnett Government, which has not lifted a finger to bring this grim circus to an end.
ALSO SEE 20130313 Yindjibarndi say it’s time for Fortescue to pay up