A protest camp was set up by an Indigenous group, outside the Iluka mine in late February, in north-west Victoria. The group demands a stop to mining due to damage of culturally sensitive sites. Aboriginal Affairs Minister Jeannette Powell has stated that while the reported discovery of stone artefacts is still being investigated, she is confident the mining company is meeting its cultural heritage obligations.
Brendan Kelly, Tati Tati elder and protest spokesperson was quoted on WIN TV as stating
BRENDAN KENNEDY, Tati Tati Member: "What they've done is failed to protect our cultural heritage site here. They have proceeded to carry out their mining on this Aboriginal cultural heritage site." "We want our ancestors, the evidence that our people have been here not to be erased, and for our past not to be erased."
"The best way to remove of people's past is to erase the evidence that they ever existed in the first place, and that's what is going on here."
The mining company position is that it has an agreement with another group of traditional land owners and the protesting group are not the recognised owners. There position can be read here
Comments
Permanent protest camp set up by Aboriginal protestors ...
oh yes and people keep buying useless stuff to support this land grab by corrupt bodies. Digging and raping the soil and Indigenous sacred land. In fact all of the planet is sacred but the current system in place with shareholders and banks and the concept of money, plastic cards, credit etc has people fooled. Everybody has been taken for a ride. The less one contributes to this abusive system, the better. We must do away with the corporations and bankers and find a much fairer way for the planet, ecology and our lives.