Gerry Georgatos
Lily O'Neill is a PhD student with the Agreements, Treaties and Negotiated Settlements Project, an Australian Research project at the University of Melbourne and she argues the case that agreements such as the Kimberley LNG deal are the way forward for Aboriginal communities otherwise languishing in poverty.
"I believe the power and voice of Traditional Owners is the 'quiet revolution' of the James Price Point controversy," said Ms O'Neil. She believes that Aboriginal communities are ready to embrace the modern economic life and especially ride the benefits available from the mining resources boom in this country.
She referred to earlier comments by Professor Marcia Langton who opened last year's ABC Boyer lectures, "Her central theme, that participation in the modern economy is essential to strong Indigenous communities, and that Indigenous people are riding the resource boom to the middle classes, is probably news to people used to tales of big resource companies running roughshod over Indigenous groups."
In the Kimberley three now controversial agreements have been reached between the Goolaraboolooo and Jabirr Jabirr registered native title claimants, Western Australia and Woodside Petroleum to process gas from the Browse Basin at Walmandan (James Price Point).
Ms O'Neil said that the contents of the agreements have been lost in translation because of the anti-gas campaigns and the preceding dispute between some of the claimants of whether to sign or not. However it is also true that most of the public clamour was manifest by Premier Colin Barnett's threats of compulsory acquisition.
"But these agreements are far better than those most Traditional Owners are negotiating, and contain better compensation than Traditional Owners are entitled to under compulsory acquisition provisions," said Ms O'Neil.
"Almost no land owners in Australia own the minerals that are beneath their land, including Native Title holders, whose ownership of minerals was extinguished by legislation vesting mineral ownership in the Crown. In addition, no individual or community group, with perhaps the exception of those holding Aboriginal Land Rights Act land, have the legal right to stop mining on their land."
Under the Native Title Act resource companies have the right to seek to access Native Title land for its resources however they have to follow prescribed process which includes the Native Title party having the right to negotiate an agreement.
"(However) that's not a right to stop the project, nor the right to reach an agreement."
She said Professor Langton had given some answers in her Boyer lecture in how Governments can ensure the negotiation of a good deal, and that is to compel companies to "obtain a social licence to operate".
"Traditional Owner groups around the nation get rolled and are still forced to accept inadequate compensation."
Former Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission deputy chairman Ray Robinson said that Aboriginal Land Owners are "still ripped off by mining companies, (which) are getting billions and billions of dollars and they are offering Indigenous people a pittance."
In the east Kimberley, Elder Ben Ward long fought and finally relented to various compromises and negotiated the Ord Final Agreement. Elder Ward who campaigned long and hard for its negotiation he will tell you the agreement has not alleviated the social problems that his peoples and the Kununurra Waringarri Aboriginal Corporation face. This point should not be lost because Native Title Agreements have short-changed peoples Australia-wide, the compensation was never what it should have been and the context of of impoverished peoples was not taken into account.
"Our social problems are many, and the funds were not made available to build programs and opportunity let alone significant infrastructure. They finally gave us some compensation, however there was enough capacity for full compensation and the needs of our people to be met," said Elder Ward.
Human Rights Alliance Indigenous spokeswoman Natalie Flower said the Agreements, Treaties and Negotiated Settlements Project run a defeatist argument of "get what you can and work with it and not what you are entitled to."
"It is all about greed. What Ms O'Neil has blatantly missed is the huge benefits to the Venture partners and the State Government from the LNG production and export. If they want to pull all of the people out of inter-generational poverty in one heap then give them what they're entitled to, that should be the benchmark," said Ms Flower.
"In addition to significant access payments and advanced fees, in addition to pro-social opportunities for the local people, the compensation should be proportional to total production for the life of the project, uncapped, with tariffs on everything imagineable. At this time Premier Barnett is claiming that if the hub goes ahead there will be 3 ships leaving its port each week, 150 a year, however rest assured that expansion will see this quickly rise to an average 30 ships a week and 1500 ships each year from James Price. Hundreds of millions of dollars and not fifty million should be returned each year to the people."
"However, the indictment is that the pittance of $50 million per year should have been mandatorily spent nevertheless by the State on rising out of acute poverty the Kimberley's poorest. It is discrimination and racism it has not occurred, and this money should not be tied to the LNG project. With the LNG project if it were to eventuate it should be tied financially proportional to production. We have to move away from Marcia Langton's 'social licence' semantics in getting companies to the table and instead produce legislation that enables consistent and fair outcomes," said Ms Flower.
However Ms O'Neil describes the Kimberley LNG deal as one many other Aboriginal groups could only wish for. She is supported by Jabirr Jabirr Elder Rita Augustine who said the deal can address her people's poverty.
Ms O'Neill said, "Whatever you might think of the proposed LNG precinct, the agreements are worth a lot of money. They are also comprehensive agreements and include significant grants of freehold land, as well as employment, training, environmental and cultural protections."
"They contain very substantial regional benefits for all Kimberley Aboriginal people in areas such as education, health and housing."
"The deal binds the State, through an Act of Parliament, not to process LNG anywhere else on the Kimberley coast."
She said she believes that despite the humiliation of colonialism and its oppression that the Kimberley is full of "pride, success and dignity" and that Traditional Owners are empowered. Part of the reason for this is "the fact that big areas of the Kimberley are back in Indigenous hands."
Despite Ms O'Neil's insights the Kimberley has a horrific homelessness rate, 7 per cent of its total population, and 90 per cent of this is Aboriginal peoples. However she remains positive that the deal is benchmark and that the national landscape should follow suit.
Whether the agreement goes ahead or not, its contents are the best yet, according to Ms O'Neil, to effectively rise whole communities out of inter-generational poverty.
