Shadow resources minister says a Coalition government would designate ‘recognised’ Indigenous communities
Karen Middleton
Shadow resources minister Susan McDonald has questioned Indigeneity in relation to heritage claims over mining developments and demanded the government designate approved Indigenous groups, singling out a proposed New South Wales goldmine project as impeded by “activist lawfare”.
“Often, keynote speeches include a traditional acknowledgment of the land on which we meet,” McDonald said on Wednesday, in opening remarks to the Minerals Council annual conference which did not include an Indigenous acknowledgement.
“But after the Labor government’s decision on Blayney goldmine, I don’t know anymore how we are supposed to confidently determine who the traditional custodians are.”
McDonald said Indigeneity used to be about how a person defined themselves and “the impacts of that decision were largely confined to themselves”.
“But now, the impacts can be imposed on others,” McDonald said.
“Now, how someone identifies – who they identify with – can now jeopardise an entire gas or mining operation, deprive other Australians of jobs and income, and deprive other Indigenous Australians of their collective say on the future of their communities.”
She said the government must designate “recognised” Indigenous communities and vowed that a Coalition government would do so if it won office
The resources sector cannot be left to guess.”
Key events
Karen Middleton
Dutton says he will ‘turbocharge’ mining and de-fund the Environmental Defender’s Office if he wins office
Peter Dutton has vowed to “turbocharge” the mining industry, saying he will de-fund the Environmental Defender’s Office if he wins office at the next election and overturn Tanya Plibersek’s decision rejecting one aspect of the proposed McPhillamys goldmine project in central-western NSW.
He said he would halve and then cap timeframes for approving resources projects.
I want to see more excavators digging. I want to see more gas flowing and more trucks moving and that requires removing those regulatory roadblocks which have needlessly inhibited projects coming online until years after they should have started.
Dutton said he wanted to mine, export and use more uranium.
He said a Dutton Coalition government would be “the best friend” of Australia’s resources sector.
To support you, to make your industry strong, is to support our country and to make that country strong into the future as well.
Dutton vows to stand ‘unashamedly’ with resources sector if Coalition wins next election
Karen Middleton
Peter Dutton has vowed to stand “unashamedly” with Australia’s resources sector if he wins office at the next election, accusing the Albanese government of using cultural heritage protection laws to “stymie” important resource projects.
Addressing the Minerals Council’s annual conference in Canberra on Wednesday, Dutton said he was concerned “the bad old days are returning” under the Albanese government, with industrial law favouring unions and hurting the wealth-creating mining industry.
He accused Labor of making what he called “adversarial policies” to silence internal critics, protect itself against the Greens’ electoral threat and appease unions.
“These three factors – placating the party members, preventing the bleeding of the votes, and pleasing the union bosses – are shaping much of the government’s policy platform,” Dutton said. “So let’s be under no misapprehension that the government is putting partisan interests and political survival ahead of our national interests.”
He said returning Labor at the next election risked the prosperity of the resources sector “and all Australians”.
There were snakes in the parliament today (I think you can finish the joke yourself).
A Threatened Species day event was held, meaning MPs piled into the courtyard to have photos with animals.
Mike Bowers was there:
Paul Karp
Price cites Barossa gas project as one being affected by Indigeneity claims
Asked which projects are affected by alleged opportunistic claims, Price cited the Barossa project, which sparked a federal court case in which Justice Natalie Charlesworth concluded that the views of three Tiwi traditional owners were not “broadly representative” of the beliefs of Tiwi people who would be affected by the pipeline and concluded that the EDO had engaged in “subtle coaching” of Tiwi Islanders.
Price said:
The problem is that we do know – and this is an issue that is brought up quite regularly, that is of concern to Aboriginal groups – of people claiming to be part of those groups who aren’t. There is an unnatural incredible increase on those who call themselves Indigenous and establish themselves within certain groups …
We’re hearing the calls from Aboriginal people across the country who are sick of the exploitation and we need to have it sorted out one way or another instead of completely turning a blind eye to it, which is what the Albanese government is doing.
In fact, the Albanese government is already developing a national standard for First Nations engagement as part of its proposed environmental laws, which will clarify for proponents which Indigenous groups need to be consulted.
Asked if the increasing proportion of people identifying as Indigenous needs to be tested, Price responded:
It is an absolute problem. This is why we’ve got to clean up the whole process, clean up these organisations, and focus on supporting marginalised Australians not on the basis of race but on the basis of need. Because of the opportunities that exist there are those that would seek to advantage of those opportunities.
Paul Karp
‘False’ claims of Indigeneity being made to thwart projects, shadow minister for Indigenous Australians says
The shadow minister for Indigenous Australians, senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, has suggested that “false” claims of Indigeneity or membership of an Indigenous group are being made to thwart projects seeking environmental approval.
Asked how the Coalition plan to “designate” which Indigenous groups would be consulted by project proponents, Price told reporters in Canberra:
We’ll be looking at what the structures are that currently exists, that they’re doing their work appropriately so that what we don’t, in fact, get are those who are making false claims to try to bring an end to development projects in those areas. We want to make sure there is less opportunity for opportunists to come along and put an end to projects, particularly when, as we’ve seen, the Environmental Defenders Office exploit Indigenous Australians for the purpose of shutting down projects.
Senator Kerrynne Liddle backed Price on this point, arguing that traditional owners are being “ignored” because they are not members of “organisations that have been built to so-called represent them”.
For those not watching the US presidential candidate debate (will someone please think of the cats!) Peter Dutton is about to deliver his “let’s be BFFs” speech to the Minerals Council shindig and the chair of Universities Australia, Professor David Lloyd, is about to give the National Press Club address.
Independent Parliamentary Standards Commission ‘quite simply not as strong as it could or should be’, Kylea Tink says
Following Andrew Wilkie and Helen Haines’ criticism of the Independent Parliamentary Standards Commission legislation, Kylea Tink also says it does not go far enough:
The Independent Parliamentary Standards Commission is quite simply not as strong as it could or should be.
We know self-regulation doesn’t work – in any sector. Placing the Privileges Committee in charge of sanctioning MPs found to have significantly breached the standards is like asking arsonists to put out their own fires and means there is no guarantee that disciplinary actions will be impactful.
As with debate around other new integrity measures – including the National Anti-Corruption Commission – we must have a process and consequences that hold people to account and offer an appropriate level of transparency.
Importantly, we must also acknowledge that, as a democracy, we are not breaking new ground here. In fact Australia is behind a number of other parliaments, including the UK, and for this reason I think we should be stepping into this boldly. Australians expect it and it’s time our parliament met those expectations.
Advocates and MPs to hold press conference soon on Independent Parliamentary Standards Commission amendments
After failing to have proposed amendments for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Commission passed in the House (most of the amendments were around strengthening the commission and making it more transparent) independent and crossbench MPs are going to try again in the Senate.
A group of advocates and MPs pushing for a commission with more teeth will be holding a press conference on the issue very soon.
Among the attendees are Renee Carr, the executive director of Fair Agenda, Saffron Zomer from the Australian Democracy Network and Andrew Wilkie, Larissa Waters, Kylea Tink, Helen Haines and Zoe Daniel.
Andrew Messenger
Queensland opposition promises inquiry into ‘horrific system failures’ behind childcare sex offender
Queensland’s LNP opposition has promised a “major independent inquiry” into the police investigation of childcare worker sex offender Ashley Paul Griffith.
Griffith was convicted of 307 sexual offences last week, committed at childcare centres where he worked in Brisbane and Italy between 2004 and 2022.
He was caught after specialist police recognised blankets in child sexual abuse uploaded online. Griffith was twice investigated in 2021 and 2022 by a separate police unit after reports by children. Both times he was cleared.
The LNP promised to direct the Queensland Family and Child Commissioner to conduct an inquiry into what they called the “horrific system failures that allowed one of the most dangerous and heinous self-confessed pedophiles in Australian history to repeatedly offend in Queensland.”
The report would be made public once complete, they said.
Shadow attorney general Tim Nicholls said the Griffith case “raises serious questions about the efficacy of a system that should have kept Queensland children safe”
A monster was able to carry out his heinous crimes within the current system and we must do everything in our power to fix the failures of that system.
This major inquiry will examine what went wrong, how it could have be prevented, and importantly it must rebuild faith in the child protection system.
A police inquiry – which has not been made public – cleared their investigation in 2022. Police minister Mark Ryan has already ordered a second internal review following Griffith’s conviction.
Health minister Shannon Fentiman yesterday said “if there is anything that comes up in that review that requires us to look more broadly, then we will.”
The investigation would commence following the sentencing of Griffith.
Jason Clare introduces National Student Ombudsman legislation
There was a lot of emotion as Jason Clare announced he would be introducing legislation to establish a National Student Ombudsman. Camille Schloeffel, a survivor advocate and founder of The Stop campaign and founder and director of End Rape on Campus Sharna Bremner are among those who walked a very long road to get to this point and were in Canberra to see the legislation be introduced.
Independent MP Helen Haines backed fellow independent Andrew Wilkie in his attempt to strengthen the Independent Parliamentary Standards Commission, with an amendment calling on the privileges committee to be made to publish why it may not follow recommendations made by the review panel.
It was voted down.
Karen Middleton
Shadow resources minister says it is ‘unfortunate’ there was no bipartisan approach to the voice referendum
Answering questions at the Minerals Council’s annual conference, Senator Susan McDonald said it was “unfortunate that there wasn’t an opportunity to have any sort of bipartisan approach” to last year’s voice referendum.
So now we are going back to what we believe, which is that there is local community groups who are acknowledged and recognised, both in legislation [and] reality.”
McDonald referred again to Tanya Plibersek’s decision to reject the proposed location of a tailings dam at the proposed McPhillamys goldmine near Blayney in NSW on the basis of advice from the Wiradyuri Traditional Owners Central West Aboriginal Corporation when another group, the Orange Local Aboriginal Land Council (OLALC) which initially opposed the development, later changed its position to neutral.
McDonald said formal Indigenous designation was required to assist the mining industry so “they don’t end up with this, you know, frankly horrifying situation where a group in Orange, who are the recognised native title holders, were disregarded”.
Coalition and Labor senators vote down bill to ban native forest logging
A private member’s bill put forward by former Greens senator Janet Rice to ban native forest logging, has been put up for debate in the Senate – and the Coalition and Labor senators voted it down.
Private member’s bills are at the mercy of the House and Senate in terms of when they come they come up for debate – and if the government isn’t supporting them, then it can take a very, very long time.
Greens senator Nick McKim was scathing in response to the vote:
Labor and the Coalition have turned their backs on Australia’s forests, our wildlife and our future.
Today’s vote – which had the support of crossbenchers Senator Pocock and Senator Payman – shows that the only thing standing in the way of ending native forest logging is the Labor party.
They’re choosing to protect the interests of logging corporations over the environment and the long-term survival of threatened species like the Leadbeater’s possum and the Swift parrot.
The evidence is clear – native forest logging has to end if we are serious about protecting biodiversity and addressing climate change.”
