Rio Tinto urged to compensate Indigenous Australians for destruction of sacred land

Mining company Rio Tinto is being urged by an Australian inquiry panel to pay restitution to Indigenous Australians after it blasted two ancient rock shelters in an expansion of its iron ore mine in May 2020.

A parliamentary panel released a statement on Wednesday alongside an interim report in which it recommends the company to fully reconstruct the destroyed shelters in Western Australia’s Pilbara region.

“Never again can we allow the destruction, the devastation and the vandalism of cultural sites as has occurred with the Juukan Gorge—never again!”, said the Chair of the Parliament’s Northern Australia Committee, Warren Entsch in Wednesday’s statement.

“The PKKP ( Puutu Kunti Kurrama and Pinikura people) faced a perfect storm, with no support or protection from anywhere,” Entsch said.

“They were let down by Rio Tinto, the Western Australian Government, the Australian Government, their own lawyers, and Native Title law.”

“In making these recommendations today, the Committee and I want to break that cycle. The neglect of the PKKP people stops here,” he said.

The report, simply titled Never Again, highlights the disparity in power between Indigenous peoples and industry in the protection of Indigenous heritage, and the serious failings of legislation designed to protect Indigenous heritage and promote Native Title.

It suggests seven recommendations to improve the relations between industry and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

Among these sevens recommendations, it urged Rio Tinto to commit to a moratorium on mining in the area, the rehabilitation of the destroyed site and a review of all agreements with Traditional Owners.

The panel also urged the Australian government to outlaw the use of gag clauses in agreements between mining companies and traditional owners to allow these groups to speak up against the destruction of their heritage.

Other sections of the mining industry are urged to make similar commitments, while the Western Australian Government is urged to pursue urgent reform of current State laws.

The inquiry held public hearings in May 2020, shortly after the destruction of the 46,000-year-old Juunkan Gorge, following over 140 submissions from miners, heritage specialists and Aboriginal and civil society groups.

The committee expects to finish its report in the second half of 2021.

Entsch said: “The scale of the inquiry, the sheer volume of evidence that the Committee has received, and continues to receive, and the serious constraints posed by Covid-19, means that the Committee felt unable to do full justice to the inquiry in so short a time”.

“As a result, the Committee has chosen to table this interim report addressing its findings to date and setting forth recommendations which will be built upon next year."

In a statement, Rio Tinto reiterated its apology, set out reforms it has made to its practices, and said that it was pushing hard to remedy the destruction that caused significant pain to the PKKP.