Rio Tinto says sorry for blasting 46,000-year-old Aboriginal site | 7.30 — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:02our ancestors from this country ever
2. 0:05left behind their footprints and walked
3. 0:08all over this land these are the voices
4. 0:12of the traditional owners in the Dukan
5. 0:14gorge in Western Australia's Pilbara
6. 0:16region it's a treasure trove of ancient
7. 0:18indigenous culture that the artifacts
8. 0:22were making a spear making shield and
9. 0:26all that you know people have been
10. 0:30living here for the last forty three
11. 0:33thousand years but it's also on the edge
12. 0:37of a multibillion-dollar iron ore mine
13. 0:40owned by Rio Tinto this documentary was
14. 0:43funded by the mining giant in 2015 as a
15. 0:46way for owners to preserve the history
16. 0:48of the site Rio Tinto is planning to
17. 0:52expand their mine and this price will be
18. 0:54lost
19. 0:55look what all my people are fighting for
20. 0:57our country to protect the past and what
21. 1:00we can the traditional owners concerns
22. 1:02about the mining activity in the area
23. 1:04couldn't be clearer and yet late last
24. 1:07month two rock shelters at the 46
25. 1:09thousand-year-old site were obliterated
26. 1:11by Rio Tinto to allow for the expansion
27. 1:14of the brockman 4 iron ore mine I'd like
28. 1:19to say very sorry to the putu Conte
29. 1:21Kurama and pedicure people you know this
30. 1:23has rocked me personally and it was
31. 1:27never our intent to cause distress
32. 1:30seven-thirty has viewed a survey of the
33. 1:33site from 2013 the two rock shelters
34. 1:36which were blown up a marked as having
35. 1:38high archaeological significance the
36. 1:40report also notes the gorge area is of
37. 1:43high significance to the traditional
38. 1:44owners
39. 1:46we've obviously had some
40. 1:48misunderstanding we thought we had a
41. 1:50shared understanding of the future of
42. 1:52the caves that they would in fact be
43. 1:54mined as part of a normal - sequence the
44. 1:58blast has reignited debate about a
45. 2:00controversial legal loophole in the W a
46. 2:03Aboriginal heritage Act known as section
47. 2:0618 it allows mining companies to apply
48. 2:08to the Minister for an exemption to
49. 2:11damaged Aboriginal sites the way the
50. 2:15Aboriginal Heritage Act works is that it
51. 2:17provides a process for licensing the
52. 2:20destruction of Aboriginal heritage even
53. 2:24though an archaeological dig confirmed
54. 2:26the significance of the site Rio Tinto
55. 2:28used a section 18 exemption to destroy
56. 2:31the rock shelters under the process
57. 2:34traditional owners don't even have the
58. 2:36right to appeal against decisions made
59. 2:39the only party who has an appeal right
60. 2:41is the mining company or the developer
61. 2:44who seeks the consent to destroy the
62. 2:47site people are hurting about how this
63. 2:49happened and we can't go back but what
64. 2:52we are done what we are committed to is
65. 2:54learning from this incident making sure
66. 2:57that doesn't happen again
67. 2:59so Rio Tinto is at this point saying
68. 3:02that the only thing that went wrong here
69. 3:03was a breakdown in communications and
70. 3:05that otherwise your intention was to
71. 3:07destroy a sacred site our intent was
72. 3:10never to cause distress to traditional
73. 3:13owners as I said we went through a
74. 3:15comprehensive program a process
75. 3:17ultimately resulting in the government
76. 3:19approval with the full knowledge of
77. 3:22traditional owners about excavating the
78. 3:23site with the intent that we would mine
79. 3:26through the site at what point does Rios
80. 3:28mind expansion come at the cost of
81. 3:31indigenous history and the value of this
82. 3:33site
83. 3:34like I said clearly we had
84. 3:38a lot of consultation with traditional
85. 3:41owners Clinton Walker is an alum a
86. 3:51traditional owner who knows the rich
87. 3:53history of ancient land in the Pilbara
88. 3:55well I know it's quite old it's at least
89. 3:58a few thousand years old he stumbled
90. 4:01across this carving of a Jew going on a
91. 4:03rock at Kerry Bay near karratha while
92. 4:06showing seven-thirty around when I see
93. 4:09that there that's that's I feel a lot of
94. 4:14a lot of pride you know about my own
95. 4:16culture and then I find out when you
96. 4:18know these companies destroyed the sort
97. 4:20of thing they're destroying our history
98. 4:22not just as every little people they're
99. 4:23destroying Australian history you know
100. 4:25and and human history Clinton spent
101. 4:29eight years working at Rio Tinto to
102. 4:31improve its understanding of Aboriginal
103. 4:33culture you know I thought they were
104. 4:36serious about these things he wants a
105. 4:38moratorium to prevent any more sites
106. 4:40being destroyed under Section 18 while
107. 4:43the Act is being reviewed if they're
108. 4:46gonna Bala Sh that particular part of
109. 4:48the Act they need to not destroy any of
110. 4:50those sites and leave them untouched
111. 4:54but Western Australia's government has
112. 4:57ruled that out we won't be doing a
113. 4:59moratorium because I think that would
114. 5:00have simply cease activity whether it be
115. 5:02Main Roads activity for example that
116. 5:04doesn't have any contention or even to
117. 5:06slow chol government's putting in work
118. 5:08around rivers rivers and creeks both the
119. 5:11waa Aboriginal Affairs Department and
120. 5:13the office of federal Indigenous Affairs
121. 5:15Minister Ken Wyatt were warned by
122. 5:17traditional owners that the blasting was
123. 5:20imminent wellhe lawyer contacted my
124. 5:22office they were given advice as to who
125. 5:26to talk to do you wish that your office
126. 5:29had done more to intervene in that
127. 5:30instance and and why didn't you do more
128. 5:32well the office did the right thing did
129. 5:34provide all the advice and the people to
130. 5:37talk to and that was the important step
131. 5:40we will also work very closely with our
132. 5:43prime minister's office to ensure that
133. 5:46we do not have a repeat of the
134. 5:48destruction of any aboriginal site in
135. 5:51this country Rio Tinto says it will
136. 5:54review what happened and support
137. 5:56traditional owners in their push to
138. 5:58change the law when you lose a site
139. 6:01they've gone forever you can no longer
140. 6:04use it you can no longer learn about it
141. 6:07you can no longer visit the site and you
142. 6:10can no longer practice the culture the
143. 6:12heritage of that area it's irreplaceable
144. 6:19hi I'm Leigh sales thanks for watching
145. 6:21this story if you'd like to watch more
146. 6:23of 730 stories they are on the left of
147. 6:26your screen and tap on the button below
148. 6:28to subscribe and get the latest from ABC
149. 6:31news