STATEMENTS BY SENATORS
Senator THORPE (Victoria—Independent VIC Whip) (13:10): Today I rise to speak the words of a young Kuyani man who is writing on behalf of all Kuyani elders. He writes: Dear Senator Lidia Thorpe, Ministers of the Federal Government and Senators of different states. This is the letter on behalf of all Kuyani People.
I would like to start off by addressing the Roxby Downs (Indenture Ratification) (Amendment of Indenture) Bill that has recently passed through the South Australian Parliament. It enables a $25 billion expansion of BHP's Olympic Dam, one of the world's largest copper and uranium mines, for another 60 years. In the Western Mining 1982 Environmental Impact Statement, it states that the Olympic Dam project area is traditionally Kuyani Country, but all Kuyani People are extinct.
The Western Mining and the State Government at the time acknowledged the 1982 EIS and used it to bring forth what is known as The Roxby Downs Ratification Act and Indenture Act. When the Kuyani community came across this historic document, we immediately sent a letter demanding a meeting to the State Attorney General at the time (The Hon. Kyam Maher).
The Attorney General acknowledged the letter and had a meeting with the Kuyani Community on the 26th of February 2024. He acknowledged the area as Kuyani Country, and the Kuyani community asked the Minister to make a 'Wrong into a Right'. This meeting took place before the Indenture Act amendment passed this year.
When the Kuyani Community heard about the 2026 Amendment Bill and the expansion of Olympic Dam and the Indenture Act, we grew fearful of our country and bringing more destruction to Kuyani People and to the land where Kuyani Elders still hold the intangible knowledge. The feeling about how our intangibles are going to be impacted is distressing; the feeling of not being able to pass on the Kuyani Culture and not being able to go out on Country to visit the sites that hold such detriment value to the Kuyani People is cultural genocide and ethnocide.
This is a great shame for our State Government of South Australia, to pass this Bill through; and to exclude Kuyani People during the process shows how the Government really cares about Aboriginal Heritage. The small amount of time that was given for submissions to be submitted, 10 days, is despicable. I have sent a letter on behalf of all Kuyani People, to Parliament during the submission process, only to be told by TOM KOUTSANTONIS, that my letter is irrelevant, that the Kuyani Peoples views are irrelevant.
We all find it very offensive to be told that. We want to go out on Country to record and protect these heritage sites, tangible and intangible. We want to pass this oral knowledge to the upcoming generations, but the State Government is preventing this from happening.
Under section 23 of the State Aboriginal Heritage Act, it is important for the Minister to hear and accept the recommendations that we, the Kuyani People, have made. I demand justice for my People, the Kuyani People. We demand our Human Rights, our Intangibles, our Belief System, and our Rights to be able to return to our land of origin.
The State Government should be ashamed of themselves. This has been an issue since the late 1970s. And in the Kuyani Community's view, this is bigger than Jukkan Gorge as this is an eradication of an Aboriginal Nation.
The State of South Australia and BHP need to come under world's best practice, the Burra Charter. So, I call on you, in the federal parliament, to do everything you can to ensure our Kuyani heritage, culture and Country is protected.