Premier and Aboriginal Affairs Minister Steven Marshall was warned by his department not to allow a mineral exploration company to drill at a “pivotal” Aboriginal heritage site as it would damage the area and cause “hurt, sorrow and sickness” to Traditional Owners – but he allowed the work to proceed. Marshall in January signed off on a proposal put forward by mineral exploration company Kelaray to drill up to 1230 holes at Lake Torrens in search of iron-oxide-copper-gold. The lake is Australia’s second largest salt lake and plays a significant role in Adnyamathanha, Pitjantjatjara, Yankunytjatjara, Arabana, Barngarla, Kokatha and Kuyani beliefs and songlines. It is not protected under native title law, but the site is listed as an Aboriginal heritage place, with the government warning that ancestral remains are likely to be buried around the lake’s perimeter and islands. Marshall, who is responsible for the protection and preservation of Aboriginal sites, has repeatedly defended his decision to approve drilling at Lake Torrens, saying Kelaray must abide by “strict conditions”. But his own department warned against granting authorisation, with a document obtained by SA Native [...]

‘It was our economy, now we are dirt poor’: First Nations people dispossessed of water First Nations people say they are continuing to be dispossessed of their rights and their economy after a study of Indigenous water rights in the Murray-Darling Basin found they share less than 1 per cent of the market. Griffith University’s Australian Rivers Institute compiled for the first time the volume and value of water rights owned by First Nations groups in the basin, which spans Queensland, NSW, ACT, Victoria and South Australia. The report, commissioned by the Commonwealth’s Murray Darling Basin Authority, found about 44 First Nations groups share in 0.12 per cent of the market worth $16 billion. Their 64 entitlements give rights to a cumulative annual water take of 13 gigalitres, worth $15 million. Tatti Tatti man Brendan Kennedy, from the Murray River in western Victoria, says First Nations people had been systematically locked out from the allocation of water rights and need more to use for environmental, cultural and economic purposes. “Prior to invasion our people owned and managed 100 per cent of the water in [...]

Stan Grant calls out Australia for double standards on Q+A during discussion on sexual assault and the government   Stan Grant called out Australia for only caring about sexual assault once it happened in Australia's middle class. ABC journalist Stan Grant has used an appearance on Q+A to call out Australia for only taking notice of sexual assaults when they happen to "middle class" white women. Allegations of sexual assaults, misogyny and inappropriate behaviour in political circles have dominated the news for weeks. But while Grant said those issues deserved national attention, he said the complaints of Indigenous women about the same issues had been ignored for too long. "As necessary and as urgent and as righteous as these claims are, and this movement is, there have been so many women's voices who have not been listened to for a long time," Grant said. "And ... when it becomes a white middle-class issue, when it is in private schools, when it is in Parliament House, when it is in the press gallery, we take notice. "But when Aboriginal women who have been suffering domestic [...]