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 [...]