Walmadany - James Price Point

Future of James Price Point and Burrup Peninsula still hang in the balance

Monday, 14 November

Both James Price Point and Murujuga (Burrup Peninsula) will have their heritage status reassessed at next month’s Aboriginal Cultural Materials Committee (ACMC) meeting, some 18 months after the Supreme Court decision which found 35 Aboriginal Heritage sites had been unlawfully deregistered.

WA Greens Aboriginal Affairs spokesperson Robin Chapple MLC said it was a disgrace the sites even had to be reassessed, given the incredible significance of both sites and the Supreme Court’s determination.

“As recommended by an Industry Working Group in 2012, the State Solicitor’s Office provided new guidelines on the definition of ‘mythological sites’ under section 5(b) of the Aboriginal Heritage Act leading to the unlawful deregistration of 35 sites. You had a situation where industry effectively told government the easiest possible method for them to circumvent Aboriginal Heritage,” Mr Chapple.

“Many of these sites have now been impacted or destroyed as their approvals were fast tracked and granted in the few short years the illegal guidelines stood, yet the Department of Aboriginal Affairs refuses to admit fault and continues to insist the sites be re-subjected to the painfully slow registration process.

“James Price Point forms part of ancient Aboriginal song line with enormous cultural significance to the more than 30 nations that remain in the area today, with evidence of habitation at the site dating back almost 30,000 years.

“JPP is also home to rare Spinner Dolphins, endangered Hawksbill Turtles and Dugongs, and an incredible collection of fossilised Cretaceous Dinosaur footprints.

“Murujuga has literally millions of beautifully preserved carvings, potentially more than 30,000 years old, and some of the world’s earliest known recordings of human faces. It is a living art gallery unlike no other and has been the subject of World Heritage for decades.

“Despite all the rhetoric from Colin Barnett and others about the importance of these sites, it is actions that speak louder than words and they have done nothing to extend these places the extreme protection they deserve.”

The closing date for written submissions on the reassessment of both DAA 30274 LSC11 (James Price Point) and DAA 23323 Burrup Peninsula, Murujuga is 5pm Friday 25 November, 2016.

Submissions can either be posted to:

Registrar of Aboriginal Sites
PO Box 3153
East Perth WA 6892

Or emailed to: registrar@daa.wa.gov.au

For more information please contact Tim Oliver on 0431 9696 25.

EPA is fast losing it's credibility

Wednesday, 10 February 2016

Greens Member for the Mining and Pastoral Region, Robin Chapple MLC, has questioned the credibility of the Environmental Protection Agency.

“The latest revelation that EPA board member Jim Limerick has a conflict of interest leaves me seriously questioning their ability to protect the environment” Mr Chapple said.

“I find it remarkable that Mr Limerick was even appointed in the first place, not only did he have an obvious interest with Fremantle Ports, he was formerly the Director General of Industry and Resources and previously CEO of the Department of Industry & Resources.”

Further on 25 June 1994, the Environmental Protection Authority advertised in the West Australian its intention of conducting the Public Environmental Review of the Burrup Peninsula Industrial Plan, subsequently after pressure from the then acting chief executive officer of DRD Jim Limerick, Dr Steedman the head of the EPA agreed to withdraw the proposed assessment.

Mr Limerick at that time in a Fax to the EPA said “we are doing everyone a favour by asking the Minister to return the proposal to the Environmental Protection Authority to review its decision [to assess the Burrup]”

How can we appoint someone to the Authority who actively undermined an EPA assessment in 1994?

“The fact that inappropriate appointments keeps occurring make me wonder whether the membership process is broken.”

“The EPA should be appointing members with actual environmental backgrounds who have real environmental concerns not consultants and former pro industry government officials.”

“I will be asking questions in parliament these coming weeks to find out how many projects are at risk from further conflicts of interest.”

See: EX PARTE CHAPPLE -v- THE ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AUTHORITY & ORS - Case No: CIV:1879/1994

 

For comment please contact Robin Chapple 0409 379 263.

James Price Point stripped of any heritage value

Tuesday, 2 June 

WA Greens spokesperson for Aboriginal Affairs Robin Chapple MLC has expressed dismay at revelations site ‘LSC11, the ‘Lurujarri Song Cycle’ path, is not considered to be of heritage value by the Department of Aboriginal Affairs (DAA).

Walmadany, or James Price Point, is an Aboriginal site of immense mythological value to all Aboriginal communities from Broome (Minyirr) through to Coulomb Point (Minarriny) for its place in the song cycle path.

Mr Chapple said it was curious that the State Solicitor’s Office (SSO) advice on section 5(b) of the Aboriginal Heritage Act (AHA) was sought within the timeframe of the Aboriginal Cultural Materials Committee’s (ACMC) assessment of the ‘song cycle path’.

“Advice from the SSO allowing a new interpretation of section 5(b) of the act was endorsed by the ACMC at a time when the government was simultaneously pushing ahead with its Browse industrial hub proposal for James Price Point,” he said.

“This same SSO advice allowed for the song cycle path to be removed from any heritage lists entirely and it’s record is now kept by DAA in the heritage category of ‘Stored Data/Not a Site’.

“We are talking about a significant piece of heritage for the Aboriginal communities of the Dampier Peninsula, an oral heritage map or living memory of the landscape and its traditions passed down through generations.

“Whilst I’m not suggesting there was any malicious intent behind these actions, I do find it curious that a place of such significance was stripped of any legal heritage value at the same time as this controversial project was being promoted by the government.

“Aboriginal site LSC11 was lodged by DAA officers on 27 July 2011 as an Aboriginal Heritage site with section 5(a) – (d) of the AHA being shown as applicable.

“I would like to see a promise from this government that, in light of the recent Supreme Court decision and sheer weight of protest against development at this sacred site, any Aboriginal sites associated with James Price Point, especially LSC11, will be reassessed for their heritage value with renewed vitality.”

For comment please contact Robin Chapple on 0409 379 263 or 9486 8255.

Media liaison: Tim Oliver // 0431 9696 25         

Greens Kimberley forum a resounding success

Tuesday, 26 May

The WA Greens have praised the Kimberley community for its engagement on a range of important regional issues at the Kimberley Green Future Forum, hosted in Broome over the weekend.

Australian Greens Deputy Leader Senator Scott Ludlam and Senator Rachel Siewert joined WA Greens Member for the Mining and Pastoral Region Robin Chapple MLC for the public forum.

Threats from fracking and large scale uranium mining, the closure of remote indigenous communities, uncertainty around the rollout of the Indigenous Advancement Strategy, renewable energy uptake in the Kimberley and changes to the Aboriginal Heritage Act, amongst other issues, were all brought to the table.

Mr Chapple said it was fantastic to be able to have a conversation with the community about issues that were genuinely important to them; regional areas, particularly the far North of WA, are too often ignored by politicians.

“For us, the Greens, it was about getting up there and showing that we care about Kimberley issues and are willing to fight for them at a state and federal level,” he said.

“As a member representing the Mining and Pastoral region it was also exciting to be able to give my electorate the opportunity to engage face-to-face with my federal colleagues just as I know they were excited to be there.

“I was personally humbled that we had such a great turnout, especially members of the East Kimberley Greens who had travelled from Kununurra and some who had come in from the desert, and such a high level of intelligent engagement; Kimberley people are passionate about protecting this beautiful and unique region and I applaud them for it.”

For comment please contact Robin Chapple on 0409 379 263 or 9486 8255.

Media liaison: Tim Oliver // 0431 9696 25          

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