home | news l

Landmark Victory

30 June 2004 - A small, dedicated group of Aboriginal people fighting to have their traditional ownership of land around Port Augusta recognised have scored an unlikely victory, helping defeat the federal government's plans to build a nuclear waste facility near Arcoona station.

The Kujani Aboriginal people number less than 400, but still didn't hesitate to take on the might of the federal government when the plans for the nuclear facility were unveiled, and apart from the State government, were the only group to take their fight to the courts.

After months of legal wrangling, and scrounging to find the funds to continue the battle, the group emerged victorious.

The decision, handed down by the Full Bench of the Federal Court last week, found the Howard government's attempts to compulsorily acquire land under their urgency powers to be illegal.

Kujani man Tony Clark, who has been at the forefront of the campaign to win the group land rights and prevent the location of a nuclear dump in South Australia, said the decision was a moral victory, not just a legal one.

"In our struggle to gain land under the Native Title Act we have always acted within the law, now we've proven, along with the State government, that the Commonwealth has to act within the law too," Mr Clark said.

"We weren't even given the opportunity to negotiate with the federal government, they just tried to steam roll attempts to turn the area into a park and as a result they denied us the right to be consulted.

"More than anything we wanted to be included in the process.

"We've demonstrated in the past that we can negotiate with mining companies like Heathgate Resources and Western Mining, so all the federal government had to do is approach us and deal with us in the manner that we have dealt with them in the past.

"We've always been approachable, so there's no real reason they couldn't have dealt with us in the first instance rather than ignore us," Mr Clark said.

The Kujani people, while not the only Aboriginal group to voice opposition to the dump, were the only ones to take their argument to court.

Along with the State government, they are now celebrating after months of legal wrangling.

"Some Aboriginal groups have opposed the dump in their own ways, some have done nothing and others basically gave it a green light - we're the only ones who were prepared to take this to court and fight for our right to be included in the process."

It wasn't all good news for the group, who suffered a setback in their cause, with attempts to have the federal government's plans overturned under native title legislation being knocked back.

The group had claimed the right to negotiate was not afforded to them as required by the Native Title Act, but judges in the case found that notification was not required in order to compulsorily acquire the land.

Regardless of that, the Kujani people are now celebrating

"It was hard to keep going," Mr Clark said.

"But the decision handed down on Thursday was a wise decision."

The matter will now most likely be heard by the nation's most powerful court, the High Court, with one of the judge's comments in the summary suggesting that the Kujani people's case has asked a powerful legal question which now needs to be answered.

"We'll obviously have to consult with our legal team on what sort of a case we would have, but if the option is there I'm sure we'll fight it to the very end," Mr Clark said.

Source: Port Augusta Times

Further information: native title issues page - includes news index and external links