Publisher's Synopsis
'This book will assist Aboriginal people and other Australians to be informed about negotiations for mining enterprises on Aboriginal land.'
Dr Lowitjja O'Donoghue, AM, CBE
First Chair, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission
'Can we or should we do business with Aboriginal communities? The answer is an emphatic yes.'
Aden Ridgeway
Executive Director, New South Wales Aboriginal Land Council
Australia's mining industry is an important part of the economy. It contributes more than $36 billion to Australia s export earnings, more than 60 per cent of our commodity exports. Australia is the world's largest exporter of lead and bauxite, second largest exporter of zinc, third largest producer of nickel and gold, and a major world producer of iron.
Aboriginal Australians have always insisted on the supreme importance of their connection with the land. As Patrick Dodson (First Chair, Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation) says: 'We Aboriginal people find it hard to think without the land. My grandfather taught me how to think about relationships by showing me places.' Across the continent and in different languages Aboriginal people say: 'The land is my mother.' Conducting business with Aboriginal communities must take account of the pivotal role of the land.
Commercial mining need not be hostile to Aboriginal custodianship of the land or to native title. Resource developers with years of experience have come to acknowledge that holders of native title are not anti-development. Wik, Mining and Aborigines surveys the successful collaboration which can occur once mutual understanding is reached. It places recent resource development projects in the context of native title legislation, and details the benefits for both sides which derive from contracts designed to acknowledge Aboriginal rights. Here, brought together for the first time, is the information necessary to counter the assertions which so often take the place of facts in public debate.
PAUL KAUFFMAN is Associate Professor of Native Title at the University of Canberra.
