Jabiluka struggle intensifies

May 27, 1998
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Jabiluka struggle intensifies

By Tom Flanagan

DARWIN — Aboriginal opposition to the proposed Jabiluka uranium mine was highlighted on May 19 when senior traditional owner Yvonne Margarula was arrested and charged with trespass on her own land.

Margarula was arrested before dawn on the rim of Jabiluka valley. She was held in a police cell in Jabiru for six hours.

Jacqui Katona, executive officer of the Gundjehmi Aboriginal Corporation, which represents the Mirrar traditional owners, was also arrested. In a media release, Katona rejected claims of Aboriginal approval for the mine.

"ERA does not have the approval of the traditional owners to proceed with the development at Jabiluka", she said.

The most recent step in the "approval" process was the outcome of meetings of what is known as the 3.2(h) committee. This committee was provided for in the 1982 "agreement" for Pancontinental to mine Jabiluka, and was called into action because of changes in the scope of the project proposed by ERA.

The initial plan involved milling of ore at the Jabiluka site, while ERA's preferred option is to truck the ore to be milled at the Ranger mine, 20 kilometres away.

The committee, which was boycotted by the traditional owners because they had no confidence it would act on their concerns, gave approval to both options! The effect is to allow ERA to proceed as if the Jabiluka mill option is to go ahead, which gets around the problem of approval by traditional owners for the Ranger mill.

Approving both options leaves the way open for ERA to attempt to gain approval for the Ranger mill once the Jabiluka mine is operating, when, from the perspective of ERA, approval might be easier to negotiate.

Katona pointed out: "Senator Hill, the minister for the environment, made much of the need for Aboriginal approval for this project, yet we have seen the process completely dismiss traditional owner opposition.

"'Traditional owners have no option but to express their views by way of direct action."

Another 16 people were also arrested on the mineral lease within the borders of World Heritage-listed Kakadu National Park. In addition to the action by traditional owners, which resulted in six arrests, other protesters based at the Jabiluka protest camp blocked access to the Ranger uranium mine (located on an adjoining mineral lease), preventing entry by workers on the morning shift.

Police denied protesters access to shade and water, and supporters were threatened with arrest on loitering and hindering charges. One protester was arrested for attempting to get water to those locked on to the gate of the Ranger mine.

May 19 was an international day of action against the proposed mine, protests also being held in Canada, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, Britain, South Korea and the US.

On the following day, police issued a deadline for the removal of the blockade on the main access road to the Jabiluka site (not the protest base camp). Police warned that if the access road blockade was not lifted by 8am on May 22, anyone blockading the road would be liable to arrest, and all protesters' materials at the blockade site would be confiscated.

In response, numbers at the blockade swelled significantly, and by Friday morning the road was barricaded by two old car bodies. Three protesters locked themselves to the cars to make them difficult to remove. Another added to the blockade by perching atop a five-metre tripod. A trench was dug across the road.

The extent of police action on the day was to take names and addresses of protesters, who were told they could be charged by summons for disobeying police directives. Some materials, including a video camera, were confiscated.

The day ended relatively successfully for the blockade when Yvonne Margarula was granted an injunction by the Federal Court. Justice Marshall restrained the Northern Territory mines and energy minister from giving final approval for the mine, at least until after a hearing in Melbourne on May 27.

The injunction relates to the procedures followed in relation to the environmental impact statement for the project.

The injunction does not prevent police removing the blockade from the mine access road, however, nor does it stop preparations by ERA at the mine site.

Action in the major cities in support of the traditional owners and the blockade, and against any mine at Jabiluka, is more urgent than ever. Get involved.

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