Breaking: changes to Native Title law were just passed, trampling over the rights of Traditional Owners and making it easier for coal giant Adani to build its mega-mine.
Native Title enshrines the right of Indigenous people to make decisions about their own land.
But Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were not consulted on this key piece of legislation as it was rushed through.
These changes wouldn’t have happened without the support of the Labor Party. We need you to speak up now to show Bill Shorten our support for land rights.
Tell Bill Shorten: put the rights of Traditional Owners over mining rights. Reverse your party’s position now.
A federal court ruling earlier this year found that all representatives in a Native Title claim need to endorse the Indigenous land use agreements -- which support mining, agriculture, or infrastructure projects -- for them to be valid.
That hadn’t happened with the Adani mine. The primary Traditional Owners of the land, the Wangan and Jagalingou people, who have been fighting to protect country, have not consented to the mine.
The federal court ruling puts Adani’s Reef-wrecking Carmichael coal mine and other resource projects in doubt.
But this week, our government rushed through legislation to override the ruling, weakening Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander rights.
Mining companies are already making millions of dollars of profit each year off of Indigenous land, often paying minimal compensation to Traditional Owners. Now the scales are tipped even more in favour of the mining industry.
We can try and get this reversed: by driving a wedge between Labor and Liberal, by getting Bill Shorten to reverse his party’s position. But we only have a chance of making Labor cave if it feels a lot of pressure.
And that’s why we need your voice.
Tell Bill Shorten: put the rights of Traditional Owners over mining rights. Reverse your party’s position now.
The SumOfUs community has stood in solidarity for traditional land rights before: almost 20,000 members like you spoke up demanding our attorney general not mess with Native Title law, when the government first proposed these changes.
Over 12,000 of you wrote a submission to parliament about the changes when the government tried to rush through the changes without consultation. And together with Seed Indigenous Youth Climate Network, we delayed the vote.
There's still more work to do -- and we need your help to do it.
This is and always will be Aboriginal land. It’s about time our politicians recognise this.
Tell Bill Shorten: put the rights of Traditional Owners over mining rights. Reverse your party’s position now.
More information
Facebook page.
Buzzfeed. 14 June 2017.
Radio National Breakfast. 12 June 2017.