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Traditional owners from the Tiwi and Larrakia communities in the Northern Territory have released a report outlining responses they received to a human rights complaint over financing of the Barossa offshore gas project.
The traditional owners lodged human rights grievances with four Australian and 11 international financial institutions in April this year.
The Barossa project would involve drilling for gas in the Timor Sea and constructing a pipeline to pump it more than 200km to Darwin for processing.
In a report published today, they say three of the international banks did not respond at all and of the remaining 12 institutions, 11 of the responses had “failed” to uphold human rights standards.
Of the four major Australian banks, only the Commonwealth Bank agreed to an invitation to meet on the Tiwi Islands and a visit would be arranged.
The report says all of the major Australian banks had dismissed the specific complaints raised in the grievances and ANZ was yet to indicate whether it would accept the grievance into its system because its processes required consent to do that from the project’s developer, Santos.
Carol Maria Puruntatameri, a Tiwi Elder from the Munupi clan group who filed the grievance , said:
The banks are not thinking about us or our winga (saltwater). They are disrespecting our wishes and our cultural heritage the same way Santos is.
I’m very hurt. We all feel hurt that they aren’t listening to us. When Santos drill, the banks are also drilling into our bodies. They are exactly the same.
Tiwi people last year won a landmark ruling that overturned Santos’ drilling permit after the federal court found the National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority (Nopsema), had failed to assess whether Santos had consulted with everyone affected by the proposed drilling.
You can read more about that story here:
‘We will win’: Tiwi Islanders draw a line in the sand against Santos gas project and ‘white fella rule’Read more14m ago19.45 EDT
Royal Australian College of GPs backs the voice
The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners’ president Dr Nicole Higgins has announced the body supports the voice to parliament.
“The voice to parliament will help drive changes to improve health outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and address the inequity in our health system,” Higgins said.
Chair of the RACGP Aboriginal and…
2023-07-12 18:35:53
Original from www.theguardian.com
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