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Aborigines angry over WA port plan – National – smh.com.au

Aborigines angry over WA port plan Stdney Morning Herald Ben Cubby Environment Reporter
November 24, 2008

AS AUSTRALIA’S pristine Kimberley region is shown off to the world via Baz Luhrmann’s film Australia, some of the area’s trad-itional owners say it is about to be ruined for good.

The West Australian Government plans to push ahead with building an enormous sea port to funnel the Kimberley’s stocks of liquid natural gas and other minerals offshore, and has indicated it may strip the local Aboriginal community of its previously granted right of veto over the development.

“The industrialisation of the Kimberley is a continuation of government policy of the past,” said Neil McKenzie, chairman of the Jumbarrngunjul Aboriginal corporation, which administers land close to the Government’s preferred port site at North Head, on the Dampier Peninsula.

Mr McKenzie is with a group of indigenous representatives in Sydney to highlight their case against the 1000-hectare development in conjunction with the release of the film. They believe the port would trample cultural heritage and damage the eco-tourism industry, which has flourished in the past decade.

Aborigines angry over WA port plan – National – smh.com.au

Tags: aboriginal.nuclear, antinuclear, uranium, radiation

November 23, 2008 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Uncategorized