Reminder: Tread Lightly Over Australian Land

The Sydney Morning Herald called this battle "David vs. Goliath." The Swiss mining company, Xstrata, was denied permissions to expand its zinc mining territory into aboriginal Australian land. The enormous mining company, which employs around 43,000 people worldwide, was planning a $92 million (US) expansion (which included diverting a RIVER by 5.5 kilometres) in Northern Australia. The Northern Land Council, which represents Aboriginal people in that area, mounted a legal challenge on behalf of the original owners, and won. The court found that the company had not followed the correct legal process.

More than 80% of the value of minerals extracted in the Northern Territory of Australia comes from mining on Aboriginal-owned land. The land is very resource-rich, and the rights are covered by the Land Rights Act and the Native Title Act, whereas Aboriginal communities can make agreements with companies regarding land use.

To refresh your Australian history, Aboriginal people are considered to have lived in Australia for at least 60,000 years, while European settlement began just over 200 years ago (in Northern Australia, colonisation began about 150 years ago. The traditional, Aboriginal landowners (similar to the struggles of the Native American people) found themselves excluded from or unable to control the land that they had owned and lived on, which led to the formation of an Aboriginal rights movement.

This morning, the local ABC affiliate in Australia reported:

In the first decade of the 21st Century the scourges of leprosy, rheumatic heart disease and tuberculosis still strike many Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders. Years after medicine and preventive care largely wiped them out in white populations in Australia.
A report to the World Health Organization has found that Aboriginal health lags a full century behind that of other Australians.
The report by researchers at the University of New South Wales suggests that symbolism is important, even in health care.
It says acknowledging past wrongs done to Aboriginal people would help improve their health.

With such a history, and the present reality, those wishing to do business in Australia are advised to consult with the traditional, as well as government, entities. And tread lightly.

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Sources: The Australion, The Sydney Morning Herald, Reuters, Xstrata Corporate, The Northern Land Council, The ABC Message Stick