Aboriginal land law changes hit blue chips: Shake-up threatens £217bn Australian project
Some of the largest companies in the London stock market are facing tough new laws to preserve Aboriginal heritage in faraway Australia.
But for one blue-chip giant, complaining about the crackdown is strictly forbidden.
British-Australian miner Rio Tinto keeps his head down as a row has erupted over legislation due to take effect across Western Australia on Saturday.
Despite backing them in principle, critics fear they could cause delays and rising costs for a pipeline of 180 major projects worth £217bn.
These include a massive renewable energy hub planned by BP and a new generation of iron ore mines for Rio.
Condemnation: Rio Tinto’s destruction of Juukan Gorge sacred site to expand an iron ore mine sparked global anger
The Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Act was passed in 2021 after Rio Tinto blew up a sacred 48,000-year-old rock shelter in the Juukan Gorge to expand an iron ore mine in the Pilbara.
Rio broke no laws and got a signature from the state government. But by ignoring the pleas of the local Puutu Kunti Kurrama and Pinikura people, it sparked global condemnation and exposed the fragility of 50-year-old laws protecting Aboriginal heritage.
The majority Labor government in Western Australia seized its opportunity after the debacle. Emergency powers were used to ram tighter legislation through parliament with all-party support.
Much of the goodwill has gone up in smoke since details of how the laws will work for Easter were published just three months before they go into effect.
Anyone who owns the equivalent of a large block of land and wants to excavate just 4kg of soil – let alone a multinational company looking to shoot a hole in the ground – may be forced to navigate a maze of new bureaucratic red tape to ensure that he does. not harm any of the more than 30,000 Aboriginal sites.
These range from sacred areas of the landscape, such as creeks and hilltops, to petroglyphs.
Permits will often be required for routine jobs such as erecting a fence or digging a trench, where landowners are forced to pay consultants to conduct surveys.
A public backlash has been led by pastoralists, many of them descendants of early settlers who claimed lands occupied by indigenous people for thousands of years as their own. It’s fair to say that Rio Tinto is not the flavor of the month.
“I hate to blame, but if Juukan Gorge hadn’t happened, we wouldn’t be in this situation,” says Debbie Dowden, who runs a huge cattle station set up in 1881.
With only days left before the new regime takes effect, major companies are now out of business.
Outrage: In 2021 after Rio Tinto blew up a sacred, 48,000-year-old rock shelter in the Juukan Gorge to expand an iron ore mine in the Pilbara
Australian company Fortescue Metals has warned that navigating the process would take between 16 and 24 months, three to four times longer than under the current approval process.
If true, Rio Tinto – along with fellow FTSE 100 stalwarts BP and Glencore – should be concerned.
The Pilbara, a vast expanse, is a jewel in Rio’s crown. It generated nearly £6bn from iron ore in the region last year.
Western Australia is also at the center of BP’s plans to transition to renewable energy.
It has a 40.5 percent stake in one of the world’s largest renewable energy and green hydrogen energy hubs covering 2,500 square miles.
Glencore will be affected as a cobalt and nickel mine owner.
Landowners will only have to fully comply with the new regime from 1 July next year. Rio Tinto has maintained its support for the new legislation, but declined to comment.
Chief executive Rebecca Tomkinson of the state’s mouthpiece, the Chamber of Minerals and Energy, wasn’t entirely relaxed about practicalities.
She said a ‘functional heritage protection system is extremely important and something we need for the progression of the very important project pipelines and range of important work we have underway in Western Australia’.