Western Australia

The Barnett govt's power to remove Aboriginal sites from the state's heritage register has been thrown into doubt by a landmark test case handed down in the Supreme Court. The court has quashed a decision by the WA Liberal government’s powerful Aboriginal Cultural Materials Committee to de-register the land and sea surrounding the iron ore export hub of Port Hedland as an Aboriginal sacred site, in a test case that creates uncertainty about the toughening stance on sacred sites.

The Supreme Court has quashed a decision by a WA Government committee to deregister a Port Hedland Aboriginal sacred site, in a test case that opens the door to a class action by traditional owners ... "I conclude that the committee did not give consideration to the question of whether or not the Marapikurrinya Yintha was a place of importance or special significance because the question did not arise for consideration in light of the conclusion that it was not a sacred site," Justice Chaney said in his judgement.

The Djurin Ancient Lands are the Birthplace of the Balladong People and the Creation of the Nyoongar Nation. Here our physical, Spiritual, Cultural, and Political identity as a People and Nation was shaped. The Lands, Subsurface, Natural Resources, Waters and Airspace, was created for us to live in harmony with and care for by Maamin Nidger Yirrah our Creator. Here we first attained to Statehood, through laws and customs, which were and still are observed and practiced. Our people lived and still live in harmony with nature ...

Burrup Rock Art

A steep drop in Aboriginal sites being added to WA's heritage register is leading to "a vast sea of ignorance" that will thwart heritage protection, according to Carmen Lawrence, the chair of the Australian Heritage Council.
After changing the heritage laws to favour mining companies, Aboriginal Affairs Minister said some places "presented as worthy of protection" were "of little or no interest" to Aborigines and that only "the industry of heritage professionals" appeared to value those sites.

Communities are urged to look out for each other over the festive season after seven people are believed to have suicided in WA's Kimberley region in the last seven weeks. Researchers have identified Christmas as a high-risk time for Aboriginal people considering self-harm. The most recent suicide occurred just two days before Christmas. Indigenous mental health commissioner Pat Dudgeon said the extra pressures around special foods, decorations, and gifts which are beyond the budget of many Aboriginal people.

A Perth Aboriginal woman sent to prison for unpaid fines says she was treated like a dangerous criminal and became very sick when forced to go without her blood pressure medication for three days.
At the watch house, she said she was asked for her signature for authorisation to obtain her medical records from her doctor. She was then sent to Bandyup Women's Prison where she asked if she could have her daily blood pressure medication, but was told it would take time to obtain authorisation from her doctor.

Yawuru man Micklo Corpus said that Buru Energy had not listened to the Yawuru people and this was a serious breach of their rights, given that 94% of the Yawuru were against the process.
Making matters even worse, dingos, reptiles, birds and various small marsupials have been found trapped in their tailings dams which contain a toxic mixture of chemicals from the fracking process. These dams often include heavy metal traces and hydrocarbons drawn up from deep underground as a part of fluid recovery.

In the past two years about 1500 sites have changed from being "registered" to "stored data", meaning they no longer warrant heritage protection. stated Academic, Professor Joe Dortch.

Most of those sites are in mining leaseholds belonging to Gina Rinehart and Andrew Forrest.Anthropologists are aghast at the interpretation, saying it's further evidence the Barnett government is taking Aboriginal heritage back 40 years.

In an ultimatum, WA was offered $90m, enough to fund remote communities through to 2017. But as of June 2015, federal funding agreements will end, effectively giving WA authorities little time to work out how to fund remote communities in the future - and which ones will have to close. However, the racist government appears eager to continue the genocide of First Nations people and the dislocated people that don't end up slaving in WA's mines will end up in prison or living on the streets in nearby towns.

WA government fires have devastated have damaged the world-renowned Bradshaw collection on the Kimberley Plateau. These works are widely regarded as the oldest figurative paintings in the world, was recently damaged by fire, which locals claim was a result of the government's program. There are 8742 known examples of rock art in the Kimberley but their future looks bleak, with damaged sites stretching from Kununurra, along the Mitchell Plateau, across the Bungle Bungles to Faraway Bay.