Indigenous people victims of ‘green’ fight against Adani mine, says Marcia Langton – by Katharine Murphy (The Guardian – June 7, 2017)

https://www.theguardian.com/

“Let me be clear for those who are not aware of the problems we face: cashed-up
green groups, some funded by wealthy overseas interests, oppose mining projects
with often-flimsy evidence and misrepresent the evidence to the public,”
Langton said on Wednesday night.

Langton also used the speech to argue the mining industry had played a positive
role in training and employing Indigenous people, but she said automation in
the sector would lead to significant job losses.

Prominent Indigenous academic Marcia Langton has blasted the campaign against the controversial Adani coalmine, saying the Greens and the “environmental industry” are treating Indigenous people as “collateral damage”.

Langton used the Australian mining industry’s annual lecture in Melbourne on Wednesday night to argue the Greens and environmentalists had deliberately delayed native title legislation in the Australian parliament “in order to bolster their campaign against the Adani project”.

She accused recent governments of both political persuasions of ignoring constructive submissions about how to improve the native title system, and she said the environmental movement had hijacked the issue to help bolster the public case against mining.

“Let me be clear for those who are not aware of the problems we face: cashed-up green groups, some funded by wealthy overseas interests, oppose mining projects with often-flimsy evidence and misrepresent the evidence to the public,” Langton said on Wednesday night.

“They deliberately thwart the aspirations and native title achievements of the majority of Indigenous people by deception, by persuading the media and the public that a small handful of Indigenous campaigners who oppose the legitimate interests of the majority of their own people, are the truth-tellers and heroes.”

For the rest of this article, click here: https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/jun/07/indigenous-people-victims-of-green-fight-against-adani-mine-says-marcia-langton