Australia due for 'massive reckoning' with its history
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Sky News AU
a day ago
- Sky News AU
NSW mine stalled by former environment minister Tanya Plibersek costing Regis $1.5 billion a day in potential revenue, CEO reveals
The boss of one of Australia's biggest mining operations has told a conference that a decision by then environment minister Tanya Plibersek to effectively halt a mine in regional New South Wales is costing it $1.5 million a day in potential revenue. In 2023, Ms Plibersek halted the development of a spill water dam on the site of the proposed McPhillamys mine, near Blayney, under the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Native Title Act. The decision was based on highly contested testimony from Indigenous advocates, who claimed the dam would have been placed on a sacred site, with Regis subsequently saying they could not complete development of the mine without approval for the spill water site. The local registered land council said they did not have a problem with the development and the NSW government said they wanted the dam to go ahead. Speaking at the Diggers and Dealers conference in Western Australia, CEO of Regis, Jim Beyer, said that 300 jobs would have been created if the mine was operational. He added the company had expected the project to generate around $1.5 billion in free cashflow a day once complete. 'What we're trying to do at the moment is focus on getting a clear pathway to being able to approve the project and get it going,' he told attendees, adding the company was still committed to the project. The miner has since launched legal action to challenge the decision, with Mr Beyer citing the potential windfall as justification for seeking a judicial review. Regis worked for years to gain approvals for the mine from state and federal governments, until a contested claim under the Native Titles Act was made in 2024. In their claim, Indigenous activists claimed the land upon which the tailings dam would have been built was culturally significant to them, citing Dreamtime stories and mural painted on a Bathurst post office. Siding with the group, Ms Plibersek said: 'I was satisfied that the proprietary and pecuniary impacts to the proponent and others do not outweigh the irreversible damage and permanent loss to the Aboriginal cultural heritage in the declared area.' The former environment minister also acknowledged her decision "would make the proposed mine unviable in the state in which it is currently proposed and approved", essentially forcing Regis to seek an alternative location. On Tuesday, Mr Beyer suggested the company would not be entitled to compensation, even if a court ruled in its favour under the terms of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Protection Act. He also said he was yet to meet Environment Minister Murray Watt, who took over the portfolio from Ms Plibersek in a cabinet reshuffle after the federal election. Speaking on Regis' ambitions generally, Mr Beyer confirmed the miner was seeking to expand its operations and was interested in potentially acquiring a third site.
7NEWS
2 days ago
- 7NEWS
AFL hits Gold Coast with $2m ultimatum over controversial move to scrap Darwin home games
A battle is brewing over the AFL 's Darwin games as Gold Coast make moves to get out of its $2 million deal, according to Caroline Wilson. The Suns have hosted two home games in the Northern Territory capital each year since taking over from Melbourne ahead of the 2022 season — and they have won every single time. This year's wins over fellow finals hopefuls Hawthorn and the Bulldogs are finally set to help the expansion side reach September, but Wilson has now reported 'they would rather not be playing home games in Darwin'. Gold Coast are due to host two more games there in 2026 — the last year of its current deal — but are 'certainly second-guessing it' and have already attempted to get out of the agreement. Suns CEO Mark Evans recently contacted Richmond counterpart Shane Dunne and asked if the Tigers would pick up one or both of the matches, according to Wilson. What followed was effectively an ultimatum from the AFL, which paid out more to Gold Coast in distributions than any other club in 2024. 'The AFL is not super impressed by this and have told the Suns 'if you want to get rid of these Gold Coast home games in Darwin, you're not going to find the $2 million any other way from us',' Wilson said on Channel 7's The Agenda Setters. 'The AFL not particularly impressed.' Just why the Suns want to give up $2m and a 100 per cent winning record is up for debate, with senior coach Damien Hardwick's role unclear. 'The club has gone at great pains tonight to say to me that this is not being driven by Hardwick alone, that this is a football decision,' Wilson said. 'The view of the footy department at Gold Coast is they win at home, too, and they want to grow the game in southern Queensland. 'The view of the AFL is obviously they're trying to develop the game in Darwin. 'Obviously Gold Coast have some wonderful Indigenous players on their books who promote the game beautifully, and sell the game and develop the game in Darwin. 'I also think the footy view is they come back ultimately with tired legs that starts to show up at the end of the season, that's another reason they don't want to travel.' The Suns have already put forward forward a compromise following the AFL's finance-focused response. 'The other view is that North Melbourne, who sell two home games for even more money to Western Australia, as a result get less travel with their other games,' Wilson added. 'Gold Coast are saying 'well, give us less travel elsewhere if you're going to send us to Darwin'.' St Kilda great Nick Riewoldt and Port Adelaide premiership player Kane Cornes both understood that burden is a concern but said the wins should make it worth it. 'It's clearly a competitive advantage for them to go up there,' Riewoldt said. 'I understand it's extra travel, so there is that consideration. 'But at the moment, it's almost automatic — you go up there, you play the game, and you bank the points, and you put $2 million in the pocket.' Cornes described Darwin as a 'nightmare for opposition teams'. '(The Suns are) well conditioned to it, it suits their style of play,' he said. 'I would think wins are the most important thing. I get it's a taxing load, it's a long season. But give us the automatic wins that you pretty much get from playing there.' Gold Coast's Darwin victories prior to this season included triumphs over the Bulldogs and Adelaide in 2023 when the Suns finished 15th on the ladder to ninth and 10th respectively. An upset win over premiership contenders Geelong followed in Hardwick's first season in charge last year. 'I'm really surprised. I assumed that this would've been driven by Damien Hardwick,' Wilson said. 'The Gold Coast Suns have always been a compliant club — they haven't been like the GWS Giants — and I think we're seeing less compliance from the Suns now.'
Sydney Morning Herald
3 days ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
Albanese now has time to bring real change. So timing becomes critical
In the first session of question time this term, Anthony Albanese was asked whether the government was considering certain taxes. A small smile appeared briefly on the prime minister's face as he stepped up to deliver his answer. Then it vanished and he delivered his line, quiet and clear: 'I'll give a big tip to the member for Fairfax: the time to run a scare campaign is just before an election, not after one.' It was a good line. The quiet confidence with which it was delivered left no doubt as to the government's ascendancy. It helped that, as others have noted, Albanese was right. The opposition's attempts to warn of new taxes fell flat. Most voters have just made their decision – based in part on what the government said it would do – and they aren't yet interested in speculations as to what it might do. But Albanese's words contain a lesson for the government too. The prime minister was talking about a specific type of scare campaign – the rule-in-rule-out kind – where the subject is imagined dangers. But the lesson applies to scare campaigns of any stripe, including those about the impact of actual policies. A scare campaign won't work for a while now. This raises a question: what is the optimal timing in which the government might announce significant reform and make the case for it, safe in the knowledge that apocalyptic warnings will fall on deaf ears? A clue as to the government's thinking might lie in the lessons of its first term. Most prime ministers get into habits. They find things that work and repeat them. The first year of the Albanese government was about setting a tone by delivering on election promises. That is what Albanese has said about the first year of this term, too. Most of the last year was about getting election-ready: troublesome policies sidelined, retail politics to the fore. No doubt that will be repeated. This leaves the difficult middle: the period in which the trickiest feats were attempted. That second year was dominated by the campaign for the Indigenous voice to parliament and then by Albanese's decision to break a promise and change Scott Morrison's stage 3 tax cuts. The fact those feats were attempted in the second year meant two things. First, that if the political impacts were bad for the government – frustration at a referendum loss, anger at a broken promise – there was another year in which those feelings might fade. (Though criticism of the government at the weekend's Garma Festival reminds us that the real impacts of the referendum loss will be felt for years; political impact is not the same thing as actual impact.) Loading Just as significant was the fact that Albanese waited. For the tax cuts, this meant that the pressure built. Withstanding such pressure can be difficult, but it can also be immensely helpful: by the time a government acts, it can feel almost inevitable. Then there was a final element of timing. The debate over those tax cuts had been going on for years before Albanese was elected. Pressure for change had been building all that time, not just for the period Labor was in government.
