KLC Statement on the Federal Court decision in the compensation case between Yindjibarndi Aboriginal Corporation and FMG

A Federal Court hearing at Bangkangarra, with Fortescue mine operations in the background. Image: Phil Davies, Juluwarlu / Yindjibarndi Aboriginal Corporation.

Following this week’s decision of the Federal Court of Australia in the long-running compensation proceedings between the Yindjibarndi Aboriginal Corporation and Fortescue Metals Group, the Kimberley Land Council acknowledges the long and difficult road to justice forged by Yindjibarndi people, and the immense burden this process has placed on their elders, cultural leaders and community over many years.

All native title holders across Australia will benefit from the precedent established by the Yindjibarndi people through their struggle for legal recognition and compensation for the historic harms caused by mining on their Country.

While the compensation awarded by the Federal Court of Australia for cultural loss may appear significant at a single point in time, the KLC recognises the profound and ongoing cultural impacts experienced by Indigenous peoples across Australia since colonisation.

In Western Australia, Aboriginal people have endured particular harm since the declaration of British sovereignty in 1829. In the case of the Yindjibarndi people, the legal system is only able to compensate cultural loss from 1975 onwards, despite generations of dispossession and damage preceding that date.

The KLC acknowledges the extraordinary cultural strength, vitality and leadership of Yindjibarndi people, which continues today despite the severe impacts caused by mining on their Country.

The KLC remains deeply concerned by the comparatively limited award for economic loss when measured against the enormous resources required to pursue this outcome through the courts. This level of legal and financial commitment is beyond the reach of many native title groups across Australia, despite all having experienced the impacts of dispossession and the denial of recognition of their native title rights.

The KLC urges the Commonwealth, state and territory governments to commit to the reforms and resources necessary to deliver timely and meaningful justice for native title holders, before more generations are lost and further millions are consumed through protracted litigation.