00:00The 10th annual Yule River bush meeting has just wrapped up and hundreds of traditional
00:06owners from across the Pilbara gathered to be part of today's discussions. Here at Yule River
00:11it's a very historically significant site for these types of talks. In the 40s it's where
00:16secret meetings were held before the Aboriginal stockmen strike and then later in the 60s and
00:2170s Indigenous leaders also met here to discuss key issues like land rights and housing. But in
00:27recent years at Yule River there's been growing frustrations at the lack of government commitment
00:32and accountability for their call to action framework which they have established. But
00:38today WA Aboriginal Affairs Minister Don Punch was present and he said he's committed to improving
00:43outcomes. The end in itself is good quality outcomes for people here but measuring our progress,
00:50looking at reporting back both from a community level of what the community has been doing
00:54and at an agency level. That's an important part of the conversation and I think that's what needs
00:59to happen at the next Yule River meeting. Today key issues like education, housing and community
01:04safety were dominating the talks. One of the working group members, Henry Lockyer, explained that
01:10through these types of discussions and talks with government and industry they're hoping to
01:14tackle systemic racism. Some of the things they shared was experiences where they jump into a taxi
01:20and they ask to go from this place to that place. Because, and the only difference is because of the
01:27colour of their skin or because of the notion or misunderstandings that the driver might have,
01:33then they're asked to put up $50, $100 cash up front and the taxi fare itself might only be $30.
01:44For someone who's going from, in Headland, let's say from port to south, that taxi fare might be $65,
01:50they'll be asked to put $100 up. We don't see that same treatment for non-Indigenous passengers.
01:58Today, Minister Punch also committed to meeting back with working group members on country in six
02:03months' time to track how commitments are going. He also said that he will be present at next year's
02:08Yule River Bush meeting. So this has been really welcomed by traditional owners and working group members
02:13here at Yule River and they're hoping that this is the start of the change that they have been so
02:17desperately wanting to see for decades.
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