First Nation leaders gather in Western Australia’s north for Yule River Bush Meeting

ABC NEWS (Australia)

First Nations leaders in Western Australia's north are meeting to discuss action on key social, economic and political goals for communities in the mining rich region. The annual Yule River Bush Meeting is the largest gathering of Indigenous leaders held in the Pilbara since the rejection of the National Voice to Parliament.

Transcript

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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