Indigenous Peoples’ Participation in Renewable Energy Projects Should Be a given – It Isn’t | Energy

VALUES TO VALUES: The Australian Renewable Energy Agency last month a young Indian engineer named Ruby Heard was appointed to the company’s management board.

It’s a welcome step for the First Nations Clean Energy Network, but a rare one as the social license crisis for these projects continues to draw opposition from many, including Indigenous communities. This, while Energy Minister Chris Bowen stated that the participation of indigenous people in renewable energy projects should be the norm, not the exception; so far, turnout has been just 1 percent.

There is a mainstream political message that improving the lives of Indigenous people must focus more on job creation and economic empowerment.

That can be a good thing, especially in these cost-of-living times. But where will the money come from to pay for it?

The growth of the renewable energy sector across Australia provides a great opportunity to recognise and reward First Nations Peoples in a tangible and lasting way.

Generating energy from wind and solar, and managing coal lands, are long-term, large-scale business opportunities that hold great promise, especially as Indigenous Australians now hold some form of title to over half of Australia’s land surface.

Therefore, indigenous peoples must be represented in the transformation process towards renewable energy sources.

On a positive note, there are several indigenous ownership projects that are becoming role models, for example:

• Wilan Wind Farm planned on Nari Nari lands free of land leases in south-western New South Wales, with investor Kilar Energy coordinating the land lease and equity agreement for the project, which recognises the value of the owner’s traditional knowledge AND
• The giant East Kimberley Clean Energy Project, combining solar and hydrogen to produce green ammonia, has been proposed in the far north of Western Australia. It is being led by climate change investment and advisory firm Pollination, with partners including Balanggarra Aboriginal Corporation and Kimberley Land Council.

If shared ownership becomes a permanent trend, it could help to compensate, at least in part, for historical dispossession and provide future economic empowerment, while reducing costs to taxpayers in the longer term if welfare dependency can be translated into self-sufficiency.

But isn’t there a danger that this opportunity is already slipping away from us?

Is there a risk that early demonstrators are exceptions rather than a new direction for a large renewables sector awash in capital – in the wake of a social license crisis that has been met with negative reaction from both Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities?

To further explore the answers to these questions, let’s look at some additional context.

Just last week, after decades of dispute, the saga of the Jabiluka uranium mining concession on the traditional lands of the Mirarr Indians in the famed Kakadu National Park in the Northern Territory came to an end.

For 40 years, Jabiluka and the nearby, closed Ranger uranium mine have been the subject of controversy as monuments to Australia’s past heavy investment in resources and energy.

Despite being situated within Australia’s largest national park, renowned for its unique dual heritage values ​​of both natural and cultural interest, the interests of the mining industry have superseded the laws and beliefs of the ancient civilisation.

It’s a story that has been told many times in Australia and around the world.

Last weekend saw the famous Gama Festival in the Kakadu region, providing a great opportunity to see where Australia is heading on the path to reconciliation following last year’s failed Voice referendum.

After the Gama conference, which was attended by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who voted “yes”, but not Opposition Leader Peter Dutton, who voted “no”, one gets the impression that, for now at least, mainstream Australian politics is pushing aside ambitions such as truth-telling, treaties and constitutional recognition for Indigenous people.

Instead, in the face of a cost-of-living crisis that has devoured the country’s wealthiest citizens, the political emphasis is on redoubling efforts to take practical steps to “close the gap” between the living conditions of Indigenous and non-Indigenous people.

There is an increasing expectation that achieving this in a lasting and fundamental, rather than ad hoc, way means that First Nations people must be economically empowered. Some suggest, and others openly insist, that having their truths heard and their constitutional recognition must take a back seat.

Which brings us back to the question of where will the money and other drivers of economic development for Indigenous peoples come from?

Indigenous rights advocates say First Nations have always been neglected, starting with the original sin of being dispossessed of their land and continuing in modern times through such important programs as water rights allocation and biodiversity protection schemes.

Prominent Indigenous lawyer and activist Tony McAvoy SC, a member of the First Nations Clean Energy Network, recently argued that “paper rights” to land do not necessarily translate into economic benefits.

Representing the Law Council of Australia as Chair of its Indigenous Legal Affairs Committee, McAvoy told a federal parliamentary committee investigating economic self-determination and opportunities for Australian First Nations that: “My observations from working with many, many groups across the country who are struggling to break free from the poverty that is embedded in their communities are that self-determination is a very empty vessel without an economic basis… to enable those rights to be exercised.”

There is a large-scale expansion of the renewable energy sector across Australia, led by solar and wind farms, which require suitable land.

Left to their own devices, to the market, the majority of Indigenous people will likely be left out again, even though there are some demonstration projects where First Nations groups receive not only income from the projects, but also shares and, most importantly for them, real influence over development and operations.

There is a growing expectation that federal and state/territory governments should mandate Indigenous engagement and benefits in all taxpayer-funded projects, for example through the new Capacity Investment Scheme (CIS), which has a total targeted investment in projects of around $67 billion.

Indigenous involvement is already part of the merit criteria for CIS projects, but advocates say it is too weak given the first round of CIS funding and want more.

In addition, there are arguments that Indigenous community rights need to be clearly distinguished from the rights of the wider non-Indigenous community, with the principle that financial resources should be ring-fenced from large-scale renewable energy projects to ensure that Indigenous people benefit regardless of whether they have legal title to the land or not.

It’s not that nothing is being done to represent and benefit Indigenous people. The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) last month appointed young Indigenous engineer Ruby Heard, another member of the First Nations Clean Energy Network steering committee, to its board of directors.

Last month at the National Press Club, Australian Minister for Climate Change and Energy Chris Bowen stated that Indigenous participation in renewable energy projects should be the norm, not the exception, saying: “The energy transition that is taking place in our country can and will play a role in addressing the inequalities in the distribution of power to Indigenous people.

First Nations people have had very little traditional energy production. And so far, only about 1 percent of renewable energy projects in Australia have First Nations ownership. That’s compared to about 20 percent in Canada. So it doesn’t have to be that way in Australia.”

Now, eyes are on Bowen and the Ministerial Council on Energy and Climate Change, which includes state and territory ministers and meets in December of this year. At the July meeting, ministers approved the framework for the First Nations Clean Energy Strategy, and now all involved want to hear the details.

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