Speaker 1: From Schwartz Media. I'm Ruby Jones. This is seven Am
Speaker 1: on a remote island in the Gulf of Carpentia. There
Speaker 1: are two towns. One is home to a thriving economy.
Speaker 1: It has a golf course, cinema and tennis courts. It's
Speaker 1: the richest postcode in the Northern Territory. Most of the
Speaker 1: people who live there are white. The other is home
Speaker 1: to the Aonaliuqua people, the traditional custodians. The locals lived
Speaker 1: just a few hundred meters from the world's largest manganese mine.
Speaker 1: Here life outcomes are worse than anywhere in the country.
Speaker 1: This stark contrast raises questions about where the royalties of
Speaker 1: this mine are flowing and why the traditional owners are
Speaker 1: seeing so little of them return to their community. Now.
Speaker 1: The National Indigenous Australians Agency has referred the white chief
Speaker 1: executive of the Anenduiaqua Land Council to the National Anti
Speaker 1: Corruption Commission over his plan to take a personal time
Speaker 1: ten percent steak in a proposed mining project. Today Gunner
Speaker 1: Kernae and Watchabalic writer Ben abbot Angelo on the plan
Speaker 1: and the man who stood in its way. It's Wednesday,
Speaker 1: July twenty fourth. So Ben this story it takes place
Speaker 1: on Grud Island, which is this beautiful remote island off
Speaker 1: the Northern Territory coast. Could you begin by telling me
Speaker 1: a bit about what life is like there.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, I mean, the Grud Archipelago is located off the
Speaker 2: top of the Northern Territory. It consists of fourteen clan
Speaker 2: groups and they comprise roughly about fifteen hundred people. Now,
Speaker 2: Grud Island was set up by the Christian missionaries in
Speaker 2: the early nineteen hundreds and in the nineteen sixties they
Speaker 2: actually broke it an agreement with BHP to commence manganese mining.
Speaker 2: So what the region is I suppose most renowned for
Speaker 2: nowadays is the fact that it actually has the largest
Speaker 2: open cut manganese mine of anywhere in the world. It's
Speaker 2: made a lot of people rich. It has spewed out
Speaker 2: many billions of dollars in profits. Some of that money
Speaker 2: has gone to the anendel Jaqua people, and then lots
Speaker 2: of other royalties have flown to the Aboriginal Benefits account
Speaker 2: and the Commonwealth government matches that dollar for dollar, And
Speaker 2: what happens with the money in that account is that's
Speaker 2: then redistributed to the land Councils and prescribed body corporates
Speaker 2: to then invest in community initiatives, economic development, community development,
Speaker 2: things that sustain local communities on the ground. What we've
Speaker 2: seen over the last couple of years, though, is those
Speaker 2: royalties flow to a very specific number of companies and
Speaker 2: entities directly linked to Mark Hewitt, who is the CEO
Speaker 2: of the Land Council.
Speaker 1: Okay, So tell me a bit more about Mark Hewitt.
Speaker 1: What are the allegations against him?
Speaker 2: Well, I think to understand Hewart's tenure, we've got to
Speaker 2: go back to twenty eleven when he was appointed. Now,
Speaker 2: one of the first things that Hewett was responsible for
Speaker 2: was actually rolling out a fifteen year strategic plan in
Speaker 2: twenty twelve, and the central vision of that plan was
Speaker 2: to establish a culturally rich, sustainable and low cost economy
Speaker 2: not dependent upon mining royalty income. So it was a
Speaker 2: plan that was driven by community elders to, I suppose,
Speaker 2: reverse the decisions made over the last one hundred years and,
Speaker 2: as they say in the plan, to reassert control over
Speaker 2: Anindiliaqua destiny. What was known then was that the gem
Speaker 2: Co mine was going to close and the money that
Speaker 2: has flowed onto the community was going to seize, so
Speaker 2: it's been important for them to think in decades and
Speaker 2: start to reimagine what a future economy looks like that
Speaker 2: can sustain the people. But in twenty sixteen, Hewitt began
Speaker 2: working towards another vision and that was essentially more mining.
Speaker 2: Since then, what we've seen is the establishment of a
Speaker 2: corporation called winchell Sea Mine, which Hewitt has been appointed
Speaker 2: to as the co CEO, an intermediary between Winchelsea Mine
Speaker 2: and the annandil Yaqua Land Council called Grit Holding's Aboriginal
Speaker 2: Corporation which has also been appointed to as the executive officer,
Speaker 2: and we've seen tens of millions of dollars of royalty
Speaker 2: money flow from the Land Council to this mining venture.
Speaker 1: Right, So, mark you it is both the co CEO
Speaker 1: of a company that wants to operate a mine as
Speaker 1: well as being CEO of the land council that would
Speaker 1: be allowing that mining to happen. So it seems like
Speaker 1: there's potential for conflicts d interest here.
Speaker 2: There's a lot of conflicts of interest and what the
Speaker 2: ANAO audit report found a couple of years ago was
Speaker 2: that those conflicts of interests are endemic. So Hewitt has
Speaker 2: essentially established multiple corporations and been appointed to the executive
Speaker 2: of each of them. And what it's meant has been
Speaker 2: that a disproportionate amount of royalty money has directly flowed
Speaker 2: to them. And when I say a disproportioned amount, not
Speaker 2: including the latest financial year, we're talking close to one
Speaker 2: hundred million dollars within a very short period of time.
Speaker 2: So whilst this money has been flowing towards establishing this
Speaker 2: other mind, what community members, former board members, former staff
Speaker 2: say is that other core programs and functions across the
Speaker 2: Groot Archipelago have been sacrificed. Now what do I mean
Speaker 2: by that. It means social housing for the most vulnerable
Speaker 2: people in Australian society. Not going ahead. We're talking about
Speaker 2: a dialysis unit, which is what actually a large majority
Speaker 2: of traditional owners are dying from, be sacrificed. We're seeing,
Speaker 2: you know, really core investments be repurposed to also prop
Speaker 2: up the mine. So an example of that is a
Speaker 2: car service yard. Now, it was agreed upon that they
Speaker 2: would create a car service center in the town of Anurugu,
Speaker 2: where all of the traditional owners live and the majority
Speaker 2: of the cars are well, as one source says that
Speaker 2: car yard has now been repurposed to actually service the mine.
Speaker 2: One other example is also a soup kitchen, So that
Speaker 2: was conceived in response to young people breaking into the
Speaker 2: tuch shops and the stores at night after what one
Speaker 2: source says was due to hunger. Well, that soup kitchen
Speaker 2: is now the mess hall to serve the Winchell Sea mine.
Speaker 2: And then if we fast forward to twenty twenty three,
Speaker 2: not only has he been working towards establishing this mine
Speaker 2: and then underwrote it with Anendiyakua people's royalty money and
Speaker 2: being paid multiple salaries along the way. So we're talking
Speaker 2: about upwards of four hundred k year for the land council.
Speaker 2: We're talking about sharing within five hundred thousand dollars with
Speaker 2: Winch you'll see mining directors annually. We're talking about benefits
Speaker 2: that has seen his daughter be put through boarding school
Speaker 2: to the tune of roughly forty five thousand dollars a year.
Speaker 2: We're talking about the employment of his partner as well,
Speaker 2: who has received multiple salaries from multiple corporations on the island.
Speaker 2: That's then culminated with HEWITTT then moving to secure a
Speaker 2: ten percent equity ownership in winch'll Sea Mining. So if
Speaker 2: the Mind was to succeed, we're talking about an equity
Speaker 2: ownership state that would be worth tens of millions of dollars.
Speaker 1: Wow. So a deal like this that would make Markwitt
Speaker 1: and his family extremely wealthy millionaires in fact at a minimum.
Speaker 1: And this is significant then, because I mean Mark Hewitt,
Speaker 1: he's not a private investor. He is the CEO of
Speaker 1: the land count, among other things, and his job in
Speaker 1: that role is to make sure that money goes to
Speaker 1: traditional owners and to the community. His role isn't to
Speaker 1: try and make money for himself. So tell me a
Speaker 1: bit more about the case that he was making for
Speaker 1: that ten percent, about what he said about why he
Speaker 1: should have it.
Speaker 2: So the move for that ten percent ownership in when
Speaker 2: You'll See occurred late last year, and in board papers
Speaker 2: that were leaked to us, it says that him and
Speaker 2: his partner were not only looking to have their contributions
Speaker 2: recognized but also rewarded, and that they were looking to
Speaker 2: not just continue to work and prop up the MIND
Speaker 2: in the years ahead, but also that they were seeking
Speaker 2: to accumulate tens of millions of dollars in profit over
Speaker 2: the years to come.
Speaker 1: So will the deal go through? That's after the break Ben,
Speaker 1: we've been talking about the an Indoyaqua Land Council CEO
Speaker 1: Mark Hewitt, who tried to secure a ten percent share
Speaker 1: in a mind that he was spearheading a shareholding that
Speaker 1: would be worth many millions of dollars. So did he succeed?
Speaker 1: Did he get this ten percent share?
Speaker 2: So Hewitt was moving really aggressively and quickly, according to
Speaker 2: board papers, you know, there was a meeting that was
Speaker 2: held in late September where he started to lay the
Speaker 2: groundwork and within a matter of days he'd wanted to
Speaker 2: have that arrangement locked, loaded and wrapped up. But the
Speaker 2: plan was thwarted when a young land council lawyer came
Speaker 2: across the attempt. The young lawyer, from what we've seen
Speaker 2: through leaked papers, stood his ground and really attempted I
Speaker 2: supposed to ensure or that the Undulaqua people not only
Speaker 2: had time to consider what is a really significant proposal,
Speaker 2: but as importantly, you know, under their rights of free
Speaker 2: prior and informed consent, had independent legal advice that could
Speaker 2: guide them. Now, before this lawyer had stepped in, Hewitt
Speaker 2: was using his own personal lawyers that was advising himself
Speaker 2: and his partner to also advise the Land Council board
Speaker 2: and also the other relevant power brokers on the island.
Speaker 2: So there was endemic conflict of interest there. Now, the
Speaker 2: second legal opinion delivered by Barrister Ron Levy basically confirmed
Speaker 2: the young lawyer's fears that this was a plan that
Speaker 2: shouldn't go ahead and thus it didn't.
Speaker 1: Right, So that deal it didn't eventuate. But you kept
Speaker 1: looking into the inn Induyaqua Land Council's finances, So tell
Speaker 1: me what else you found.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Well, we've seen, not including this last financial year,
Speaker 2: close to one hundred million dollars be directed towards corporations
Speaker 2: that are directly designed to prop up the Winchal Sea
Speaker 2: mining venture. We've seen funds from the federal government through
Speaker 2: the covid Era be directed to supporting the Winch'alsea mine.
Speaker 2: We've seen a forty one million dollar grant be given
Speaker 2: from the Sovereign Wealth Fund or that an Induyaqua Mining Trust,
Speaker 2: you know, to a corporation that is also working to
Speaker 2: support the mine. And really critically on this one, that
Speaker 2: forty one million dollars is yet to be accounted for
Speaker 2: in other financial records and statements. So there's just a
Speaker 2: lot of question marks when we really go through those
Speaker 2: financial statements with a fine tooth comb.
Speaker 1: And have you spoken to Mark Hewitt about any of this?
Speaker 2: So we sent a whole range of questions to Mark Hewitt.
Speaker 2: He has decided not to respond to each of those,
Speaker 2: you know, really direct questions directly, but he has provided
Speaker 2: a pretty generic response in regards to you know, why
Speaker 2: this mine is going ahead and what it means for
Speaker 2: the Ananduliaqua community. So we're still very much open to
Speaker 2: mister Hewitt responding to those questions and yeah, putting his
Speaker 2: case forward.
Speaker 1: Which he might do. But really, when you think about
Speaker 1: the way that money has been spent and about what's
Speaker 1: happened on grid Island, what does all of this mean
Speaker 1: for those who call it home for the Ininduyaqua people.
Speaker 2: It's just really important to note that the Anindiyaqua people
Speaker 2: live in extreme circumstances and the vulnerability that we are
Speaker 2: talking about cannot be understated. You know, the overcrowding of
Speaker 2: housing is really significant. We've got people that are sleeping
Speaker 2: on the floor, We've got people that are sleeping on
Speaker 2: the tables. We've got people that are sleep you know,
Speaker 2: on the kitchen benches. We've got young people that aren't
Speaker 2: attending school as consistently or frequently as they should be.
Speaker 2: We've got really low levels of literacy and numeracy. We've
Speaker 2: got young people dying, you know, just a mirate of
Speaker 2: really complex challenges, and with the mind closing at the
Speaker 2: turn of the decade, that means that every single dollar,
Speaker 2: every single cent needs to be going as far as
Speaker 2: it can. There is no room for waste. So to
Speaker 2: see the waste of money be directed to things that
Speaker 2: they're not seeing a direct net benefit from is really painful.
Speaker 1: Ben, Thank you so much for your time today.
Speaker 2: Thanks Ruby.
Speaker 1: Also in the news today, Kamala Harris has made her
Speaker 1: first public appearance since President Joe Biden announced he would
Speaker 1: not be contesting the next presidential election and would instead
Speaker 1: be supporting her. In the first twenty four hours of
Speaker 1: Karmala Harris's campaign, more than two hundred and thirty million
Speaker 1: US dollars were raised in donations, making it the largest
Speaker 1: single day of campaign fundraising for a single candidate in
Speaker 1: US history. And Australia has just recorded the deadliest year
Speaker 1: on the roads in more than a decade. New figures
Speaker 1: from the Australian Automobile Association show there were one thousand,
Speaker 1: three hundred and ten deaths to the thirtieth of June,
Speaker 1: which is an almost twelve percent increase from the previous year.
Speaker 1: I'm Ruby Jones. This is seven am. See tomorrow.