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Speaker 1: Now, when it comes to the mining of critical minerals

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Speaker 1: that are believed crucial to powering our future, Australia is

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Speaker 1: considered to have an abundance that makes us a powerful

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Speaker 1: commodity for overseas superpowers and puts us in a situation

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Speaker 1: where our resources could potentially be exploited. But how much

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Speaker 1: damage is it doing to our natural environment? Well, joining

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Speaker 1: me on the line right now is the co director

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Speaker 1: of the Environment Center here in the Northern Territory, Kirsty Howie,

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Speaker 1: who was indeed on Four Corners last night to discuss

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Speaker 1: this very issue. Good morning to you, Kirsty.

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Speaker 2: Good morning Katie and Haido or your listener.

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Speaker 1: Thank you so much for your time. Now, I know

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Speaker 1: that well, there has been some complaints made against mining

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Speaker 1: company core Lithium and essentially well, as I understand it,

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Speaker 1: the Environment Center has actually lodged a complaint to the

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Speaker 1: Northern Territory Environmental Protection Authority about the company and it

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Speaker 1: does all intertwine with the report on Four Corners last night.

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Speaker 1: Kusty tell us what the situation is.

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Speaker 2: Well, Katie, yeah, I mean we've probably heard a lot

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Speaker 2: about carlysium in the last couple of years, as providing

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Speaker 2: this critical mineral lithium that's absolutely crucial for our transition

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Speaker 2: to renewables, and it's been given major project status by

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Speaker 2: the Territory government and there's been a lot of talk

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Speaker 2: about and their share prices skyrocket. Of course, we were

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Speaker 2: approached by Four Corners to be part of this story

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Speaker 2: because essentially, as we move to renewables, we're going to

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Speaker 2: have a mining boom and what does that really mean

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Speaker 2: for our local environment. When Four Corners went out there

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Speaker 2: to have a look at the site, they were surprised

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Speaker 2: and we were surprised to note that there appeared to

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Speaker 2: be already runoff of sediment top soil escaping from the

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Speaker 2: mind Side which is currently under construction into a creek

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Speaker 2: which flows into Darwin Harbor. And as a consequence of that,

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Speaker 2: we have lodged a complaint because we believe that it

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Speaker 2: might forfeit of the Water Act for polluting a waterway.

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Speaker 1: And so have you heard back at this stage from

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Speaker 1: the Northern Territory Environmental Protection Authority.

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Speaker 2: We haven't had a formal response yet. I'd imagined that

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Speaker 2: it will take some time for them to process exactly

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Speaker 2: you know what's going on here. What I would say, though, Katie,

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Speaker 2: is that and you know your listeners will be well

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Speaker 2: aware of this. We've got a pretty terrible track record

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Speaker 2: with regulating mining in the territory. You just have to

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Speaker 2: look at MacArthur Ruver Mine and what's happened with mine

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Speaker 2: legacy minds like Rum Jungle Mount Todd leeching poisons into waterways,

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Speaker 2: and it's absolutely critical. We can't let the renewables industry

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Speaker 2: off the hook. We've got to subject them to the

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Speaker 2: same scrutiny and the mining industry that supports it. So

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Speaker 2: what we really need is some transparency about this mine

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Speaker 2: and all minds in the territory because at the moment

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Speaker 2: there's some pretty troubling signs that we might be going

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Speaker 2: down the same path with the mining of critical minerals.

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Speaker 1: And so what would you like to see happen here?

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Speaker 1: I guess with call lithium, but any minds in this

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Speaker 1: space into the future.

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Speaker 2: Well, the good news is that the Gun of Government

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Speaker 2: is proposing to reform our mining laws this year, which

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Speaker 2: is a great first step. But some things that we'd

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Speaker 2: like to see that are just missing here, just a

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Speaker 2: lack We've got a lack of transparency about exactly how

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Speaker 2: mines are authorized and how they're operating. So you know,

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Speaker 2: we see them approved and there's an environmental assessment process

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Speaker 2: and then it goes into like a black box and

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Speaker 2: you can't work out exactly what's going on at the

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Speaker 2: mind sight. So what we'd like to see, we call

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Speaker 2: lithium for instance, is let's see their mining plans, let's

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Speaker 2: see their water management plans, Let's let the public have

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Speaker 2: a look at them so that we know exactly what's

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Speaker 2: going on at that mind sight. And you know, that's

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Speaker 2: just sort of basic good mining and environmental regulation that's

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Speaker 2: just failing us in the territory now. And also there

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Speaker 2: are things like we know that a lot of minds

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Speaker 2: in the territory tend to walk away before they they've

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Speaker 2: finished mining. Can create huge risks because tax is taxpayers

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Speaker 2: who pick up the bill at the end of the day.

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Speaker 2: And what we need to see is really like good

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Speaker 2: security bonds paid up front so that we're not left

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Speaker 2: holding the can as territorians when these mines finish mining

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Speaker 2: or they walk away early. I'm like, what we're worried

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Speaker 2: about with cor lithium. If this is right in the

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Speaker 2: catchment of Darwin Harbor, and Bino harbor, And on their

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Speaker 2: own evidence, they say that there are going to be

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Speaker 2: impacts on Darwin Harbor and Bino Harbor from this mine,

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Speaker 2: and we've got to make sure they're minimized so that

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Speaker 2: it doesn't compromise fishing, recreation, all the stuff that we

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Speaker 2: know Territorians love about this place and what makes it

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Speaker 2: so special.

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Speaker 1: And I guess it is about finding that balance. I mean,

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Speaker 1: at the end of the day, most Territorians will also

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Speaker 1: want to be in a situation where we are getting

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Speaker 1: to one hundred percent renewables. Kirsty, does the Environment Center

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Speaker 1: support mines for lithium.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely? You know the bottom line and we said this

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Speaker 2: on four Corners last night that we need actually, if

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Speaker 2: we're going to have any chance of seeing off the

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Speaker 2: climate crisis and moving to renewables, we have to have

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Speaker 2: mining for these critical minerals. What we need to ensure though,

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Speaker 2: is that we don't repeat the mistakes of the past.

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Speaker 2: It's just rinse and repeat up here with the kinds

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Speaker 2: of impacts we're seeing from mining, Let's fix the system.

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Speaker 2: Let's hold these companies to the highest level of scrutiny,

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Speaker 2: and let's hold the regulators to the highest level of

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Speaker 2: scrutiny so that we're not seeing the kinds of impacts

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Speaker 2: that we've seen in the past.

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Speaker 1: So do I reckon we can do both? Do you

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Speaker 1: think that we can? You know, we can make sure

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Speaker 1: that we are looking after the environment and doing the

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Speaker 1: right thing in that space, and also you know, moving

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Speaker 1: towards renewables and mining lysium.

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Speaker 2: I think that we've got to be pretty honest, most mining,

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Speaker 2: if not all mining, is going to have an impact

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Speaker 2: on the environment. That's some description. And what we have

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Speaker 2: to do as a community is make sure that the

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Speaker 2: trade aren't so significant that they outweigh those benefits of

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Speaker 2: pursuing mining and the jobs associated with them. So I

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Speaker 2: think we can do it. I think there are some

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Speaker 2: pretty simple things we can do to improve transparency, make

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Speaker 2: companies accountable, ensure that the mind cleanup and rehabilitation at

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Speaker 2: the end is done properly. It's not rocket science, but

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Speaker 2: it needs resourcing of the regulator and it needs complete

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Speaker 2: transparency and accountability on the part of mining companies.

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Speaker 1: Well, Kirsty Howie, we really appreciate your time this morning. Sorry,

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Speaker 1: we're going to have to leave it there. We've got

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Speaker 1: a head across and hear the budget with the government

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Speaker 1: in a couple of minutes time.

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Speaker 2: No worries a OK. Katie, thanks so much for having

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Speaker 2: me on.

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Speaker 1: Thank you