In the News
REASONS TO BE CHEERFUL
RIDE AND JOY
The French city of Dunkirk
launched a free-for-all bus
system last year. And a
new study suggests that
the decision to provide
free transport to 200,
residents of Dunkirk and
nearby towns has paid off
environmentally: nearly
50 per cent of those
surveyed had ditched their
cars in favour of public
transport.
Damien Carême, the
mayor of neighbouring town
Grande-Synthe, admiringly
described Dunkirk’s fare-free
experiment to France
as a ‘win for working-class
mobility’.
GREEN HOPE
The biggest political party
in western Europe, the UK’s
Labour Party, has voted to
adopt an ambitious ‘Green
New Deal’-style policy,
committing to reduce carbon
emissions to net-zero by
2030 – 20 years sooner than
the current Conservative
government’s target.
The two successful
‘climate motions’ at the
Party’s annual conference
were supported by unions
AUSTRALIA
EYING UP THE FITZROY
The Fitzroy River – known
locally as Mardoowarra/
Martuwarra by its indigenous
Traditional Owners – in
Australia’s Kimberley region
is registered as a Western Aus-
tralian Aboriginal Heritage
site. It was granted National
Heritage Listing (NHL) in
2011 because of its spiritual,
cultural and environmen-
tal value. Yet it’s currently
being weighed up as a site for
industrial farming by mining
magnate Gina Rinehart.
The Kimberley, roughly
the same size as California,
is located in the far north
of Western Australia, the
country’s largest state. Home
to the oldest continuing
culture in the world, it is
internationally renowned for
its intact natural landscapes.
It is also hugely rich in
agricultural development
opportunities. The river can
become extremely powerful
during the wet season,
discharging an average of
8,000 gigalitres of water into
the Indian Ocean a year. Some
view the Fitzroy/Martuwarra
river system as a wasted source
of water for the farming
industry. And plans to increase
the size of cattle herds and
grow pasture has led to division
throughout Kimberley.
The river’s water volume
fluctuates hugely depending
on the volume of wet season
rain. In the year 2000, 25,
gigalitres flowed down its
length; in 1992, it was just 300.
In spite of this boom and
bust cycle, plans have been
proposed to exploit the waters
to grow sorghum, hay and
corn to feed and graze an
additional 20,000 livestock
in the region, according to
ABC news. A number of
farms would be involved, but
leading the charge is iron-
ore magnate Gina Rinehart,
Australia’s richest individual.
Her business ventures have
requested a licence to extract
325 gigalitres of water a year
from the Martuwarra.
This proposal, among
others, has raised concerns
in the wider Kimberley
community, given the
mismanagement of water
resources around Australia.
Parts of the east are suffering
from one of the worst droughts
in living memory, with the
Murray-Darling – the country’s
largest river system – severely
depleted by over-extraction of
its water reserves, particularly
for cotton farming.
To ensure some
community oversight, any
future developments will be
scrutinized by the Martuwarra
Fitzroy River Council
(MWFRC), which was set up in
2018 as a way for Traditional
Owners to have a say over
what happens to the river.
Native Titles that bestow
legal rights over ancestral
lands have been determined
along the length and entire
catchment area of the
Martuwarra. As a result, the
MWFRC – which includes
representatives from the
Walalakoo, Wilinggin,
Yanunijarra and Bunuba
Dawangarri Registered
Native Title Prescribed
Body Corporates, with
representation from Warrwa
and Yurriyangem Taam Native
Title Claim Groups – has
positioned itself as a significant
body that government and
industry must work with.
‘The MWFRC believes
Aboriginal people have a
human right to prevent the
destruction of our culture
and lifeways,’ says Dr Anne
Poelina, chair of the MWRFC.
‘The state government
plans must be adaptive and
responsive to science and not
politics to ensure free prior
and informed consent for all
people who value and have a
relationship with this globally
unique river system.’
NICK RODWAY
such as the GMB, who count
large numbers of fossil-
fuel workers among their
membership. The policies
committed to a ‘radical policy
package’ to bring about a
‘just transition’ for workers.
While conference promises
must be taken with a pinch
of salt, the move signals an
exciting increase in ambition
and support for combating
climate breakdown.
TRUTH TO POWER
An immigrant-run news
site – the Black Post – has
been launched in Rome to
progressively shape Italy’s
news agenda, Alessio
Perrone and Angelo Bocatto
report in the Columbia
Journalism Review.
Black Post is the first
publication of its kind in
Italy: all its contributors are
migrants, with an emphasis
on African migrants.
Its co-founder, Luca De
Simone, explains that in
Italy ‘there is always some-
one else talking about
migration – never a migrant’;
last year, only 16 per cent
of broadcast debates
around migration featured
migrant voices.
HUSNA RIZVI
NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2019 13
ILLUSTRATION: EMMA PEER