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Parliamentary Questions


Question Without Notice No. 762 asked in the Legislative Council on 13 August 2020 by Hon Alison Xamon

Parliament: 40 Session: 1

JUUKAN GORGE CAVES

762. Hon ALISON XAMON to the Minister for Environment:

I ask this question on behalf of my colleague Hon Robin Chapple, who is out of the chamber on urgent parliamentary business.

I refer to the pit outline in section 125 of MLA4SA brought before the Environmental Protection Authority for assessment by Rio Tinto in August 2005—figure 2—in relation to the Brockman 4 Syncline mine BS4 project area, which has been shown to seriously impact the Juukan cave sites.

(1) Did the EPA specifically assess the Juukan complex or rely on Rio Tinto's assertion that it had not identified any sites of ethnographic significance in the area?

(2) According to that pit outline assessed by the EPA, was the Juukan cave complex within the pit outline as approved by the EPA?

Hon STEPHEN DAWSON replied:

I thank Hon Robin Chapple for some notice of the question.

(1) The Environmental Protection Authority assessed Hamersley Iron's Brockman Syncline 4 iron ore project at the level of public environmental review with a four-week public review period in 2005. I am advised that Hamersley Iron's public environmental review document dated August 2005 did not specifically reference the Juukan complex. The EPA report, bulletin 1214, dated January 2006 made no specific reference to the Juukan complex.

(2) The Department of Water and Environmental Regulation has reviewed the Environmental Protection Authority's report, bulletin 1214, and advised that there is no map showing the Juukan complex in relation to the pit outline.