Renewable energy developers are required to engage with Traditional Owners, but this doesn't always occur in ways that are respectful or mutually beneficial. When we sat down with some Traditional Custodians from our region, we gained some valuable insights into current practice in the industry and heard some recommendations for improvements.
If these recommendations were to be enacted, we strongly believe that outcomes would not just be improved for local Traditional Owner groups, but also for the developer themselves, the community more broadly, and local biodiversity.
Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) is a specific right granted to Indigenous Peoples recognised in international law, notably UNDRIP. It allows them to give or withhold consent to projects affecting their lands, territories, or resources, free from coercion, provided in advance, and based on full information.
Core Principles of FPIC:
- Free: Consent is voluntary, without coercion, intimidation, or manipulation.
- Prior: Consent is sought sufficiently in advance of any authorisation or commencement of activities.
- Informed: Information is provided covering the nature, size, pace, reversibility, and scope of the project, including its impact.
- Consent: A collective decision made through customary decision-making processes by the Indigenous peoples.
As per Article 3 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples:
Indigenous peoples have the right to self-determination. By virtue of that right they freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development.
The recommendations below have been put forward by Indigenous leaders and Traditional Custodians in the project region. These recommendations include clear examples of how FPIC should be applied with regard to North Queensland’s energy transition.
Recommendations for Renewable Energy Developers
| Know who you're working with |
Understand the governance of the Traditional Custodians and groups you’re engaging with. Just because you’ve worked with Traditional Custodians before doesn’t mean it will be the same everywhere. Undertake cultural awareness training that is relevant to the group you want to engage so that you understand their governance and protocols and can engage respectfully. This includes recognising cultural authority – who speaks for Country and how that is identified and respected. |
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“Aboriginal people are not homogenous, it would be a disservice to not understand the Traditional Owner group where the project is and their structure, cultural values and how they work as group, to allow and to facilitate respect of their governance structures.” - GBAC representative |
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| Walk on Country with the Traditional Custodians |
Proponents need to have a good understanding of the Country they’re working on and how it looks on the ground. This is a baseline expectation. |
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“It is important to stress the landscape and TOs’ knowledge of the land, proponents should take the time whilse in the planning stages to visit Country physically. This could assist with design and contingencies to work through the project’s scope.” - GBAC representative |
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| Involve Traditional Custodians in the EPBC process. |
They know their Country. If they’ve been locked out due to private ownership, they can ground truth oral history that has been passed down to them about Country. This process can also help to identify cultural heritage. |
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“Gugu Badhun’s view is that cultural heritage is not just sites and artefacts, it is also animals, plants, stories, etc., to be determined by the Traditional Owner group, there needs to be a focus on cultural heritage from negotiations and planning the scope of the project throughout and an emphasis on that cultural heritage is to be determined by TOs, not by external entities. This could also include TOs informing massive frameworks that allow and underpin the whole project, and allowing their knowledge and systems to be utilised instead of an afterthought.” - GBAC representative |
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| Understand and respect cultural heritage |
You need permission to move around Country, to ensure sacred sites and cultural heritage are protected. |
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“You can’t restore a site that’s been desecrated, you know... It’s really, really hard, because they don’t understand how important that Country is to us... Ideally I would like a Cultural Heritage Monitor there for the whole of the scope of works.” - GBAC representative |
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| Ensure the FPIC process continues for the whole project duration |
Transparency and consent must be ongoing, not just during negotiations. |
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“Utilising FPIC through the duration of the project – giving PBCs and TOs all the information pertaining to the works at all stages – ensures PBCs and TOs are making informed decisions throughout the project’s duration. This is just best practice and facilitates open and honest relationships and partnerships.” - GBAC representative |
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| Adequately resource dedicated roles on both sides |
PBCs should have multiple roles funded by the proponent to support negotiations, cultural heritage work, employment and training. This should be designed in a way that acknowledges the cultural load and expectations placed on individuals and groups and ensures this is properly resourced and sustainable over time. Proponents also need to support at least one consistent, long-standing role within the company to support respectful Traditional Custodian engagement for the lifetime of the project. |
| Share data about Country with Traditional Custodians |
Data from site surveys should be shared with Traditional Custodians in a way that is useful to them. This data could be used for mapping, planning, sharing, advocating or carrying out focused work in future. This should be an early conversation. |
| Ensure shared benefits help build long-term capacity |
This could look like education, apprenticeships, scholarships, employment or part ownership of projects. It could also look like funding for ranger programs or citizen science projects to help build skills and look after Country. Proponents need to be up front about how much revenue their project will bring in to help keep negotiations transparent. |
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“...How does that look for being able to develop our mob's capacity to be able to run those things as opposed to just being brought in to consult...” - Ashley Saltner Jr. |
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| Invest in Caring for Country initiatives |
Community Benefit Funds should contribute to conservation outcomes. |
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“There should be specific focus when planning these projects from proponents to ulilise local and TO’s knowledge in the form of local conservation, research and science roles and outcomes that can assist the local community. This could be in the form of research programs and creating pathways to include local schools and universities and TOs to assist.” - GBAC representative |
Recommendations for Governments and NGOs
| Provide reliable information to First Nations leaders and communities |
There are some Traditional Owner groups in our region who haven’t been provided with clear, independent and culturally appropriate information about renewable energy – what it is, how it works, why it’s needed, or what the risks or benefits might be. This information needs to be provided before negotiations can begin, to ensure people are supported to make informed decisions in a fair and transparent way. |
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“A lot of people in general throughout, don’t have enough of an understanding how energy production works, how the technology works alongside renewable energy. To enable and ensure we as TO’s are able to make informed decisions, we should be ensuring the importance of understanding this information prior to negotiations to empower all and to enable for self-determination.” - GBAC representative |
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| Ensure Traditional Custodians are equipped to negotiate |
This could look like a peer support network across a region and/or access to relevant experience, skills and expertise. |
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“Gugu Badhun Aboriginal Corporation has a strong foundation of support and knowledge. It’s quite daunting to know that potentially PBCs and TO groups still don’t have capacity and support and some of the administrative infrastructure, which can burden the overall longevity of projects, which is a requirement through Native Title and this does not allow for proactiveness and self-determination of TOs to utilise this transition to the best of their ability.” - GBAC representative |
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“I think we have got capability to establish a little North Queensland clean energy network or group or not for profit, whatever... That'd be very healthy for our mob. Because one allows that knowledge and bandwidth of info to go to them, because they just don't know, and it's not fair on them either. It's just evolving.” - Thomas Holden |
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| Involve Traditional Custodians in decisions around community benefit funds. |
Traditional Custodians should be involved in the decision-making for community benefit funds with the local government if projects are on their Country. |
We deeply appreciate the generosity of workshop participants for sharing these insights. Thank you also to Max Lenoy for convening and co-facilitating the workshop.
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