I’m Australian, and this had the potential to become a strategic national security issue. A large chunk of GDP comes from mining and farming. Exploration companies are already hamstrung by very restrictive ‘indigenous’ claims, which often require no verification other than heresay.
The state of Western Australia was going to introduce severely restrictive laws, requiring a farmer to get ‘clearances‘ from whatever local indigenous organisation had jusrisdiction in the local area, just to plow a new field. That’s two indigenous persons, getting paid $800 each per day to generally sit in an airconditioned 4wd and sign off a doc at the end of the day. Looks like they are back-pedalling hard now, the former Premier bailed out after pushing to introduce these laws….
Cutting through all the emotional bullshit on both sides of the argument, at the end of the day it’s just about $$$. Current funding for indigenous Australians is billions, and would buy a decent house for each indigenous family every few years. Unbelievable, but sadly reality. Most of the money appears to absorbed by the top end of indigenous organisations, and paying mostly white lawyers who thrive off perpetuating conflict between indigenous groups, and mining companies/farmers.