Mine protests cause friction in aboriginal corporation

The Wonnarua Nation aboriginal corporgold crusher machines washingation has distanced itself from a group protesting today in Sydney against mining expansion in the Upper Hunter. A group calling itself "Plains Clans of the Wonnarua People" has rallied in front of Parliament house against Ashton Coal's plans for a new mine at Camberwell.

They claim mining will destroy aboriginal artefacts and sacred sites. But Wonnarua Nation CEO Laurie Perry says the protesters represent only a small minority and are at odds with the view of the majority of the corporation's 300 members. He says the environmental concerns raised by their spokesman Scott Franks are not valid. "What he's said about the traditional areas we don't believe are true at all. The environmental issues it's been to the Government it's done all the reports,"he said...