Psychologist proposes $4m centre to deal with FMG trauma

Psychologist Dr Jeff Nelson (Supplied)

Psychologist Dr Jeff Nelson told the Federal Court of Australia that the trauma caused by FMG’s mining without consent and promotion of social division required the formation of a dedicated healing centre with accommodation and full-time staff.

Dr Nelson, an Aboriginal man from Cairns who has worked extensively with Indigenous communities, said that prior to FMG’s arrival in Roebourne the Yindjibarndi community had already experienced significant trauma relating to their history.

He said it was “hard not to argue that people from this population would not respond at a much higher level”. He was commenting on his interviews with 21 Yindjibarndi people including some from the breakaway group, Wirlu-murra.

Dr Nelson had developed a plan for a dedicated centre with staff that could service the community on a regular basis. The staffing cost would amount to $1.75 million a year, and the total cost to establish the centre would exceed $4 million.

He said the existing services were inadequate and remote regions had a history of being poorly serviced.

In a recorded conversation played to the Court, Dr Nelson asked YAC CEO Michael Woodley if the problems caused by alcohol before the mine had allowed billionaire Andrew 'Twiggy' Forrest to do whatever he wanted because the provision of alcohol had weakened Yindjibarndi people.

"It's aggravating that they'll come into people who are struggling and then even cause more harm by splitting the community and maintaining the split ... ," Dr Nelson says in the recording.

" ... That's not acceptable, it's like kicking a dog when it's down, you just don't do that s*** eh?"

In other evidence, an FMG hydrologist Chris Oppenheim was questioned about the impact of the mine’s water extraction.

Yindjibarndi counsel MS Tina Jowett SC said that FMG had drawn 160 gigalitres of water from the Solomon region up to 2022, and this had affected vegetation.

Mr Oppenheim agreed that vegetation had been affected “outside the supplementation zone, yes”.

He was asked why FMG referred to a sacred spring at Bangkangarra as Satellite Springs, and he said it was “just a business name” and did not know why.

He admitted to having never visited the Millstream area to witness the way its water systems and permanent pools operated.

The hearing continues today.