Understorey: Kimberley Culture and the Rights of Nature

Bidyadanga musician John Bennett sings of country – the Kimberley red dirt and blue sea, the wild places he grew up in and loves.  When we think of the land as important, of our country, wherever we are, as pre-eminently precious, we are laying a kinder path for whoever comes after us, and that includes all creatures. When the current global pandemic eases, and with it our social distance, we might develop better habits with and draw closer to the planet, a renewed chance to listen deeply and respond differently. Understorey spoke to John Bennett at the National Folk Festival in 2018.

As a first in Australia, Western Australia’s parliament is considering a “Rights of Nature and Future Generations Bill”, moved by Diane Evers, MLC for the South West, a Bill that would secure the Rights of Nature to “exist, flourish, regenerate, and evolve,” and have its own legal standing to defend and enforce these rights. The Bill also recognises the rights of First Nations Peoples to speak for and defend their ancestral lands. A Rights of Nature and Future Generations Act would also recognise the rights of present and future generations to a healthy environment, and establish the “precautionary principle” by stating that “lack of full scientific certainty shall not be used as a reason for denying or postponing the implementation, defence, or enforcement” of these Rights of Nature.

(Photo: John Bennett, at the National Folk Festival, Canberra, April 2018, by A. Glamorgan)