The Hayes family letter, with introductions by Henry Reynolds and Felicity Hayes - Overland literary journal
overland.org.au
The government needs to know that this place is sacred and we want Pine Gap to be closed down. Since the base was built, we’ve been locked out of our own sacred land. We can’t go there with our families to have a look at the paintings, the rock art. We’re suffering because we can’t take our next generation to that place. We feel homeless on our own Country.

"The following text was submitted to the AUKUS Public Inquiry with the intention of highlighting the issue of the lack of free, prior and informed consent for the massive build-out of military installations on Indigenous lands associated with the AUKUS agreement and the United States Force Posture Initiatives.

The Hayes family have lived with the occupation of their Country, Kuyunba, by the Pine Gap military intelligence facility, for sixty years. They were not consulted, and never consented to the alienation of their lands and the installation of an offensive military facility on it.

The Hayes family plan to take their letter to Canberra, where Greens senator David Shoebridge has agreed to table it in the senate."