KARIJINI – The Banjima Native Title Aboriginal Corporation has been forced to cancel this year’s Karijini Experience – a four-day celebration of culture and music in Karijini National Park – because Australia managed to run out of fuel in a country that exports energy.
The festival which was set to feature Jessica Mauboy and an all-Aboriginal music lineup across four days on Banjima Country was pulled due to “ongoing uncertainty and risk of insufficient fuel supply across regional Western Australia.” Organisers said the safety of community and visitors had to come first.
Industry observers noted that while a cultural festival celebrating 65,000 years of continuous civilisation was cancelled for lack of diesel the Pilbara’s iron ore operations appeared to be continuing uninterrupted. A spokesperson for one major mining company confirmed their fuel supply was “being managed” which is corporate for “we get ours first.”
The cancellation follows weeks of fuel chaos triggered by the Middle East conflict and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. Regional WA has been particularly hard hit with some towns running completely dry.
Banjima Elder had described the festival as a place to “share knowledge on Country and keep our culture strong for generations to come.” Generations to come will apparently need to bring a jerry can.
All ticket holders will receive full refunds through the ticketing platform. The corporation said it looks forward to bringing the event back next year – fuel supply chain willing.
At press time the Pilbara’s mining haul trucks were confirmed to still be running 24 hours a day.
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