Clearly you have never been involved in any like "consultation" procedure
@Scott th RatbagWoodside consulted with the Native Title holders, the land council and all other stakeholders they were able to identify. This woman appeared out of mid air.
As posted elsewhere on here I have been involved in the consultation process many times and can state unequivocally it can be difficult to get all the traditional owners together at one time. I used the expression that it "is easier to heard cats"
Just one example. With a Land Use compensation agreement in place with a Native Title claimant party I followed all the protocols to have a heritage survey conducted over a proposed exploration drilling project. I flew from Perth to Port Hedland with an anthropologist authorised by the Land Council. During that afternoon we could only locate three of the five TO's based in Port Hedland so we had to stay overnight.
We located the other two late the next morning and headed for Marble Bar to collect the sixth and most senior TO only to find that he decided that we weren't coming, because we were late, and had headed bush. So I had to pay for accommodation (unbudgeted) for seven rooms in Marble Bar. When he had not returned the next day I asked the anthropologist if the survey could be done with just the five. He asked the five and they refused as the missing TO was the most senior. When he still had not returned the next day I had no choice to call the job off and we returned to Port Hedland where the anthropologist and I stayed the night and returned to Perth the next day.
With airfares, accommodation and meals, hire vehicles, fuel, payments for the TO's and anthropologist my employer was over $25,000 out of pocket with nothing to show for it. The survey was done, after some angry words from my company lawyers to the Land Council at a cost of a little over $35,000.
This is but one example and I know of several others. Companies try to do the right thing but are frustrated all to frequently.
