Pabai Pabai and Paul Kabai from Boigu Island in Australia's Torres Strait are witnesses in a landmark climate change court case against the Australian government.Pabai Pabai and Paul Kabai from Boigu Island in Australia's Torres Strait are witnesses in a landmark climate change court case against the Australian government.t’s a steamy, overcast morning and the air is thick with heat.
Dauan Island is one of the more than 250 islands that make up the Torres Strait that are all highly vulnerable to climate change.The seating for Uncle Pabai was carefully prepared the day before by his sister Aunty Diane Messa and his wife Aunty Waimed Pabai, the plastic chairs wrapped in white satin and double-stacked to avoid any embarrassment if one was to break. He sits at the front of the court, with Judge Wigney to his right.
In a federal court hearing at the Boigu community hall in the Torres Strait, locals are suing the Australian government for climate negligence.In an earlier case-management hearing – where the court makes logistical and administrative orders in preparation for the main trial – the Chief Justice of the federal court Debra Mortimer decided the hearings should be split, so that community evidence could be heard ‘on country’. This is a deeply significant decision.
Aunty Vera Auda and Uncle Lenny Gibuma, two senior Boigugal elders, have already marked the beginning of formal proceedings. They welcome the outsiders to country, acknowledge their ancestors and elders past and present, and present Justice Wigney with a yam branch with large, vivid green leaves – a symbol of peace. Children have brought their chairs from school and are sitting in the front row. They’ve had the fear of god put into them by their teachers, and they do not make a sound.
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