Uploaded May 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
What do you think is the easiest way to make $150 million in Australia? Start your own company, employ hundreds of people, and work yourself to the bone for decades to build a multimillion-dollar empire? Nah, that’s too hard.
What about winning the lotto? Back in 2024, the ABC reported on an Adelaide man claiming a $150 million Powerball jackpot. It’s certainly easy, but your chances of that happening are roughly 1 in 134 million.
But there is an even easier way: be an aggrieved Aboriginal Australian. As the BBC declared recently: “Indigenous Australians win record $150 million after billionaire mined without permission.” See? All you have to do is be the descendant of someone whose land was colonised more than 200 years ago, claim Native Title, and you too can be part of a multimillion-dollar windfall. Easy, quick, and all you had to do was… exist—with a bit of complaining and a few creative legal filings thrown in for good measure.
It’s the most exclusive club in the country. No matter how hard you work or how much tax you pay, if you don’t have the right DNA and a 200-year-old connection to that specific patch of dirt, you’re locked out of the vault.
According to news reports, since 2013, Andrew Forrest’s mining company, Fortescue, has generated billions of dollars in revenue by extracting iron ore from Yindjibarndi land in the mineral-rich Pilbara region of Western Australia.
But it wasn’t until 2017 that the Yindjibarndi people were actually granted native title. The headlines read: “Yindjibarndi celebrate rights win on country,” after the Yindjibarndi Ngurra Aboriginal Corporation was granted exclusive native title rights over a 2,700-square-kilometre area of the Pilbara.
So, $150 million. Not bad for a trip to the Federal Court. Well, a number of people aren’t happy with that figure. According to the BBC, the Yindjibarndi group had sought $1.8 billion in compensation—a figure representing a percentage of the production value of the mines to compensate them for the loss of around 250 cultural sites and their “cultural connection to the land.”
Acknowledging that the Yindjibarndi had a “deep and visceral connection” to their country which affected all aspects of their lives, Federal Court Justice Stephen Burley found Fortescue liable for economic loss valued at just $150,000, but cultural loss valued at $150 million.
But even that wasn’t enough. While the payout is almost three times the size of the next biggest court-mandated compensation in Australian history, some elders expressed disappointment. Yindjibarndi elder Wendy Hubert even described the $150 million windfall as “peanuts.”
I don’t know about you, but I’d happily accept a few bags of those peanuts. Apparently, in the world of high-stakes grievance, $150 million is just the appetiser.
I don’t know what else to say about this, really. Let’s see what the ABC had to say: “Record payout after billionaire built mine without traditional owners’ permission.” It’s interesting—if he hadn’t built the mine in the first place, would they be receiving anything right now?
In the article, they show plenty of photos of sombre-looking Aboriginal people who just won $150 million, noting: “The amount was well short of the $1.8 billion sought by traditional owners.” They even have a heading dedicated to the elder’s analogy: “Payout ‘peanuts’.”
The Aboriginal Corporation’s chief executive, Michael Woodley—who is pictured here looking like he’s just attended a funeral—said the Yindjibarndi have “not given up” after the verdict. He noted: “We'll fight it.”
So there you go. In a world where many Australians can barely afford a roof over their heads, a windfall payment of $150 million from a mining giant who rudely came in and commercialised your land is seen as not enough.
Although it is the biggest native title payout in Australian history, in the world of modern grievance and victimhood, sadly, it’s only seen as a big fat bag of salty peanuts. It’s a reminder that the most exclusive club in this country is the one that cannot be acquired by merit, purchase, or citizenship alone. You either have the 200-year-old connection to the dirt, or you’re just another person struggling to pay the rent.
MUSIC
Allégro by Emmit Fenn
What do you think is the easiest way to make $150 million in Australia? Start your own company, employ hundreds of people, and work yourself to the bone for decades to build a multimillion-dollar empire? Nah, that’s too hard.
What about winning the lotto? Back in 2024, the ABC reported on an Adelaide man claiming a $150 million Powerball jackpot. It’s certainly easy, but your chances of that happening are roughly 1 in 134 million.
But there is an even easier way: be an aggrieved Aboriginal Australian. As the BBC declared recently: “Indigenous Australians win record $150 million after billionaire mined without permission.” See? All you have to do is be the descendant of someone whose land was colonised more than 200 years ago, claim Native Title, and you too can be part of a multimillion-dollar windfall. Easy, quick, and all you had to do was… exist—with a bit of complaining and a few creative legal filings thrown in for good measure.
It’s the most exclusive club in the country. No matter how hard you work or how much tax you pay, if you don’t have the right DNA and a 200-year-old connection to that specific patch of dirt, you’re locked out of the vault.
According to news reports, since 2013, Andrew Forrest’s mining company, Fortescue, has generated billions of dollars in revenue by extracting iron ore from Yindjibarndi land in the mineral-rich Pilbara region of Western Australia.
But it wasn’t until 2017 that the Yindjibarndi people were actually granted native title. The headlines read: “Yindjibarndi celebrate rights win on country,” after the Yindjibarndi Ngurra Aboriginal Corporation was granted exclusive native title rights over a 2,700-square-kilometre area of the Pilbara.
So, $150 million. Not bad for a trip to the Federal Court. Well, a number of people aren’t happy with that figure. According to the BBC, the Yindjibarndi group had sought $1.8 billion in compensation—a figure representing a percentage of the production value of the mines to compensate them for the loss of around 250 cultural sites and their “cultural connection to the land.”
Acknowledging that the Yindjibarndi had a “deep and visceral connection” to their country which affected all aspects of their lives, Federal Court Justice Stephen Burley found Fortescue liable for economic loss valued at just $150,000, but cultural loss valued at $150 million.
But even that wasn’t enough. While the payout is almost three times the size of the next biggest court-mandated compensation in Australian history, some elders expressed disappointment. Yindjibarndi elder Wendy Hubert even described the $150 million windfall as “peanuts.”
I don’t know about you, but I’d happily accept a few bags of those peanuts. Apparently, in the world of high-stakes grievance, $150 million is just the appetiser.
I don’t know what else to say about this, really. Let’s see what the ABC had to say: “Record payout after billionaire built mine without traditional owners’ permission.” It’s interesting—if he hadn’t built the mine in the first place, would they be receiving anything right now?
In the article, they show plenty of photos of sombre-looking Aboriginal people who just won $150 million, noting: “The amount was well short of the $1.8 billion sought by traditional owners.” They even have a heading dedicated to the elder’s analogy: “Payout ‘peanuts’.”
The Aboriginal Corporation’s chief executive, Michael Woodley—who is pictured here looking like he’s just attended a funeral—said the Yindjibarndi have “not given up” after the verdict. He noted: “We'll fight it.”
So there you go. In a world where many Australians can barely afford a roof over their heads, a windfall payment of $150 million from a mining giant who rudely came in and commercialised your land is seen as not enough.
Although it is the biggest native title payout in Australian history, in the world of modern grievance and victimhood, sadly, it’s only seen as a big fat bag of salty peanuts. It’s a reminder that the most exclusive club in this country is the one that cannot be acquired by merit, purchase, or citizenship alone. You either have the 200-year-old connection to the dirt, or you’re just another person struggling to pay the rent.
MUSIC
Allégro by Emmit Fenn
