Traditional Owners say they have not been consulted on the planned expansion of RAAF Base Curtin in Western Australia's far north.
Rosita Shaw, director and cultural advisor with the Walalakoo Aboriginal Corporation, told National Indigenous Times federal authorities had not consulted with the native title holders of the site.
"You have the RAAF base just down the road. They want to do a big upgrade of it and Defence have not talked to us properly yet," she said.
"We met with the acting Defence Minister in Canberra. We want them to talk to the Traditional Owners and get a Memorandum of Understanding in place. We have been sending letters."
Ms Shaw said she was also concerned by the proximity of the strategic Defence base to Kimberley Mineral Sands' Thunderbird project, co-owned by Yansteel, a subsidiary of Chinese giant Tangshan Yanshan Iron & Steel Co.
Walalakoo Aboriginal Corporation is the Registered Native Title Body Corporate run by Nyikina Mangala native title holders.
Fellow Walalakoo director Wayne Bergmann said Traditional Owners had been trying to engage with the Department of Defence since 2014.
"They have made it a bureaucratic, legalistic project and have engaged with people without going through the registered Native Title body," he said.
"We have been waiting since 2014, when we got our Native Title, for them to show some respect and they have done nothing."
Mr Bergmann, who is also a co-owner of the National Indigenous Times, said the management of the base has not complied with the process to give Traditional Owners a fair, proper and transparent opportunity to engage with them.
"Defence has tried to side-step Traditional Owners by engaging with other Aboriginal people in the region," he said.
"Compared to us they have far more resources, a huge amount of funds. There is a significant power imbalance. We want to ensure Traditional Owners have a level playing field where we can find common ground. They are using their significant resources to pressure Traditional Owners into their process."
A Defence spokesperson said the department has "commenced engagement with the Traditional Owners on the development of a Heritage Management Plan for Royal Australian Air Force Base Curtin".
"The Heritage Management Plan will be developed in partnership with the Traditional Owners and will look to assess, protect and document the historic, natural and cultural heritage values of RAAF Base Curtin. It will also outline management principles, identify sensitive areas and set down processes for any future engagement on heritage activities at the base," they said.
"Defence and its industry partners engage regularly with representatives of the Traditional Owners on the RAAF Base Curtin Redevelopment Project, and are in the process of negotiating a Project Partnership Agreement covering cultural heritage matters within the project."
The spokesperson said Defence will continue to consult with the Traditional Owners during the development of both the Heritage Management Plan and the RAAF Base Curtin Redevelopment Project "to ensure that cultural heritage values are identified and suitable measures are undertaken to protect them".
Mr Bergmann said Defence's "conduct to date does not match the rhetoric".
"Everything they have said sounds great but they have not practiced what they preached. The people they have brought to the table to date do not have the authority to deal with our concerns," he said.
"We wrote to them in 2014… Ever since then we have tried to reach out to them and work with them and they have shown disrespect, and used their power to pressure Traditional Owners to do things quickly, without proper consideration of our cultural values.
"It is a joke when the Commonwealth talks about Aboriginal people needing a voice and the need to respect local and regional voices while Defence, one of the biggest Commonwealth agencies there is, have done nothing but ignore our voice."
