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Murujuga women discuss the long flight to the United Nations in Geneva

Raelene Cooper and Josie Alec spoke with Yahoo News Australia ahead of their speeches to the UN Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Interview: Michael Dahlstrom

Video transcript

[LAUGHTER]

RAELENE COOPER: Oh yeah. I've never been this far out of anywhere from Australia. So it was quite new, very nerve-wracking for myself. And I was on the flight on my own. So I was like nail biting.

MICHAEL DAHISTROM: Yeah.

RAELENE COOPER: However, seeing with my own eyes over the glacier here was phenomenal. I was getting all teared up.

It was-- you know, and the first thing I thought about was why would anyone want to destroy our world? Why would you want to put these destructive projects in where the climate changes? And like, why? We have a majest-- majestical-- magical places that are quite significant and sacred.

JOSIE ALEC: Yeah.

RAELENE COOPER: And yet, I was blown right away.

JOSIE ALEC: Yeah.

RAELENE COOPER: Blown away.

JOSIE ALEC: It was pretty tiring. Yeah. But seeing that stuff is amazing. After a 16-hour flight.

RAELENE COOPER: Yeah.

JOSIE ALEC: So two planes, 16 hours basically. But it was-- it was-- it was quite a journey.

RAELENE COOPER: We're still feeling the effects.

[LAUGHTER]

[INTERPOSING VOICES]

RAELENE COOPER: It's quite a release.

JOSIE ALEC: Yeah. It was an exciting journey.