Updated
Photo:
Wangun and Jagalingou traditional owners say the deal to hand over their country was rigged. (AAP: Dan Peled)
Two Indigenous groups are seeking to extend an
injunction to stop Indian mining giant Adani from completing work that
would extinguish their native title over part of the proposed Carmichael
mine site.
The construction of the coal mine in central
Queensland has been approved, but representatives of the Wangan and
Jagalingou traditional owners say the deal to hand over their country
was a sham.Lawyer Colin Hardie, representing the two clans' bid to extend an injunction they won last year, will return to the Federal Court today.
He said his team was seeking to prevent the company conducting works on three areas of the proposed mine site, which are on Wangun and Jagalingou land.
"They can still do some work, but they can't do any work that would extinguish native title," Mr Hardie said."They say they are very significant to their project … because they wish to build workers' accommodation, an airport, some other infrastructure, waste facilities et cetera to support their mining project.
Photo:
Wangun woman Murrawah Johnson says Adani does not have approval from her people. (Facebook: AIATSIS)
"We say that they're very important to our clients in relation to the exercise of their native title rights."
Today's court action is related to a legal dispute over the Indigenous Land Use Agreement that Adani registered with the Native Title Tribunal due before court in March.
Mr Hardie alleges there is evidence the agreement is flawed because it was struck with people who are not the traditional owners.
"What we believe happened, and we have evidence to the effect, was that Adani arranged for people to come from various Indigenous communities, and they bussed them down and paid for them to come," he said.
"They gave them meals and accommodation, they got certain applicants that were supporting their position, they paid for them to go and recruit as many people to come along to that meeting as possible."
Allegations Adani 'rented' Aboriginal people
Adani has the state and federal approvals it needs to build Australia's biggest proposed coal mine in the Galilee Basin.
But Wangun woman Murrawah Johnson, a spokeswoman for the Wangun and Jagalingou Family Council (WJFC), said the company did not have approval from her people or the related Jagalingou clan.
Ms Johnson said the WJFC objected on four separate occasions to Adani building parts of its mine on their traditional land, but alleges the company found a way around that.
"When they weren't able to get the consent of the true Wangun and Jagalingou people, they went and literally just rented other Aboriginal people," she said.
"[They asked them] to come into a room, put their hand up and say that they [were] Wangun and Jagalingou people and sign away Wangun and Jagalingou country."Actually these aren't the people who are losing anything because they're not the true people from that country."
Those allegations are yet to be tested in court, but Mr Hardie said he did not expect it would be this case which would bring the Adani project down.
"What I hope to do in the interim is make sure that when Adani does crash, because it doesn't get financial backing, that the native title of the Wangan and Jagalingou people is not destroyed before that can occur," he said.
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