Unfinished business: Adani, the State and Indigenous rights

University of Queensland researchers have released a report into the uncertainty and contest surrounding the future of the proposed Carmichael coal mine, highlighting “unfinished business” between Adani, the State and the Wangan and Jagalingou Traditional Owners Council.

School of Social Science Associate Professor Dr Kristen Lyons released the report at an event attended by Wangan and Jagalingou Traditional Owners Council spokesperson Murrawah Johnson.

“The report raises issues that are of immediate relevance, with Parliament meeting to discuss, for a third time, amendments to the Native Title Bill,” she said.

“This has been widely described as a rushed process, by a Government apparently determined to push through their ‘Adani Bill’ and support the go-ahead of Adani's proposed Carmichael mine. 

“Our report describes ‘unfinished business’ between Adani and the Wangan and Jagalingou Traditional Owners Council, with the Council's legal campaigns – set to run until at least 2018 – offering the last legal line of defence against the go-ahead of the mine.”

Dr Lyons said the report described the resistance of the Wangan and Jagalingou Traditional Owners Council to the proposed mine on the basis that it would cause irreversible destruction to their country.

The Wangan and Jagalingou are centring their Indigenous rights in the transition to a low carbon future.

Earth Justice organisation Managing Attorney Martin Wagner, who wrote the report’s foreword, said the story of the Wangan and Jagalingou fight against government and corporate power was an important cautionary tale highlighting the implications for Australian society of the unfinished business between the State and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

The report, available here, was written by Dr Lyons, School of Political Science and International Studies Senior Lecturer Morgan Brigg, and  School of Economics Professor John Quiggin.

Media: Kristen Lyons, kristen.lyons@uq.edu.au, 0437 332 732; Morgan Brigg, m.brigg@uq.edu.au, 0428 138 196.