Page 165 - Carbon Capitalism and Communication Confronting Climate Crisis

156 B. BREVINI AND T. WORONOV

around $2 billion of that relates to developments at Abbot Point…. Deputy
Premier Seeney said that the government was prepared to put in whatever it
takes to make those projects viable (Campbell 2015).

Perhaps the most pernicious claim by mine proponents was summarized by
Queensland Premier Anastazia Palaszczuk in the Queensland Assembly on
19 April 2016, when she stated: “Queensland taxpayers will not be funding
any infrastructure for this project. Stringent conditions will be enforced to
safeguard landholders” and traditional owners’ interests’ (Palaszczuk
2016). In actuality, to keep Queensland taxpayers from funding the mine’s
infrastructure, the burden will fall instead on the Commonwealth gov-
ernment via a proposed $1 billion loan to Adani for the rail lines from the
mine to the coast (ABCnet 2016b).
Nor have the rights of the “traditional owners” of the mine site, a
commonly-used euphemism to describe the Aboriginal groups who may
have a Native Title claim to the land, been respected or upheld. Far from
“safeguarding” these “traditional owners” interests,’ the state, federal
government and courts have so far denied all legal challenges from the
Aboriginal people most effected by the Carmichael mine, denying their
claims (ABCnet 2016a). The Wangan and Jagalingou (W-J) People, the
traditional owners of the land on which the mine would be built, applied in
2004 for recognition of their native title (known as an Indigenous Land
Use Agreement), which would give them the right to negotiate with the
government in decisions related to the use of their land. Since then, the
W-J People have filed multiple law suits intended to stop the authorisation
of a Native Title permission to mine on their land. The W-J sued to reject
Adani’s mining lease on the grounds that the corporation had not received
the approval of the full membership of the group. In a message to the
Federal Court appealing the mining leases, W-J elder Adrian Burragubba
said:

We said “no means no” and so we will continue to resist this damaging coal
mine that will tear the heart out of our Country. The stakes are huge. In the
spirit of our ancestors, we will continue to fight for justice until the project
falls over. The decision of the Native Title Tribunal in April 2015 to allow the
issuing of the mining leases by the Queensland government took away our
right to free, prior and informed consent. It effectively allowed the govern-
ment to override the decision that we made nearly two years ago to reject
Adani’s “deal”. 2