MEDIA STATEMENT 19 August 2016
CORRECTION: QLD RESOURCES COUNCIL LIES RE CARMICHAEL COURT CHALLENGE
Senior Traditional Owner and spokesperson for the Wangan and Jagalingou (W&J) family council, Mr Adrian Burragubba, today criticised the head of the Queensland Resources Council for blatantly lying about Mr Burragubba’s legal representation, and questioning of W&J’s independence, to suit his own agenda. (See QRC full statement below).
“Mr Roche wrongly claims we were represented by the Environmental Defenders Office. In fact, Wangan and Jagalingou people are proud to be represented by lawyers and barristers, generously acting on a pro bono basis in the public interest, and in defence of our rights,” Mr Burragubba said.
“If Mr Roche acquainted himself with the facts, instead of concocting stories to suit his own purposes, he’d know this is the case.
For details of W&J legal representation see below.
“This is our fight and it will go on, with or without the campaign of lies being run against us by the Queensland Resources Council. We are an independent group of Traditional Owners who determine our interests, and this means self-determination without dependency on mining. We have autonomously and for our own reasons determined to campaign against Carmichael, and to use all appropriate means to stop it.”
“The stakes are huge for my people. If the Carmichael mine goes ahead it will tear the heart out of Country. We will continue to fight it until the project falls over,” Mr Burragubba said.
For further information: Anthony Esposito, W&J council advisor, 0418 152 743
W&J website –– “No means no” video.
Legal Representation:
Counsel for the Applicant: Mr C Leggat SC with Barristers Mr D Yarrow and Mr M Steele
Instructing Solicitor for the Applicant: Benedict Coyne: Anderson Fredericks Turner Lawyers
QRC Statement: Federal court dismisses activist claim – 19 August 2016
The opening of the rich coal deposits in the Galilee Basin edged forward today with the dismissal of an activist’s native title claim in Federal Court.
The proceedings were brought against Adani’s Carmichael coal mine project from a member of the Wangan and Jagalingou people earlier this year.
Queensland Resources Council Chief Executive Michael Roche said he was not surprised by the dismissal as it was just another in the long line of green activist legal suits that were designed to hold up development in Queensland.
‘The appeal by Adrian Burragubba, represented by the taxpayer-funded Environmental Defenders Office, is merely a tactic of the anti-coal brigade,’ Mr Roche said.
‘The never-ending flow of legal challenges is straight out of the activists’ playbook. It’s about disrupting and delaying new projects in the hope that the investor will give up and walk away and in so doing denying regional Queensland thousands of desperately needed jobs.
‘The QRC once again calls on state and federal governments to urgently overhaul the process and prevent the blatant abuse of the court system that enables green activists to continuously and blatantly disrupt and delay projects.’
Mr Roche said the ink was barely dry on the court’s decision when activist groups took to social media announcing there were more challenges ahead.
‘Market Forces, an affiliate of taxpayer-subsidised Friends of the Earth, were tweeting within minutes “Head up @burragubba we’re not done yet #endofcoal”, Mr Roche said.
‘And if we go by past form, the green activist groups will also be calling for donations before the ink is dry on the Federal Court’s decision.’
The Carmichael coal mine and rail project, which is a huge job-generating project for Queensland, has been in caught up in the Queensland Federal project approvals systems for nearly 70 months.
With growing evidence of green shoots in the coal sector, we need to get this project out of the courts and into construction.
Media contact: Angela Harper 07 3295 9560