At the coalface: traditional owners demand protection

Traditional owners are pursuing a legal challenge involving Adani’s Carmichael mine.

Traditional owners are seeking a court order to force the Queensland government to protect an important sacred site, safeguard cultural heritage and defend human rights.

Adrian Burragubba, a spokesperson for the Wangan and Jagalingou Nagana Yarrbayn Cultural Custodians, said Adani’s Carmichael coalmine was causing environmental harm to the Doongmabulla Springs, a culturally significant site.

He accused the state environment department of being aware of harm the cental Queensland mine was causing and failing to act with sufficient care, breaching his human rights.

The department has applied to have the case dismissed, which will be considered by the Supreme Court in Brisbane on Thursday.

In March 2023, the department issued Adani an Environmental Protection Order, which prevented it from underground mining but made no restriction on other activities, including open-cut extraction.

Adani has a separate court challenge to the order, set down for hearing on May 20.

The order was issued following Adani’s submission of its groundwater modelling report, which the department rejected because it had low confidence in the company’s forecasts.

An independent review of Adani’s groundwater modelling by the CSIRO and Geoscience Australia found several major issues, including problems with the maths and methods used by the mining company.

Open-cut mining posed an imminent threat of irreversible harm to the Doongmabulla Springs, Mr Burragubba told AAP.

Cultural custodians wanted to prevent any further open-cut mining until they could be satisfied there was no longer a threat of environmental harm to the springs, he said.

The custodians have commissioned their own environmental reports, which identified various problems with ground and spring water quality.

Lawyers for the cultural custodians said Adani consistently breached its environmental conditions without any effective regulatory intervention.

A spokesperson for Bravus, which is part of the global Adani Group, rejected the cultural custodians’ claims.

In a statement, they said no damage had occurred to the Doongmabulla Springs or to underground water at the Carmichael mine.

A spokesman for the environment department said that based on monitoring data provided by Adani, it “does not have current concerns about impacts to the Doongmabulla Springs Complex from mining activities”.

The CSIRO and Geoscience Australia report identified several issues with Adani’s groundwater model, including the overestimation of groundwater levels in the vicinity of the Carmichael River and Doongmabulla Spring Complex.