Activist Adrian Burragubba loses court battle against Adani but vows to fight on
ACTIVIST Adrian Burragubba has lost another court battle to stop the Adani megamine going ahead but has promised to keep the legal action going.
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ACTIVIST Adrian Burragubba has lost another court battle to stop the Adani megamine going ahead but has promised to keep the legal action going.
The Court of Appeal dismissed his appeal against an earlier court decision which had rejected his application for a judicial review of the granting of a mining lease for the Carmichael mine.
Mr Burragubba runs a splinter group of the Wangan and Jagalingou people, one of the traditional owners of the land, and has a separate action running in the Federal Court relating to native title.
Other traditional owners have supported the project.
Cost were also awarded against Mr Burragubba.
“We are not done yet,’’ Mr Burragubba said.
“We will exhaust all legal avenues in our fight for our rights and to protect our country.
“Adani cannot move on the critical infrastructure for the mine until they can get us out of the way.”
However, Adani said while the Burragubba action may impact its ability to start work on the mine, there was still 380km of rail line that needed to be built and that was unaffected by the legal action being taken.
Adani said the court’s decision to uphold the granting of the mining lease represented another independent judicial decision upholding nearly eight years of development planning and rigorous approvals, and dismissed activist claims to the contrary.
“It is also another legal rebuff to activists’ use of the courts to seek to delay a project that will create 10,000 direct and indirect jobs, including a minimum 7 per cent of jobs going to traditional land owners covering the almost 400km-long strip from Abbot Point to central western Queensland,’’ an Adani spokesman said.
“Mr Burragubba suggests he is acting on behalf of the Wangan and Jagalingou community, but the W&J people voted by 294-1 to support an Indigenous Land Use Agreement with Adani.’’
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