LANDMARK VICTORY: Qld Court of Appeal hands the State a comprehensive defeat

Doongmabulla Springs cultural rights case restored in full

“Two years and two governments down, and the case can finally go to trial”

THE Queensland Court of Appeal yesterday handed down a landmark decision in the case brought by Nagana Yarrbayn Wangan and Jagalingou Cultural Custodians to protect the sacred Doongmabulla Springs from the impacts of the Carmichael coal mine.

The full bench of the Court dismissed the State’s appeal and allowed the Cultural Custodians’ cross-appeal. The unanimous decision of the judges restores the Nagana Yarrbayn case in full and sends it to trial. The State was ordered to pay all costs.

Senior Cultural Custodian Adrian Burragubba said: “Two years and two governments down, and we can finally go to trial. The State tried everything to shut this case down before the evidence could be heard. They failed.

“This fight has always been about our cultural rights – rights that have existed all along, not granted by governments but inherent to who we are as First People. As custodians, we have the right to speak for Country and the obligation to protect it. Today the Court recognised both: that our rights are real, and that we can use them to hold governments accountable when they fail to protect our sacred places.

“That is First Law. Now it is Queensland law too.”

Why this decision matters

This case is a breakthrough. It is the first appellate court decision confirming that cultural rights under the Queensland Human Rights Act may form a basis for challenging government failures to protect sacred sites.

The Court rejected the State’s argument that cultural rights under the Human Rights Act are not freestanding and cannot be independently enforced. In a detailed judgment, the Court found that Aboriginal cultural rights “do not owe their origin” to the Human Rights Act – the Act “cements them as rights recognised by our law.”

Critically, the Court held that when the nature of land or waters is affected, it “may prevent or impair the strength of that relationship” between Aboriginal peoples and Country. The right, the Court said, is not “the mere veneer of the legal right” but “the actual benefit or enjoyment of the substantive relationship with the land and waters.”

This reasoning has profound implications. It means cultural rights are not abstractions to be acknowledged but otherwise ignored. They are substantive rights, connected to Country, that government decision-makers must respect.

“This decision opens a pathway – not just for us, but for First Nations custodians across Queensland and potentially the country,” Mr Burragubba said. “Native title and cultural heritage regimes have put a straitjacket on our rights, but with cultural rights under the Human Rights Act we can finally break through. That is what we have fought for. That is what today’s decision makes possible.”

The Cultural Custodians first wrote to the Environment Department in November 2023, providing independent scientific evidence that the Carmichael mine posed an ongoing threat to the Doongmabulla Springs and requesting the Department exercise its powers to protect them.

The Department refused. The Cultural Custodians commenced proceedings in February 2024. Rather than answer the case, the State has spent two years – under two successive governments – trying to have it thrown out before the evidence could be heard. They failed.

“Two years and two governments down, and the case can finally go to trial,” Mr Burragubba said. “Both the previous Labor Government and current LNP Government have tried to shut us down. The Queensland Attorney-General, Deb Frecklington, even intervened to argue our cultural rights don’t really exist as enforceable rights. The Court disagreed.”

The Queensland Human Rights Commission also intervened – in support of the Cultural Custodians.

But through all this, the Springs are left in peril.

“We have fought for eleven years to protect Doongmabulla Springs,” said Mr Burragubba. “From day one of the coal mine proposal, our efforts have always been about protecting the Springs. The scientific evidence of the harm since mining commenced is clear but has never been heard in court. The State fought for two years to prevent that happening. Now they will have to face it.”

The path forward

The State could seek leave to appeal to the High Court. The Cultural Custodians stand ready.

“If the State wants the High Court to decide whether Aboriginal cultural rights are real and enforceable, we will meet them there,” Mr Burragubba said. “But they have wasted two years already. At some point they need to stop running from their responsibilities and start doing their job – protecting the Doongmabulla Springs – and respect our human rights.

“The Doongmabulla Springs are the home of Mundagutta, the Rainbow Serpent, and central to Wangan and Jagalingou creation stories. They have sustained the lives of our people for millennia. They are sacred to us. The water itself has been dated at over 500,000 years old. The Springs are a Matter of National Environmental Significance under federal law.

“We are the custodians. We speak for Country and have the obligation to care for our sacred sites. Our purpose remains saving Doongmabulla Springs – an ancient spring complex of immense ecological and cultural significance. If the Springs are destroyed – and they are in real danger – that connection is severed forever. That is irreversible loss – of nature, of culture, of who we are,” Mr Burragubba concluded.

Available for comment:

Adrian Burragubba – Senior W&J Cultural Custodian and Nagana Yarrbayn spokesperson

Alison Rose – Special Counsel, Ninox Law (legal analysis)

For more information and to arrange interviews: Anthony Esposito – 0418 152 743

Queensland’s Human Rights Act faces Appeal Court test over sacred Doongmabulla Springs

Nagana Yarrbayn Wangan & Jagalingou Cultural Custodians

MEDIA ALERT

17 November 2025

WHEN: Tuesday 18 and Wednesday 19 November 2025, commencing from 9.30 am

WHERE: Queensland Court of Appeal, Supreme Court, George Street, Brisbane, Appeal Court, Level 3

WHAT: Appeal and cross-appeal hearing in the groundbreaking Doongmabulla Springs Aboriginal cultural rights case

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Qld Attorney General and Human Rights Commission intervene on opposite sides in groundbreaking cultural rights case

THE QUEENSLAND COURT OF APPEAL will hear a landmark case that will determine whether Aboriginal cultural rights under the Queensland Human Rights Act can be enforced to protect sacred sites from environmental destruction.

The case has drawn interventions on opposite sides: the Queensland Attorney General supporting the government’s appeal, and the Queensland Human Rights Commission supporting Nagana Yarrbayn Wangan & Jagalingou Cultural Custodians’ position on the application of human rights act to enforcement.

The Cultural Custodians are defending their case while also cross-appealing to strengthen protection for the sacred Doongmabulla Springs, which are threatened by Adani’s Carmichael Coal Mine.

This appeal and cross-appeal concern how cultural rights cases can be brought under Queensland’s Human Rights Act, and whether these rights are freestanding and enforceable when government agencies fail to prevent environmental harm to sacred sites.

Nagana Yarrbayn Senior Cultural Custodian, Adrian Burragubba said: “The Government’s application to dismiss our case has been rejected by the trial judge, yet it continues to try to kill off our case by appeal. Our cross appeal is defending the integrity of our human rights and environment case; and our fundamental right as the Cultural Custodians, under our own cultural law protocols, to protect the Doongmabulla Springs.

“We hope the Judges will ultimately allow us to have our day in court to test the scientific evidence of the harm to the Doongmabulla Springs. The Government needs to be held to account for their failure to enforce its own law to protect the Springs from mining, and to uphold our human rights. While all this legal argument is going on, the Springs are further imperiled.

“For eleven years we have fought to protect these Springs. We have always warned the mine would destroy this significant site and now the evidence is mounting. The Government acknowledged in their own court documents that the Springs have ‘exceptional ecological value’ and ‘spiritual significance’ to us. Yet the LNP Government has chosen to fight us in court rather than do its job and protect the Springs from the mining operations.”

“The government has a responsibility not to usurp our cultural rights, which are rooted in First Law. But the government is being obstinate by refusing to respect our right to be heard and failing to understand our law.”

The legal battle

The government seeks to establish that cultural rights cannot compel regulatory enforcement action to protect culturally significant sites – reading down the Human Rights Act. The Cultural Custodians argue the opposite: that the Act creates obligations when sacred sites and the environment face destruction. The outcome will set precedent across Queensland for how cultural rights interact with environmental law.

Alison Rose, Special Counsel at Ninox Law, said: “This case strikes at the heart of two intersecting legal systems with different foundational philosophies: the Western Legal System, which focuses on individual rights; and the First Law which focuses on collective duties to care for Country, community and environment. The Court of Appeal must decide whether, and the way in which Queensland’s Human Rights Act can bridge these two systems.”

The Doongmabulla Springs have been central to Wangan & Jagalingou culture for millennia and are essential to maintaining spiritual connection to Country and transmitting cultural knowledge to younger generations.

The Cultural Custodians presented expert evidence from Griffith University’s Professor Matthew Currell and Flinders University’s Professor Adrian Werner, along with the Government’s own CSIRO and Geosciences Australia reports, showing serious risks of irreversible damage to the Doongmabulla Springs from mining operations, in contravention of the Environmental Approval for the mine.

Available for comment:

Adrian Burragubba – Senior W&J Cultural Custodian and Nagana Yarrbayn spokesperson

Alison Rose – Special Counsel, Ninox Law (legal analysis)

For more information and to arrange interviews: Anthony Esposito – NYWJCC adviser – 0418 152 743

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Background to the Appeal

In June 2025, Justice Burns delivered a decision that rejected the Government’s attempt to strike out the case entirely but dismissed parts of the Cultural Custodians’ claims. The decision prompted both an appeal and a cross-appeal.

What the Cultural Custodians secured:

●      A legal breakthrough: The right to seek declaratory relief under the Civil Proceedings Act. According to legal analysis by Ninox Law, this appears to be the first Queensland case where declaratory relief under the Civil Proceedings Act has been permitted to proceed in the absence of judicial review remedies, “potentially opening a new remedial pathway for enforcing human rights.”

●      Justice Burns found sufficient grounds to allow their standing claim to be determined at trial

What was dismissed:

●      The statutory judicial review component that could have allowed the court to order the Government to exercise its environmental protection powers

Why both sides are now appealing:

The Government, with the Attorney General directly intervening, is appealing to shut down the Civil Proceedings Act pathway entirely before it sets precedent for other human rights cases.

The Cultural Custodians are cross-appealing to restore the judicial review component that was dismissed. The Queensland Human Rights Commission has intervened supporting the Cultural Custodians’ position on human rights enforcement.

Case History

●      December 2023: Queensland Government refused to exercise environmental protection powers despite independent expert evidence of harm to the Springs

●      February 2024: Nagana Yarrbayn Cultural Custodians filed Supreme Court action

●      March 2024: Government sought to dismiss the case before trial

●      May 2024: Strike-out application heard before Justice Burns

●      June 2025: Justice Burns delivered decision – rejecting Government’s strike-out of declaratory relief claim but dismissing the judicial review component

●      June 2025: Orders hearing held – Government criticised for non-compliance

●      June 2025: Government filed appeal to prevent the case proceeding

●      July 2025: Cultural Custodians filed cross-appeal

●      November 2025: Appeal and cross-appeal to be heard together

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Legal Significance

The legal innovation: Justice Burns’ decision allowed human rights claims to proceed under the Civil Proceedings Act – the first case in Queensland to do so without judicial review remedies. This pathway circumvents traditional judicial review limitations. The government is appealing to shut it down before it becomes precedent for other human rights cases.

The case could establish precedent for:

●      Whether human rights claims can proceed under the Civil Proceedings Act to bypass judicial review limitations

●      Whether government regulatory “inaction” can violate Indigenous cultural rights

●      How courts should interpret cultural rights with environmental law

●      What obligations governments have when presented with evidence of threats to sacred sites

●      The practical application of the Human Rights Act in protecting Indigenous interests

CASE DETAILS: Case name: Chief Executive, Department of Environment, Tourism, Science and Innovation v Nagana Yarrbayn Wangan and Jagalingou Cultural Custodians Ltd
Court of Appeal number: CA 2558/25
Original case: BS 1902/24 (Supreme Court of Queensland)

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Federal Court: Adani Can’t Avoid Facing Racism Claims

From the Human Rights Commission to Federal Court

After Adani failed to constructively engage in mediation and the Australian Human Rights Commission terminated conciliation efforts in June, we filed our case for justice in the Federal Court. As National Indigenous Times reported 1, we’re challenging both Adani’s physical obstruction of our family at the sacred Doongmabulla Springs and their decade-long attack on our cultural authority.

First hearing: progress made, but Adani fights back

This week we had our first case management hearing before Justice Derrington. Our Springs obstruction case proceeded smoothly, while Adani raised technical objections to our vilification case – objections we anticipated and will address. We secured the court orders needed to advance both cases.

But Adani is taking this very seriously. They’ve now signalled they may try to have the matters ‘struck out’ before the next hearing on 12 February 2026.

This cuts to the core of what it means to be Aboriginal

For me and my family and our clan, this case is about more than Adani’s specific acts of discrimination. It’s about the embedded racism that allows corporations to impair our human rights, destroy our lands and waters, smash our culture, and denigrate us in the eyes of the world.

For over a decade, Adani has gotten away with it because mining companies in Australia face limited consequences for discriminating against Aboriginal people who defend their Country. We will not be silenced or pushed aside.

One family against a multi-billion dollar corporation

Your contributions have already given us what we needed to get this far: a top-tier legal team including senior and junior counsel, and extensive evidentiary work documenting Adani’s conduct.

But the real legal battle lies ahead as we file our full statements of claim and Adani deploys its vast resources to try to shut us down before we can be heard. This fight is a threat not only to the sacred, ancient Doongmabulla Springs, but also to our identity as Wangan & Jagalingou people.

Every contribution strengthens our hand. It means we can match their legal resources, maintain our expert team through the inevitable legal battles, and see this through to a judgment that holds Adani accountable.

This is just the beginning and we have many months to run. We’re in this to win, and we need you with us.

DONATE NOW

We’ll keep you updated as we file our full case against Adani.

In solidarity and with deep gratitude,

Adrian Burragubba
Senior Nagana Yarrbayn W&J Cultural Custodian

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1. “W&J Cultural Custodians launch Federal Court action against Adani”. 22 August, 2025. National Indigenous Times

W&J Cultural Custodians Launch Federal Class Action against Adani for Racial Discrimination

Nagana Yarrbayn Wangan & Jagalingou Cultural Custodains

MEDIA RELEASE

Monday 18th August 2025

Members of the Nagana Yarrbayn Wangan & Jagalingou Cultural Custodians have lodged two Federal Court applications against Adani’s Bravus Mining alleging serious racial discrimination and vilification, following  a decade-long attack on their right to maintain cultural authority over their Country.

The applications, filed after the Australian Human Rights Commission terminated conciliation efforts in June, are the latest in the unrelenting resistance of the Cultural Custodians of the Doongmabulla Springs to the Carmichael Coal Mine.

“Like Being Under the Aboriginal Protection Act Again”

Senior Nagana Yarrbayn Cultural Custodian Adrian Burragubba says Adani’s systematic campaign to undermine his clan’s cultural authority represents a continuation of colonial oppression.

“People who want to take our ancestral lands and resources are still trying to control us. Only this time it’s a private mining company that thinks it can define who is Aboriginal and what being Aboriginal means. It’s like Bravus has replaced the government as the Chief Protector of Aboriginal people – it’s like being under the Aboriginal Protection Act again,” Burragubba said.

Sacred Springs Ceremony Blocked: “You People Are Not Allowed”

The first application centers on Bravus employees physically blocking Traditional Owners from accessing sacred Doongmabulla Springs in August 2023 and threatening them with trespass and police enforcement while they sought to perform important cultural ceremonies for their newborn children – despite the ceremony site being on property not owned by Adani.

“Bravus operatives blocked us saying ‘you people are not allowed in here’. As Aboriginal people, we knew what ‘you people’ meant when they said it – we have lived with this kind of racism all our lives” Burragubba said. “Being forcefully restricted at the gate reminded me of what my father and grandfather had to endure under the Act.  I felt the same trauma my father must have experienced when being forcefully removed from his homelands.”

Systematic Vilification Campaign

The second application seeks redress and an apology for an alleged vilification campaign that has seriously impacted 30 years of cultural development work and driven family divisions.

“Adani has politicised and traduced us in the community, undermining thirty years of our work building our cultural integrity and sharing our culture. It has falsely painted me and my family as anti-coal protestors and as patsies for the green groups,” Burragubba revealed.

“We have provided evidence to the Federal Court that Adani incited and promoted racial hatred towards us, on top of the immeasurable intergenerational harm we have suffered. Adani makes us afraid to be Aboriginal in our own country.”

Fighting for Recognition

Despite Adani’s ongoing negative media campaign against them, the Cultural Custodians continue asserting their rights to prevent destruction of their significant sacred sites, maintaining the Waddananggu cultural ceremony site for four years unbroken. 

“We will not be silenced or pushed aside,” Burragubba said. “This is about our fundamental right to be recognised and respected as Aboriginal people in our homelands, while asserting our cultural authority over Country and managing our own clan estates.”

The case seeks damages potentially exceeding $4.8 million, along with declarations of unlawful discrimination, injunctions, public apologies, and mandatory anti-racism training for Bravus executives.

Supreme Court Case heats up

The Cultural Custodians are simultaneously fighting both a Queensland Supreme Court case and an Appeal in the Court of Appeal, with the State’s Attorney-General and Queensland Human Rights Commission recently intervening.

In June 2025, Justice Burns ruled the Cultural Custodians’ application to the Supreme Court – for a declaration that the government’s refusal to take action to protect sacred sites is unlawful under the Queensland Human Rights Act and Environmental Protection Act – could proceed to a full hearing. This is a groundbreaking win that opened a new legal pathway to enforce cultural rights when statutory judicial review is not available. 

The Government acknowledged that the Springs have “exceptional ecological value”, and “spiritual significance” to Traditional Owners, and that the cultural custodians have obligations under “First Law” to protect them.

“The Queensland Government is now desperately appealing this decision, trying to prevent the cultural custodians from enforcing our cultural rights in the courts”, Burragubba says.

“We’ve established that our cultural rights are legally recognisable and that government inaction may be unlawful on that basis. They took our power and authority to protect Country away when they granted the mine’s environmental authority. Now we’re fighting for the right to ensure that the Minister actually does act when sacred sites face irreversible harm,” Burragubba explained.

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Available for interview: Adrian Burragubba – Senior Nagana Yarrban W&J Cultural Custodian
Contact: Anthony Esposito: 0418 152 743 | info@wanganjagalingou.com.au

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Background: Case Summaries

Application 1: Discrimination at Doongmabulla Springs (s.9 Racial Discrimination Act 1975) Applicants: Adrian Burragubba and four others vs Adani Mining Pty Ltd

On August 26, 2023, applicants traveling to sacred Doongmabulla Springs for cultural ceremonies were blocked by Bravus employees who threatened police charges despite being told the group was exercising cultural rights under Queensland’s Human Rights Act. Seeks damages , injunction, and public apology.

Application 2: Racial Vilification (s.18C Racial Discrimination Act 1975)
Applicant: Coedie McAvoy (representing up to 30 group members) vs Adani Mining Pty Ltd

Between December 2022-September 2023, Bravus published statements characterizing applicants as “anti-coal activists” and “sovereign citizens,” questioning their cultural legitimacy.. The publications appeared on Bravus websites and social media. The group has peacefully occupied the Waddananggu Cultural Ceremony Site since August 2021 for cultural and spiritual purposes. Seeks damages, injunction, corrections, and public apology.

Adani Bravus facing serious racial discrimination complaint from Aboriginal cultural custodians

NAGANA YARRBAYN W&J CULTURAL CUSTODIANS

MEDIA STATEMENT

Thursday 21 November 2024

Nagana Yarrbayn Wangan & Jagalingou Cultural Custodians file Australian Human Rights Commission complaint against Adani Bravus

Adani to be held to account for ‘years of discrimination and vilification’

The Nagana Yarrbayn Wangan & Jagalingou Cultural Custodians yesterday filed a complaint with the Australian Human Rights Commission alleging serious racial discrimination by Adani Bravus. The complaint is filed with reference to Section 9 and Section 18c of the Commonwealth Racial Discrimination Act 1975.

Nagana Yarrbayn Senior Cultural Custodian, Adrian Burragubba said: “We have endured years of discrimination and vilification from Adani, and we’re not putting up with this anymore. Adani has been on notice about their conduct since our lawyers sent a concerns notice last year, and they refused to take action. Legal recourse is the only answer.”

The complaint is a representative action filed by Mr Burragubba on behalf of himself and his family and clan, who are the Nagana Yarrbayn cultural custodians. The complaint details the way Adani sought to “verbally and physically obstruct and prevent” Mr Burragubba and others from accessing the Doongmabulla Springs “in order to perform cultural rites and share cultural knowledge”.

The complaint also highlights the way “a decade long pattern of conduct” by Adani against Mr Burragubba, his family and clan, has culminated in a smear campaign through Adani’s media statements and social media posts, through the commentary that it publishes, through the use of media outlets, and by allowing unfettered commentary to remain on and be added to its social media platforms.

Mr Burragubba said: “We will hold Adani to account. There is no getting away with promoting vilification and discrimination anymore. The harm they cause is not just to our Country and the Doongmabulla Springs, but to our people. We are taking Adani to the Human Rights Commission to address the racist actions and commentary against me and our group, and for all Aboriginal people that are offended and intimidated whenever this kind of discrimination takes place.”

Mr Burraugbba has engaged an experienced legal team for his matter including lawyers, barristers and a senior counsel. They say the form of discrimination and aspects of Bravus’ conduct on Facebook bears similarities to the Dylan Voller case and the recent case involving Pauline Hanson.

Mr Burragubba said: “Adani has not changed their conduct despite these cases and is at serious risk of being found out for racial discrimination. As First Nations people we have been denied our rights all our lives. We are used to being subjected to oppression and discrimination. But now we have the guts to take this further and challenge the core of racism in this country.

“This company thinks it can impair our human rights, destroy our lands and waters and smash our culture, and then denigrate us in the eyes of the world. And they are barracked on by people on their social media channels without any moderation. Well, we intend to change the racism and resentment directed at Aboriginal people who stand up for their rights”, he said.

The complaint seeks compensation, an apology, the removal of offending social media, a retraction of media statements, and anti-racism and cultural awareness training for Adani’s directors, managers and employees.

Mr Burragubba concluded: “It’s unlawful to allow and encourage others to commit serious vilification, promote hate crimes and make threats of violence. It has been a decade of dishonest, deceptive and misleading conduct against us by Adani, designed to undermine our cultural authority and our right to speak for Country, and our standing as First Nations people. It’s time for that to stop and for Adani to admit it’s wrong.”

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Available for comment:

Adrian Burragubba – Senior W&J Cultural Custodian and Nagana Yarrbayn spokesperson

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For more information, a copy of the complaint, or to arrange an interview, contact Anthony Esposito,
Nagana Yarrbayn adviser, on (m) 0418 152 743 or (e) info@wanganjagalingou.com.au

New science vindicates W&J cultural custodians on Adani’s threat to sacred springs

Nagana Yarrbayn Wangan & Jagalingou Cultural Custodians 

MEDIA STATEMENT

Wednesday 23 October 2024

~ New evidence proves urgent action needed to protect sacred springs

~ Supreme Court case to uphold cultural rights, environment law still on foot 

 ~ Government inaction “a death sentence for sacred sites, cultural heritage and the environment”

The Nagana Yarrbayn Wangan & Jagalingou Cultural Custodians have responded to an ABC report on new peer-reviewed science that shows current open-cut mining at Adani’s Carmichael Mine threatens the sacred Doongmabulla Springs on their lands. 

The study, which has been published in a peer-reviewed international journal, finds Adani’s Carmichael mine is likely to drain water from the Springs. A group of independent scientists found some of the water in the Doongmabulla Springs is over 500,000 years old, and that the spring is fed by “multiple groundwater sources”, with dewatering “likely to divert flow away from these springs and reduce discharge”. It proves the Springs are connected to aquifers being impacted during open-cut mining at the mine.

Nagana Yarrbayn Senior Cultural Custodian, Adrian Burragubba said: “The evidence that the open-cut mine threatens the Springs is now overwhelming. For over a decade, we have warned about the threat to the Doongmabulla Springs posed by Adani’s Carmichael coal mine. This new peer reviewed science vindicates our concerns and highlights the urgent need for Governments to act before the mine permanently damages our most important sacred site.

“The next Queensland Government after Saturday’s election – and the current Federal Government – must act to protect Doongmabulla Springs, as the science shows the threat of irreversible harm from Adani’s mine”, he said.

The Nagana Yarrbayn Wangan & Jagalingou Cultural Custodians have taken the Queensland Government to the Supreme Court to force it to act to protect the springs, and uphold their cultural rights protected under the Queensland Human Rights Act. 

The custodians are still awaiting a decision on a dismissal application filed by the Queensland Government. In the meantime, they had also asked the Federal Environment Minister, Tania Plibersek, to intervene on breaches of Adani Bravis’s federal environmental approvals, but so far the Federal Department’s enquiries have led to no information or action.

Mr Burrugguba said: “We opposed this mine all along, because we knew Adani couldn’t be trusted to protect our lands and waters, that they had a vested interest in their destruction, and that the Government couldn’t be trusted to put our rights and the protection of the water and the environment ahead of mining royalties. We are proven right. And even now that the evidence is becoming clear for all to see, the State and Federal Governments obfuscate, delay and deny. Their inaction is a death sentence for our sacred sites, cultural heritage and the environment”. 

One of the report’s authors, Professor Matthew Currell, has highlighted the “huge risk” from having given Adani a green light before a high level of understanding about the significant spring systems and groundwater dependent ecosystems had been established. He says that scientists, regulators and the mining company are “playing catch up and allowing environmental damage to happen with limited ability to bring things back and remediate things once that damage is done”.

Mr Burragubba says: “Wangan Jagalingou cultural custodians have been warning of this for over a decade. Adani’s current mining is destroying our most sacred site, and breaching our human rights in doing so, and Governments won’t do anything about it. It is why we have taken matters into our own hands and will prosecute our case to protect the environment and uphold our cultural rights through the courts. These ‘let it rip’ miners and governments must be held to account”, he concluded.

The Doongmabulla Springs are an ancient water source of immense cultural and environmental significance. They have sustained life in an arid landscape since time immemorial. The Springs are the final resting place of the Mundangurra (the Rainbow Serpent) in Wangan and Jagalingou peoples’ ancestor dreaming and are central to Wangan and Jagalingou people’s cultural practices and spiritual beliefs. The Nagana Yarrbayn Wangan & Jagalingou Cultural Custodians hold Indigenous traditional knowledge, cultural authority, and obligations to protect the sacred Doongmabulla Springs. 

Available for comment:

Adrian Burragubba – Senior W&J Cultural Custodian and Nagana Yarrbayn spokesperson

— For more information or to arrange an interview, contact Anthony Esposito,
Nagana Yarrbayn adviser, on (m) 0418 152 743 or (e) info@wanganjagalingou.com.au

First Nation cultural rights group in urgent request to Plibersek to ‘revoke’ Adani environmental approval

Nagana Yarrbayn Wangan & Jagalingou Cultural Custodians 

Media Release 

15 July 2024

Nagana Yarrbayn senior cultural custodian, Adrian Burragubba

The Nagana Yarrbayn Wangan and Jagalingou Cultural Custodians have written to the Federal Minister for the Environment and Water, Tanya Plibersek, with an urgent request for enforcement and reconsideration of the 2015 federal environmental approval for the Adani Carmichael Mine.

The Nagana Yarrbayn Cultural Custodians hold Indigenous traditional knowledge, cultural authority, and obligations to protect their sacred Doongmabulla Springs. The best available science now shows that current mining operations are threatening the Springs, in breach of the conditions of the state and federal approvals.

The Cultural Custodians, who have taken the Queensland Government to the Supreme Court for its refusal to act to enforce the State environmental conditions and protect the Doongmabulla Springs, have highlighted the urgent need for federal intervention.

The request seeks enforcement of the conditions of the federal approval and asks Minister Plibersek to injunct the mine activities until it can be unequivocally shown that further mining will not imperil the Springs. It also asks Minister Plibersek to suspend or revoke Adani’s environmental approval because of the significant new scientific information about the impacts of the mine and Adani’s breaches of its conditions.

Nagana Yarrbayn Senior Cultural Custodian, Adrian Burragubba, says: “The Doongmabulla Springs are a vital and ancient source of water, significant to sustainability of our people and our ancestor dreaming in the arid Desert Uplands, since time immemorial.Located on Jagalingou Country, the Doongmabulla Springs are sacred to us and central to our cultural beliefs and spiritual practices. Our people have obligations to care for Country, including the Springs. Our practices derive authority from our First Law—the laws and customs handed to us by our ancestors”.

The Doongmabulla Springs are also mapped as a nationally important wetland and support a “community of native species dependent on natural discharge of groundwater from the Great Artesian Basin” which is listed as an endangered Threatened Ecological Community under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act. The Doongmabulla Springs are therefore a Matter of National Environmental Significance.

In 2015 the then federal Environment Minister, Greg Hunt, issued an approval under the EPBC Act to Adani, on the basis the Springs would not be impacted by mining activities.

But the latest scientific reports by independent experts and the CSIRO and Geosciences Australia have shown that there are significant breaches regarding the approval. Analysis provided to Minister Plibersek shows that Adani is in breach because their baseline surveys prior to mining activities were not sufficient to monitor potential impacts on the Springs; the early warning water level threshold at the Springs is being regularly exceeded; and the groundwater modeling done by the mining company is not ‘fit for purpose’ to explain or predict impacts on the Springs.

The cultural custodians also invited Minister Plibersek to meet them on Country so they can properly convey the cultural importance of the lands and waters to her and have requested she seek further advice from CSIRO on the compliance with the conditions of the approval with respect to the Springs.

Mr Burragubba says: “As Australia’s Environment Minister, Ms Plibersek has subsumed under Australian law our responsibilities as the Cultural Custodians, and is now regarded as ‘a senior law holder’ for the Doongmabulla Springs. Her next decision will determine whether the ancient story of these springs will be sung by future generations of the First Nations descendants, and they will be protected for the benefit of the Australian people at large; or whether the song will be broken by the destructive and unauthorised impacts of the Carmichael coal mine”.

Proceedings in Nagana Yarrbayn Wangan & Jagalingou Cultural Custodians -V- Department of Environment, Science and Innovation (DESI) continue in the Queensland Supreme Court and the parties are awaiting a decision on the State’s strike out application.

Mr Burragubba, the Nagana Yarrbayn Senior Cultural Custodian who is leading the case for the W&J Cultural Custodians, says he asked the Queensland Environment Minister and the Department to prevent any further open cut mining activity at the Carmichael mine due to the alarming incidence of groundwater contamination and excessive drawdown. He says the Government refused to act even though they were presented with independent expert reports from two eminent water scientists about harm being caused to the Springs.

He says the Government ignored the evidence from Griffith University’s head of civil and environmental engineering, Professor Matthew Currell, and Flinders University Professor Adrian Werner, as well as the Government’s own commissioned report from CSIRO and Geosciences Australia. 

The CSIRO and Geosciences Australia report from April 2023 was withheld by the Queensland Government but was uncovered in other Court proceedings. The report shows that the Carmichael Mine is not complying with the groundwater conditions in its Environmental Authority. It also identifies significant issues with the groundwater modelling, finding that it is not fit for the purpose of predicting groundwater impacts.

The letter, analysis and scientific reports are here. 

Images are available here.

Available for comment:

Adrian Burragubba – Senior W&J Cultural Custodian and Nagana Yarrbayn spokesperson

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For more information and to arrange interviews: Anthony Esposito – NYWJCC adviser – 0418 152 743

Qld Government in Court for failure to protect Doongmabulla Springs and uphold First Nations rights

Nagana Yarrbayn Wangan & Jagalingou Cultural Custodians 

Media Release 

2 May 2024

Urgent request for Ministerial intervention falls on deaf ears

Expert independent scientific evidence ignored

Crown attempts to strike out case – decision pending

Proceedings in Nagana Yarrbayn Wangan & Jagalingou Cultural Custodians -V- Department of Environment, Science and Innovation (DESI) commenced in the Queensland Supreme Court this morning.

Nagana Yarrbayn Senior Cultural Custodian, Adrian Burragubba, who is leading the case for the W&J Cultural Custodians of the Doongmabulla Springs, says he asked the Qld Government to prevent any further open cut mining activity at the Carmichael mine due to the alarming incidence of groundwater contamination and excessive drawdown. He says the Government refused to act even though they were presented with independent expert reports from two eminent water scientists about harm being caused to the Springs.

He says the Government ignored the evidence they presented from Griffith University’s head of civil and environmental engineering, Professor Matthew Currell, and Flinders University Professor Adrian Werner, as well as the Government’s own commissioned report from CSIRO and Geosciences Australia. 

The CSIRO and Geosciences Australia report from April 2023 was withheld by the Government but was uncovered in other Court proceedings. The report shows that the Carmichael Mine is not complying with the groundwater conditions in its Environmental Authority. It also identifies significant issues with the groundwater modelling, finding that it is not fit for the purpose of predicting groundwater impacts.

Mr Burragubba says: “The reports should have been sufficient basis for the Department of Environment, Science and Innovation to act, but they failed to do so. The department was aware of the significant threat from open cut mining and the unreliability of Adani’s modelling predictions when it made its decision to take no action in response to our complaint. Consequently, we have taken the department to the Supreme Court seeking to impel a decision in accordance with the mine’s Environmental Authority and the Human Rights Act.”

The Nagana Yarrbayn case says that by the department failing to stop contamination and other harm to their sacred site and the water, the Government is in breach of their human rights.

Mr Burragubba says: “The Cultural Custodians have identified an imminent threat of permanent and irreversible harm to the springs and their associated cultural values, which are at the heart of our laws and customs and our identity and rights as First Nations people”. 

Mr Burragubba had called up on the Minister for the Environment, Leanne Linard, to intervene before the case commenced and urgently prevent any further open cut mining activity until the cultural custodians and the Government can be satisfied with sufficient scientific certainty that there is no environmental harm to the Springs. 

He says the cultural custodians shouldn’t have to carry the burden of enforcing the State’s own environmental protection laws and holding the department and Adani to account.

The Minister did not respond.

The Nagana Yarrbayn Cultural Custodians are represented in Court by the successful legal team that blocked the Waratah Coal mine on human rights, climate and environmental grounds.

Today’s proceeding dealt with the attempt by Crown Law to strike out the proceeding before it can be heard. Burns J has reserved his decision.

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Available for comment:

Adrian Burragubba – Senior W&J Cultural Custodian and Nagana Yarrbayn spokesperson

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For more information and to arrange interviews: 

Anthony Esposito – NYWJCC adviser – 0418 152 743

Groundbreaking human rights case launched to protect sacred Doongmabulla Springs

• W&J Cultural Custodians take Qld Government to the Supreme Court
• Government ‘not just careless but callous’

First Nations rights advocate, Adrian Burragubba yesterday launched new litigation aimed at preventing the destruction of the Doongmabulla Springs by putting a stop on the Carmichael coal mine.

Mr Burragubba is the Senior Cultural Custodian of the Wangan & Jagalingou Nagana Yarrbayn Cultural Custodians, who have authorised the case.

Despite many warnings, the Queensland Government has failed to act. Reports provided to the Government reveal Adani’s Carmichael Mine has consistently exceeded its environmental limits that were imposed to protect the springs.

The open cut mining poses an imminent threat of permanent and irreversible harm to the Doongmabulla Springs. The Springs are a significant sacred site of Wangan and Jagalingou ancestor dreaming, Mundagutta (the Rainbow Serpent).

Mr Burragubba is seeking the intervention of the Supreme Court because the Government has failed to act to protect the Doongmabulla Springs consistently with the Environmental Protection Act.

Mr Burragubba, Senior W&J Cultural Custodian says: “Working with scientists, we have identified threats of serious environmental harm to the Doongmabulla Springs Complex, the site of immense spiritual, cultural, and environmental value for us. Our connection to Country depends on the conservation, maintenance, and protection of this significant sacred site.

“If water extraction and pollution from the Adani mine are allowed to continue, the Springs will be destroyed forever, permanently breaking our spiritual connection to our Ancestors and Creation stories.

“In failing to act to stop the harmful impacts of Adani’s mine, the Queensland government has allowed the threats to multiply and in so doing, they have denied us of our Cultural Rights that are protected by human rights laws”, he said.

Mr Burragubba has been urging the State to take protective measures since April 2021, when the cultural custodians first raised the alarm on the threat to Doongmabulla Springs with the Minister.

W&J cultural custodian, and First Nations lead for Youth Verdict, Murrawah Johnson says in support of the action: “This is about our water. The evidence of harm being done by this project, with the license of the State, shows what we have been warning about.

“The Government’s refusal to address this means that it is not just careless but callous about our cultural rights. There is no way for them to deny that they haven’t heard our concerns about the need to protect our water and our ancient culture; or seen the evidence of harm.

“The Government is not best placed to make decisions about what happens on our Country. As custodians, we are the ones who understand Country and had the foresight to recognise the threats to our water. The environmental approval should not have been given”, she said.

Ms Johnson successfully led the Cultural Rights action in the Waratah Coal land court case. Using the top legal team behind the Waratah case and building on strong precedents in environment and human rights law, the W&J Cultural Custodians will seek an order from the Supreme Court to force the Government to protect Doongmabulla, safeguard cultural heritage, and defend human rights.

Background

On 23 November 2024, lawyers acting for Mr Burragubba and the Cultural Custodians issued a letter to the Minister for Environment and Science, Leanne Linard, requesting the Minister “urgently exercise her available statutory powers” under the Environmental Protection Act “to prevent any further open cut mining activity”, until she can be “satisfied with sufficient scientific certainty that there is not, and is no threat of, environmental harm to the Springs from that activity”.

The case will be directed specifically at protecting the Doongmabulla Springs using human rights and environmental protection laws.

The Cultural Custodians have commissioned two environmental science reports, prepared by independent experts, Professor Matthew Currell and Professor Adrian Werner, to review the evidence.

The Minister and Department have received these reports. These expert reports demonstrate that a considerable number of exceedances for groundwater levels, groundwater quality, and spring water quality have occurred since the mine was approved and de-watering commenced in 2019.

The evidence shows that Adani is consistently breaching its Environmental Conditions without any effective regulatory intervention by the Department of Environment, Science and Innovation (DESI).

Contravention of those Conditions provides a statutory basis for, and requires, action.
There is an imminent threat of permanent and irreversible harm to the springs and their associated cultural values.

On 2 March 2023, DESI issued an Environmental Protection Order (EPO) to Adani, which prevents it from underground mining. The EPO was issued following Adani’s submission of its numerical groundwater modelling report, which predicted unauthorised impacts to the Springs from underground mining, based on the current mine plan.

The EPO does not specifically restrict continued open cut mining or dewatering. DES appears to have taken the view that the extent of harm from open cut mining activities remains unknown.

Lawyers for the Cultural Custodians will argue that DESI has sufficient material already to be aware that the environmentally relevant activities (ERAs) of Adani are causing, or are likely to cause, environmental harm to the Doongmabulla Springs.

The Environmental Authority does not authorise environmental harm to the Springs, and none of the Conditions can be taken as authorising such harm. The Minister and DESI must act but have failed to do so.

Available for comment:
Adrian Burragubba – Senior W&J Cultural Custodian and Nagana Yarrbayn spokesperson
Murrawah Johnson – W&J cultural custodian, and First nations lead, Youth Verdict

For more information and to arrange interviews:
Anthony Esposito – NYWJCC adviser – 0418 152 743

The one-year celebration of our Waddananggu sovereignty camp confirms our rightful presence on Country

A year ago, we commenced a ceremony at the edge of Adani’s Carmichael mine, after calling for a stop work order from the Queensland Government so we could protect our sacred Doongmabulla springs, our ochre grounds, and artefacts that are thousands of years old. The Government failed to act, so we did.

The one-year celebration of our Waddananggu sovereignty camp has confirmed our rightful presence on Country and our ongoing role as the cultural custodians. The anniversary of Waddananggu was a joyous time for our families, and for our supporters who made the trip to visit us on Country.

The sacred fire is still burning, and we are still here.

This is a milestone in our journey to defend our human rights and protect our Country from the destruction of mining. It is also a marker of the long struggle we have faced as a First Nation, as we bear witness to the ongoing harm being done to Wangan and Jagalingou people and our lands and waters.

Our ancestral homelands are the locus of creation, our lives are enfolded into a sacred space. Our homelands have sustained our generations for millennia. They are the source of our cultural and religious practices as well as our economic livelihoods and our sovereignty. They are a unique cultural landscape, and we are the cultural custodians of the lands and waters.

This simple truth has been denied since the first dispossession of our people in the frontier wars, followed by the colonisation and destruction of so much of our lands and resources.

While the colonial era may be over, the Australian settler colony remains in place, and everywhere it stands as a barrier to the full realisation of First Nations Peoples’ land rights and our cultural sovereignty.

We will not be denied. We continue to stand our ground.

Adani would pretend that we are nothing but unlawful intruders on their mining lease. But they have had a whole year to test that in the courts and have failed to act. And everyone knows that their mining lease was issued without consent and without a land use agreement.

Their tiresome PR lines against us have no effect. The Queensland Government and the police will take no action after our action in the Human Rights Commission. Nobody, it seems, wants to test our rights again in the courts.

But we will test them. We draw strength and legitimacy from our ongoing presence on Country and have set about using the Human Rights Act 2019 (Qld) to prosecute a new front in our long struggle for our land and cultural rights. This law confirms our rights to be on Country and practice our culture and gives us a new opportunity to push our fight for recognition further than before.

The Human Rights Act wasn’t available to us when we ran a litigation strategy that for five years prevented the mine from proceeding. In the end, Adani got its mine started. But our stance ultimately proved how stacked the native title system is against us and exposed the breaches of our human rights.

That is cold comfort. At that time, our people were brutally harmed by the state and federal governments, in combination with Adani, as they denied us our right to free prior and informed consent and overrode our laws and customs.

Adani got their illegitimate mine started but reinvigorated a First Nations resistance movement.

The assertion of our rights, and our defence of Country have always been at the heart of our fight against Adani’s coal mine on our lands. We draw authority from our laws and customs and stand in defence of our inalienable rights.

In stark contradiction to all that happened in our fight with Adani, the Human Rights Act states that First Nations people must not be deniedthe right to our identity and cultural heritage, our language, and our kinship ties. It says we have the right to maintain and strengthen our distinctive spiritual, material, and economic relationship within our territories, under our own laws and customs.

It recognises our right to conserve and protect the environment and the productive capacity of our lands and waters, and natural resources.

Our presence on Country embodies these rights. And we will pursue them with all our strength.

I have stepped out from under Adani’s bankruptcy orders, the bad faith dealings, the intrusion into our governance, and the failure of the law to protect our rights and will lead our Nagana Yarrbayn cultural custodians into a new phase of action.

I will attend the COP27 in Egypt in November to again bring international attention to our struggle, and I am instructing our lawyers at the Environmental Defenders Office to prosecute a case under Human Rights Act, in combination with the Environmental Protection Act.

I ask you to stand with us as we continue to stand our ground.

Change and progress don’t come easily. Our fight against Adani has its roots in centuries old causes that require justice for First Nations people if we are to truly protect our lands and waters from greater destruction borne by mining, climate change and the decimation of our plants and animals.

We need help with travel, materials, organising and legal costs, and to continue our presence at Waddananggu.

Please donate to support the work of the Wangan and Jagalingou Nagana Yarrbayn cultural custodians.

Queensland government’s secret water deal with Adani enables destruction of First Nations culture and country 

Traditional Owners of the land where Adani is digging its Carmichael coal mine are calling on the Queensland government to make public the details of a secret water supply agreement its water corporation SunWater has with Adani. As reported in The Guardian today. 

Wangan and Jagalingou cultural custodians are concerned the Queensland government, through its water corporation SunWater, is secretly providing water to Adani that is enabling the destruction of their country and are demanding the Queensland government not renew or extend any existing contracts SunWater has with Adani. 

Wangan and Jagalingou, senior cultural custodian Adrian Burragubba says: 

“We have rights and they have to be respected by the Queensland government, we are concerned that the government has handed over water resources to Adani without informing the public or us as Traditional Owners. 

“The Government should be mindful of its obligations to us, as First Nations people, to uphold human rights of the W&J cultural custodians and not to allow Adani to use water that is significant to the maintenance and strengthening of our distinctive spiritual, material and economic relationship with the land and waters.

“The granting of water to Adani is going to have further impacts on us as the people of the land, it’s going to enable Adani to destroy more of our country, our animal totems, sacred sites and cultural heritage. 

“Adani is being an environmental nuisance, knocking down trees and habitat for our animal totems, polluting our sacred water resources and draining the underground aquifers that sustain life on our country. It is deeply disrespectful for the Queensland Government to facilitate this destruction of our country and culture by handing over water to Adani. 

“The Queensland Government has already given Adani a licence to take an unlimited amount of water from the Great Artesian Basin. Now they’ve entered into another dodgy and secretive deal to hand even more water over to Adani that will lead to further destruction of our country and culture”

“If we ask the Queensland government to protect our water and culture we are ignored, but the government is giving Adani water to help them mine coal that will destroy our country and culture. 

“Adani’s mine is draining the life out of the land and sucking up the ancient groundwater that feeds the sacred Doongmabulla springs. But the Queensland government has ignored our pleas for an independent scientific assessment and monitoring of the threats to our sacred Doongmabulla Springs and is instead entering into a secretive deal with Adani to supply them with even more water”

“Wangan and Jagalingou people live on country. We have been conducting a continuous cultural ceremony at the site of Adani’s coal mine for close to one year and what Adani is doing to our country is directly impacting us as people of the land.”