Adani says it will proceed with new construction work at its Abbot Point coal terminal with or without the involvement of Juru local traditional owners, amid an escalating dispute about the protection of sacred sites.
On Thursday a group of traditional owners, Juru Enterprises Ltd, lodged an application for a stop order that could force Adani to cease work in the vicinity of Abbot Point and along part of the proposed rail link to the Carmichael mine.
Guardian Australia has seen correspondence that confirms Adani plans to soon begin work at Abbot Point that is outside the area covered by a cultural heritage management plan and has not been surveyed or assessed by Juru people.
The situation is the result of a complex native title law dispute.
In May, the federal court ruled Juru Enterprises was the appropriate “nominated body” to represent Juru people on a land-use agreement with Adani. The court did not consider or rule on a suite of other agreements, which remain in dispute.
Adani claims it has an “absolute legal obligation” to work with another group, the embattled Kyburra Munda Yalga Aboriginal corporation, which holds in trust the native title rights of Juru people.
Kyburra is under special administration, in significant debt and mired in claims of financial mismanagement.
Kyburra’s special administrator, Gerry Mier, wrote to Adani on 25 May to say the organisation was “not permitted” to conduct surveys because Juru Enterprises was the proper nominated body under the relevant agreement.
Juru Enterprises then sent a series of emails to Adani as the “Juru nominated body”, offering to begin the process to survey the proposed expansion area of a cultural heritage management plan. Juru Enterprises also asked Adani to supply copies of previous “unauthorised” assessments for “urgent reassessment and renegotiation in relation to any proposed cultural heritage activities”.
On 13 June, Adani wrote to Kyburra to advise it was going ahead with work. The company did not respond to Juru Enterprises until several weeks later.
“Given recent discussions and correspondence ... and the difficulty for [Kyburra] to mobilise or engage with the terminal ... we have concluded that our notice to vary the cultural heritage management plan under section 6a as having been effectively declined,” Dwayne Freeman, the chief executive of Adani subsidiary Abbot Point Operations, wrote.
Freeman advised that Adani would undertake the works under “duty of care” provisions in state law, under which the company retains a responsibility to act reasonably to protect cultural heritage.
He said Adani would scale back its works to areas where there had been previous ground disturbance.
“The operation remains committed to ensuring matters of cultural heritage are respected and protected during all works conducted at the terminal,” Freeman said.
Guardian Australia understands Adani contacted Kyburra again on Monday, seeking cultural heritage advice and insisting the organisation should conduct an assessment for the new works.
The company’s position remains that if Kyburra will not take part in the surveys, it will proceed with the work.
Adani said in a statement: “Adani has worked with both JEL and Kyburra on the implementation of its cultural heritage management plans.
“We continue to engage with the Juru traditional owners, as identified on the national native title and Aboriginal cultural heritage registers, as we are legally bound to do under guidance of the Indigenous land-use agreements and the cultural heritage management plans in place since 2014.”
Previous work at Abbot Point has been based on surveys conducted by Kyburra. Juru Enterprises claims these are “unauthorised” and require urgent review and renegotiation to ensure sacred sites are protected.
