The former Newman government in Queensland acted “like the KGB, the FBI and the CIA all rolled into one” as it secretly drove a multinational mining bid now subject to a high court challenge, a senior Cape York figure has said.

The Wik people of Cape York have asked the high court to overturn laws that allowed the former Liberal National government to favour Glencore’s proposal to gain a bauxite mining licence on their traditional land in Aurukun.



Lawyers for Wik native title group Ngan Aak-Kunch (NAK) launched the legal challenge on Friday, alleging the LNP government breached racial discrimination laws by ignoring their agreement with another company offering the first ever equity stake for traditional landowners in a mining project.

Aurukun Bauxite Development (ABD) had offered the Wik a 15% shareholding, two seats on its board and up to 150 jobs for Indigenous people.

By contrast, the Wik say, Glencore has a “dubious human rights record” abroad and is unlikely to move on a project delivering jobs and income in the foreseeable future.

Queensland’s former deputy premier, Jeff Seeney, initially rejected proposals by both Glencore and ABD in March 2014. But he then blindsided the Wik by declaring the Anglo-Swiss multinational the “preferred proponent” after secretly opening a tender for one day only in August.

The Wik maintain they were likewise unaware when the Newman government signed an agreement with Glencore under state mining laws a day before announcing the election in January. The government then broke convention by accepting Glencore’s application for a mineral development licence during the campaign caretaker period, weeks before it lost office.

The Wik say it was Glencore lawyers who told them about the agreement and licence application in February, the same month NAK’s own land use agreement with ABD was registered with the national native title tribunal.

The Cape York Land Council chairman, Richie Ah Mat, said the secrecy of the former government around the Glencore proposal was “like the KGB, the FBI, the CIA, all rolled into one”.

“We’re all baffled at the present moment because we thought we were in there with a chance, same as Glencore, but we didn’t get a second look in,” he told Guardian Australia.

Ah Mat said Seeney’s public suggestion that ABD, chaired by former Comalco and MIM chief executive Nick Stump, was incapable of seeing the project through was “unacceptable”.

“We had countless meetings with [Seeney]. He said to us: ‘You’re not a miner’,” Ah Mat told Guardian Australia.

“Well, let’s all cast our memories back. Glencore is a lease purchaser and it banks all its mineral resource leases around the world. It gets subcontractors in to actually mine and develop. Let’s be honest about this.”

Ah Mat said Queensland had “gone back 40 years” under the Newman government, which moved on the Glencore proposal despite NAK having signed its agreement with ABD in September.

The Wik will argue in the high court that longstanding provisions in the state Mineral Resources Act that allowed the government to override traditional landowner wishes breached the Racial Discrimination Act.



Ah Mat said ABD’s offer of a 15% share in the company and two seats on the company board was unprecedented for traditional landowners in Australia.

It meant a radically enhanced level of influence over job and business opportunities for Indigenous people and care of the land and culture.

“If ABD gets the contract [to mine], automatically in a 24-hour period 60 Indigenous people are employed, that’s 60 people off welfare, off Australian taxpayers dollars,” Ah Mat said.

“First production, 150 Indigenous people fully, gainfully employed. Where the hell anywhere in Australia is that happening?”

By contrast, Glencore saw the mining tenement RA315 as a “long-range plan” and a means to advertise its presence to its takeover target Rio Tinto, Ah Mat said.



“Glencore hasn’t got an offer on the table [to NAK] at the present moment,” he said.

“The little people down below who really want to get on with their lives and want to be economically sustainable, with job opportunities that every other Australian enjoys – I think they’re not with Glencore, I really don’t.”

Ah Mat said while the high court action was “not the final straw”, he urged the new state Labor government to bring both proponents “back to the table” so their offers could be scrutinised.



Comment has been sought from Glencore and the LNP.