This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

Adani is facing the prospect of being ordered to cease work in the vicinity of its Abbot Point coal terminal and planned rail corridor, after Juru traditional owners applied for a “stop order” to protect sacred sites.

Guardian Australia understands the application was lodged with the Queensland Department of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Partnerships on Thursday by lawyers for Juru Enterprises Limited (JEL).



The deputy premier of Queensland, Jackie Trad, who represents a strongly anti-Adani inner-Brisbane electorate, has delegated authority to rule on any application for a stop order.

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Trad will have to decide whether there are “reasonable grounds for concluding the activity is harming, threatening to harm, or will have a significant adverse impact on Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander cultural heritage” and can grant an initial order for up to 30 days.

Juru Enterprises claims cultural heritage surveys conducted for Adani by another group, the embattled Kyburra Munda Yalga Aboriginal Corporation, are “unauthorised”. Some traditional owners have concerns those surveys did not properly identify and protect Juru sacred sites.

Traditional owner Andrew Morrell has previously told Guardian Australia that Adani’s “terminal zero” expansion will be built with just a five-metre buffer to a traditional burial ground. Morrell says the proposed rail route runs through Juru ochre grounds and restricts access to nearby rock art sites.

Both the terminal expansion and the rail line are critical parts of the Carmichael mine project.

Adani says all surveys conducted by Kyburra are valid and that it has an “absolute legal obligation” to work with the group, which holds in trust the native title rights for the Juru people. Kyburra is under special administration, in significant debt and mired in claims of financial mismanagement.

The surveys in question were conducted personally by the directors of the Kyburra for cash fees up to $1,000 a day.

In May, the federal court ruled JEL 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, made under the complex framework of state and federal native title law, which remain in dispute.

Kyburra’s special administrator, Gerry Mier, wrote to Adani on 25 May to say the organisation was not permitted to conduct future surveys as JEL was the proper nominated body under the relevant agreement.

JEL then sent a series of emails to Adani as the “Juru nominated body” offering to begin the process to survey a proposed expansion area of a cultural heritage management plan. JEL also asked Adani to supply copies of previous “unauthorised” assessments for “urgent reassessment and renegotiation in relation to any proposed cultural heritage activities”.

On Thursday, JEL made the formal application for a stop order. Guardian Australia understands the request for an order relates to the construction and operation of Adani rail and port developments on Juru country and gives some examples of areas where traditional owners believe work has been authorised near sacred sites.

Sources said the department might seek to hold a mediation. The department would also likely consider the imminent risk to any sites before making a recommendation to Trad.

The application now becomes politically charged. There are varying views on coal – and Adani – within the Queensland cabinet. The government has managed to maintain the appearance of unity by championing both coal and renewables, and by largely ignoring the conflict between them.

Trad, the deputy premier and the nominal leader of Labor’s left faction, has discretion to invoke a stop order, without taking the decision to cabinet, as minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander partnerships. It is likely she would face significant pressure from groups who see the decision as significant because it relates to critical parts of the overall Carmichael mine project.



Adani said in a statement last week: “Adani has a track record of successfully collaborating with the Juru traditional owners and we uphold and follow the relevant legislative processes. We will continue to work with traditional owners to undertake cultural heritage works to ensure the delivery of our project.”

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The company has been contacted and offered the opportunity to comment specifically on the stop order.

Adani on Tuesday reportedly secured a debt agreement for Abbot Point, the coal port it bought for $2bn in 2011. Korean investor Mirae Asset Daewoo reportedly bought the company’s $330m debt on the terminal.

Abbot Point has capacity to export 50m tonnes of coal a year, but is currently operating at just over half that. Adani has approval to expand to 120m tonnes a year. That plan involves dredging Abbot Point, near the Great Barrier Reef, and dumping dredge spoil onshore.