Aboriginal traditional owners opposed to the Adani Carmichael coalmine say they are being punished for their resistance by the Queensland government, which is now disputing the legitimacy of their native title claim in the federal court.
The court case, set to begin on Monday, comes after almost 15 years of negotiation about the claim.
One of the Wangan and Jagalingou claimants, elder Lizzie McAvoy, said that after all this time, now being cross-examined about her way of life and beliefs is “unfair”.
“My family and my people have been in this native title claim since 2004,” McAvoy said.
“We have given statements, had our family history investigated, and spoken to anthropologists, as our lawyers advised to do.
“Our families have been traumatised enough. I thought the state was supposed to act fairly when they are involved in court cases,” McAvoy said.
Under principles agreed upon by Cabinet in 2010, the Queensland government is required to act as a “model litigant” and seek mediation wherever possible.
“We have watched the people in the claims around us and across central and southern Queensland have their native title recognised by the state through mediation.
“We know all those people … We live in the same communities, and are married into many of those mobs. We know their culture and their evidence.
“We cannot understand why they are attacking us in this way but we feel like we are being punished for trying to protect our sites,” she said.
Traditional owners have called on the state government to end court proceedings and move to mediation, but Queensland says it will press ahead with the case.
“The resolution of native title claims remains complex,” the minister for natural resources, mines and energy, Anthony Lynham, said.
“Under commonwealth law, applicants must demonstrate that they have maintained a continuing connection to the claim area.”
Queensland has a strong record of settling native title through consent determinations, voluntarily agreed to by all parties, but “in this case, the court has programmed the matter for trial next week after 15 years of negotiations”, Lynham said.
“It’s now a matter for the court.”
Earlier, the Wangan–Jagalingou claimant Patrick Malone said the Queensland government was ignoring the experts’ advice, including two highly respected anthropologists, Prof Peter Sutton and Prof Ray Wood.
“All we want is the ability to negotiate on our land. We don’t want handouts; we want jobs and business opportunities for our people and to be acknowledged as the traditional custodians of the land,” Malone said.
