Warren Mundine says Fairfax Media will apologise to him over an article that claimed a company he had an interest in lobbied for an Indigenous body to drop opposition to a mine on sacred land.
The head of the Prime Minister’s Indigenous Advisory Council launched court action claiming defamation but the two parties have made an out-of-court settlement, with Fairfax publishing an apology on Monday, according to Mundine’s lawyer, George Newhouse.
Mundine said: “Fairfax made a number of inflammatory allegations against me in those articles; allegations which were untrue, harmful to my reputation and standing, both personally and professionally, and particularly damaging to me as an Aboriginal man who regularly deals with Indigenous people, communities and organisations.
“I can today confirm that those legal proceedings have been settled and concluded, with Fairfax agreeing to apologise to me and to provide a retraction. Fairfax has acknowledged that I had nothing to do with the Lake Disappointment deal, directly or indirectly.”
Fairfax has also pulled the original, published in July 2014, from its websites. But Mundine said the harm done to him personally and professionally could never be undone.
“I wish to reiterate that I was never involved in negotiations or discussions between Reward and WDLAC [Western Desert Lands Aboriginal Corporation] or the Martu people, either directly or behind the scenes, nor received any benefits in connection with those dealings,” he said.
“I would have preferred not to have spent a year of my life living under the shadow of these allegations and a good part of that year working to reverse this injustice.”
The article alleged that a company of which Mundine is a shareholder was hired by Reward Minerals to lobby Western Desert Lands Aboriginal Corporation to drop its opposition to a mine at Lake Disappointment, a sacred site for the Martu people of the Pilbara.
The articles also stated the company helped broker a deal of which many in the Indigenous community were highly critical.
While it was proposed Indigenous Investment Management Pty Ltd work for Reward Minerals, Mundine says he intervened to stop it going ahead.
Fairfax Media has been contacted for comment.
