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India's mining giant Adani Group is 'misleading' the public to suit its own economic interests by 'wrongfully' asserting that Australian aboriginals support its $16.5-billion project in their ancestral land, one of the three representatives of the natives said on Wednesday.
"Adani is dishonestly trying to distort what is a complex situation around who speaks for our community. In any group there are a variety of views.
"However our legitimate decision on Carmichael (project) is clear: we reject the mine," Adrian Burragubba, a representative of the Wangan and Jagalingou (W&J) Traditional Owners, said in a statement.
The reaction came a day after the Adani Group said it has reached an agreement with the natives to provide them significant and lasting benefits of the ambitious project in the coal-rich Queensland state that is tipped to become the world's third biggest coal mine.
Burragubba said Adani was misleading the public to suit its own economic interests by wrongfully asserting that the W&J people support the project.
"In late 2014, the W&J Native Title Claim Group voted 'no' to the Carmichael mine by rejecting an Indigenous Land Use Agreement with Adani. This is the second time we have rejected an agreement with Adani. The W&J people have never given their free, prior and informed consent to the mine.
"The quotes in the media release issued by Adani do not reflect the formal decision of the Wangan and Jagalingou Native Title Claim Group to reject the Land Use Agreement for the mine. Adani is going against our decision-making and undermining our right to self-determination," he said.
The National Native Title Tribunal (NNTT) accepted this fact when member James McNamara acknowledged in his written determination on the mine "that the native title party did not indicate its support or consent to the grant of the mining leases".
"Our decision stands," Burragubba said, adding "and there are no legitimate negotiations continuing with Adani."
In a statement yesterday, Adani had quoted two of the native title applicants Patrick Malone and Irene White as saying: "All members of the W&J native title party negotiated with Adani in good faith and reached an agreement that will deliver genuine and lasting intergenerational benefits to our community for now and into the future."
In October last year, W&J Claim Group had rejected the proposed Indigenous Land Use Agreement with Adani Mining.
Adani commenced legal action in the NNTT to seek a favourable determination six days after this.
The statement claimed that Burragubba was the authorised spokesperson of W&J Traditional Owners Family Representative Council and a member of the W&J Native Title applicant and a senior W&J Traditional Owner.