The Adani Group is facing accusations of racism at its Australian coal unit after an aboriginal group filed a complaint with the country’s Human Rights Commission, reported news agency Reuters.
The Nagana Yarrbayn Wangan & Jagalingou cultural custodians in Queensland state said they had filed a complaint outlining serious racial discrimination by the unit, Bravus Mining and Resources, earlier this week.
The complaint provides details of how Adani employees sought to “verbally and physically obstruct and prevent” members of the aboriginal group from accessing springs near Adani’s Carmichael coal mine “in order to perform cultural rites and share cultural knowledge”.
“We have endured years of discrimination and vilification from Adani, and we’re not putting up with this anymore,” Nagana Yarrbayn senior cultural custodian, Adrian Burragubba said in the statement.
He said the Adani group had been notified about their conduct by lawyers since last year butrefused to take action.
“Legal recourse is the only answer,” he added.
A spokesperson for Bravus Mining and Resources “wholly rejected” the group’s allegations, saying it was an attempt to stop Bravus from telling its side of the story and “sharing facts with the public about our interactions with him and members of his ‘Family Council’.”
The statement from the Bravus unit stated that the mine was operating safely and responsibly in line with the laws of Queensland and Australia. The group claimed it was abiding by the law to maintain a partnership with the majority traditional owner group for the mining area under the terms of ratified ‘Indigenous Land Use Agreements and Cultural Heritage Management Plans’ for more than two years.