BREAKING: Over twenty police cars and up to fifty Qld Police officers have arrived this morning at the Carmichael Mine roadblock. The road closure has been maintained for the last five days by a group of Wangan and Jagalingou First Nation Traditional Owners connected to the mine site area.
The Traditional Owners are now concerned that the Qld Police may try to forcibly remove them from their Country and are urging Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk to pull them back.
The Queensland Police Service had yesterday agreed to provide a liaison office from the Department of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Partnerships, but instead broke that agreement and this morning greeted Traditional Owners with a heavy police presence and 'move on' orders instead.
The W&J Traditional Owners have maintained a spirit fire across the access road to the Adani coal mine in Queensland for five days. They aim to force Adani from their lands and end the destruction of their homelands for coal mining.
Over the last five days, police have been in talks with the lead negotiator for the Traditional Owners.
The following can be attributed to Adrian Burragubba, tribal leader and cultural law man:
We stand proud as First Nations people. Our ancestors connect us to this place.
We call on the Queensland Premier to respect our ancient claim and the laws and customs which uphold it and not interfere with our peaceful eviction of Adani under our law, which is seeking to destroy our Country for their own profit.
We are tribal warriors of the First Nations of Wangan and Jagalingou Country. We planted our flag and performed a ceremonial dance for our ancient ancestors.
Five days ago we lit the spirit fire to call on our ancestors to help us drive Adani from our lands. Adani's truck and vehicle movement has stopped. The fire burns to mark our cultural sovereignty and our call to national and international allies to aid our fight.
We call on Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk to acknowledge the State's denial of our rights and the unfair native title system which continues to dispossess us.
We have stood our ground against Adani for a decade. We watched as Adani divided our people through lateral violence, corrupted the governance of our community, and co-opted and induced people to sign away our lands for money. This is against our laws and customs.
It's time for Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk to stand with us and turn towards justice for First Nations people. Using police force to continue to deny us our free prior and informed consent and the right to protect our Country and culture, infringes our rights under international law and breaches the Law of the Land handed down to us from thousands of generations before..
The Premier must withdraw the police now or face international condemnation.
