Chapter 20

“How did it go?” Rachel asked.

“Interesting, but inconclusive. I got Sean interested, though. So I may learn more tomorrow.”

“Is it very complex?”

“Actually, I don’t think it is. I’m not even certain that it’s criminal ... it may just be unethical or unprincipled.”

“I got some vegs and fresh pasta for dinner.”

“Sounds good. I want to Google one thing, if you don’t mind. But I want to hear about your day, later.”

He looked up “Adani” and located several pieces concerning the case and the decision. He also learned that only Western Australia had immediately issued a government statement.

In December 2015 four High Court Applications were commenced seeking to prevent the Native Title Registrar from registering the Whadjuk People, Ballardong People, South West Boojarah #2 and Wagyl Kaip & Southern Noongar Indigenous Land Use Agreements (ILUAs) on the basis that these four Agreements were not ILUAs, because not ALL named native title applicants had signed the agreements. In February 2016 the High Court applications were remitted to the Full Federal Court.

On 2 February 2017 the Federal Court found that the Native Title Registrar does not have the jurisdiction to register the four Agreements as not all named applicants had signed the Agreements. Seven (two of whom were at the time deceased) of the 44 named Applicants across the six Native Title Agreement Groups did not sign the Agreements. The Court found that where a named applicant does not sign there must be an application under ... to remove that named applicant.

The Federal Court Judgment does not have any bearing on the content of the South West Native Title Settlement Agreements, but relates only to the registration of the Agreements under the Native Title Act 1993. The Judgment does not affect the pre-Settlement obligations and actions under the Agreements, including the requirement to use the Noongar ... Agreement, and the passing of the Noongar ... Recognition Act (2016).

The Full Federal Court judgment has caused a delay to the commencement of the Settlement because the ILUAs could not be considered for registration. Conclusive registration of the ILUAs must occur before the Settlement can commence.

Until the Settlement commences the Native Title Act 1993 still applies to all land users planning activities in the Settlement Area, and the Aboriginal Heritage Act 1972 applies at all times independent of the commencement of the Settlement.

It wasn’t clear to him just how the Ruling would relate to the Queensland project. Last December, news.com.au had written

Construction on Australia’s largest coal mine looks set to begin next year as Queensland’s Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk prepares to meet with the company’s global head to announce finer details.

Gautam Adani will on Tuesday meet Ms Palaszczuk in Townsville, where the pair is expected to name the north Queensland city as the Galilee Basin project’s headquarters.

Adani on Monday won final Queensland and federal government approval for a 31.5km rail line and temporary camp for the $21.7 billion Carmichael mine project, angering green groups who had unsuccessfully attempted to fight the plans in court.

State Development Minister Dr Anthony Lynham urged Queenslanders to consider the $2 billion in mining royalties the state receives from the resources sector.

“This provides for our hospitals, it provides for our schools, our roads, our infrastructure,” he said.

The news fuelled a protest of about 150 people outside the commonwealth offices in Melbourne and conservationists plan to target the Townsville meeting.

“Coal is a dud, coal is not innovation,” Australian Conservation Foundation campaign director Paul Sinclair said.

“We need clean energy and a healthy reef.”

But Dr Lynham insisted it was possible to have economic prosperity in the north and protection of the Great Barrier Reef, citing 200 “stringent” conditions on the project and a 50 per cent renewable energy target by 2030.

Last week, scientists who studied a mass coral death on the Great Barrier Reef this year said it was undeniably the result of climate change caused by the burning of fossil fuels, and the Adani mine would only compound the threat... [5 December 2016]

Townsville was within “Bindal People #2” on the NNTT map and the coal region south-east of Georgetown was labelled Gudjala. Had the Acting Registrar erred here, too? Time to wash up for dinner.

Over pasta and vegetables, Rachel talked about the initial piece of her dissertation. “I decided that trying to do the chapters in order was silly. How could I write a ‘Preface’ or ‘Introduction’ before I’ve written the parts. So I’ve written a section as to the nature of ‘landscape’. Is it just an attempt at portraying the perceived world? The Wikipedia says it’s ‘the visible features of an area of land, its landforms and how they integrate with natural or man-made features.’ But that’s not viable. And there’s the problem of ‘seascape’. I’m not happy with a ‘photograph, painting, or other work of art which depicts the sea, in other words an example of marine art’. And then there’s ‘cityscape -- the visual appearance of a city or urban area; a city landscape’.

“When you get down to it, I’m no longer sure that most figurative art is anything but portraiture. Portraits of individuals, human and canine, avian and equine; portraits of groups, groups of people, groups of trees, random aggregations.”

“So a Braque or Picasso still-life is a portrait?”

“Exactly! And a Constable is a landscape, and a Homer a seascape, and ‘Broadway Boogie-Woogie’ is a cityscape.”

“That’s going to be viewed as very radical.”

“More-so than a shark, a tortoise, a cobra, a budgie, a ‘roo, a dingo, and a man being a vertebrate?”

“A good point.”

“I’m going to start with Locke’s notion that there isn’t any external taxonomy, that order is imposed upon things by the mind.”

“I see where you’re heading, but won’t you end up with a philosophy thesis instead of one on fine art?”