Billionaire miner Andrew Forrest has enjoyed a victory in his long-running battle with an Aboriginal group over his ambitions to capture the Ashburton River.
The State Administrative Tribunal has been told to re-hear Mr Forrest’s application to overturn a decision by then Aboriginal Affairs minister Ben Wyatt in 2019 to block plans for nine weirs at Minderoo Station.
While the Court of Appeal threw out Mr Forrest’s attacks on finer details of the SAT judgment, it ruled the tribunal legally erred by taking into account Mr Wyatt’s conclusion in reaching its own conclusion about the community interest.
The decision continues a seven-year fight for the Thalanyji people against plans they believe could anger a water snake the believe and damage areas important for healing.
It will give Mr Forrest’s team the opportunity to advance a case based on what it claims are the economic benefits of his beef and horticultural plans.
These plans are based on weirs capturing wet season rains and helping boost the Minderoos’s capacity to draw water from aquifers.
Mr Forrest’s SAT appeal against Mr Wyatt’s was filed in 2019, the case was heard in 2021 but a decision was not being handed down by the tribunal until April last year.
After pointing to what he describes as the “substantial resources” of the Forrest camp, Justice Buss said senior counsel for the Thalanyji had incorrectly told SAT it could take into consideration Mr Wyatt’s decision when reaching its conclusion.
SAT was required to form its view of where the interest of the community lay at the time of its decision, the judge found.
But it was not entitled to give weight to the fact Mr Wyatt had decided that blocking the weir plan was in the general interests of the community.
Justice Robert Mitchell said the matter should go back to panel for hearing of this issue narrow issue related to the community interests conclusion.
But Justice Buss and Justice John Vaughan said there should be a new hearing.
Justice Mitchell rejected the Forrest’s claim that SAT erred by finding the weirs would harm Thalanyji spiritual beliefs and cultures where was allegedly no evidence such harm would occur. Justice Mitchell said the tribunal had made conclusion about “the emotional impact of the alteration of a sacred site on people who hold the relevant beliefs”.
Justice Mitchell believed that only the Forrest camp’s attack on the conclusion should be upheld.