DistantNews
Support us
🇦🇺 Australia /Environment & Climate

High Court rules in favor of native title holders fighting NT water license

From ABC Australia · () English

Translated from English, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

News Named sources Outcome reported
  • The High Court has ruled in favor of native title holders challenging a water license granted to Singleton Station in Australia's Northern Territory.
  • The license would have allowed the cattle station to extract 40,000 megalitres of water annually for an intensive horticulture business.
  • Traditional owners expressed concerns that the water extraction would damage sacred sites and harm native plants and animals, leading the court to refer the application back for reconsideration.

Native title holders have won a significant victory in the High Court, successfully challenging a water license that would have permitted extensive water extraction in Australia's Northern Territory. The Mpwerempwer Aboriginal Corporation argued against the Northern Territory government's decision to grant Singleton Station a license to draw 40,000 megalitres of water per year from an underground aquifer.

The proposed use of the 30-year license was for Fortune Agribusiness, the station's lessees, to develop thousands of hectares into an intensive irrigated horticulture business. Their plans included cultivating crops such as mandarins, table grapes, and avocados. However, traditional owners voiced strong objections, citing concerns over the potential destruction of sacred water sites and the impact on native flora and fauna.

Water, and sites traditionally associated with access to or use of water, have significance for the traditional occupants of arid lands, and critical importance to society as a whole.

— Mpwerempwer Aboriginal CorporationSubmissions from the corporation to the High Court outlining the significance of water resources.

"Water, and sites traditionally associated with access to or use of water, have significance for the traditional occupants of arid lands, and critical importance to society as a whole," the corporation stated in its submissions to the High Court. Traditional owner Valerie Ngapangardi Curtis emphasized the broader implications, stating in February that the license would be damaging "in multiple ways." She explained, "If they take too much water, it's going to damage our country, it's going to damage all our plants and animals, and it's going to damage our culture as well and dreaming and storyline."

Following the High Court's decision, the water license application will be sent back to Territory decision-makers. They will now be required to consider environmental approvals alongside the traditional owners' concerns. The corporation has been engaged in this legal and bureaucratic battle since 2021, highlighting the deep cultural and environmental significance of water resources for the Indigenous communities in the arid region.

If they take too much water, it's going to damage our country, it's going to damage all our plants and animals, and it's going to damage our culture as well and dreaming and storyline.

— Valerie Ngapangardi CurtisA traditional owner expresses concerns about the environmental and cultural impact of the water license.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by ABC Australia in English. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

More Stories

From Our Blog