PERTH (miningweekly.com) – South Australia has applied to the High Court for special leave to appeal a Supreme Court judgment, overturning an approval by the Aboriginal Affairs Minister allowing ASX-listed Argonaut Resources and Straits Resources access to the Torrens joint venture (JV) site.

The state government contended that the Supreme Court erred in overturning the approval.

In its ruling at the end of December, the Supreme Court said the Minister had to delegate his power if requested to do so by duly identified traditional owners, effectively providing a mechanism to veto exploration and mining activities.

The court said that this delegation of power ruled out the Minister being able to assess applications in the broader interest of the state.

In the event that the appeal was allowed by the High Court, the Torrens JV has been advised an expedited hearing could be heard in about eight months.

Argonaut chairperson Patrick Elliott said on Monday that while the action by the state government to overturn the decision by the Supreme Court was understood to an extent, the company was concerned that litigation only served to extend uncertainty, further increase costs to all parties and erode the potential of constructive discussions between the interested parties.

“It beggars belief that in our 14 year history at Torrens all parties, including the state of South Australia, are still wasting considerable amounts of time and money in trying to resolve access issues via litigation rather than a negotiated, or if necessary, mediated outcome,” Elliott said.

He said Argonaut was of a view that there had been broad, in-principle support for a number of years from indigenous and nonindigenous stakeholders for reform of the Aboriginal Heritage Act (AHA). The state government initiated a review aimed at reforming the AHA over thee years ago, but the review has been unsuccessful to date.

“The state is now pursuing legal action in the High Court regarding interpretation of the same legislation it acknowledged requires amendment in circumstances where the government has other options,” said Elliott.

“We query the state’s reluctance to amend its unique and ineffective Aboriginal heritage legislation. The series of cases and appeals surrounding Aboriginal heritage and native title access issues at Lake Torrens have clearly demonstrated there are fundamental issues in the drafting of the South Australian legislation.”

Elliott added that these issues were not present in other jurisdictions and required urgent rectification.

“The Torrens JV partners have always maintained their preference for a negotiated outcome, but to date the legislation has not supported this approach,” he said.

Argonaut was also questioning the strategic value of the state seeking cost orders against individuals who asserted traditional ownership, saying that if special leave was granted and the appeal successful, the legal cost of the traditional owners may be borne either by the individuals or alternatively by the South Australian Native Title Services, which is funded by both the Commonwealth and state governments.

“It may be the state’s prerogative to test the technical merit of its legislation but it is short-sighted to do so in a manner which creates further undue financial burden on the parties. Argonaut remains strongly of the view that continued litigation of problematic legislation is an unnecessary drain on all parties’ financial resources,” Elliott noted.

Argonaut and Straits have been seeking access to the site following the lodgement of an Aboriginal heritage site card over an area of over 6 300 km².

 

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