Case 88: Police express regret about asking traditional custodians to move on while exercising their cultural rights

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Adrian Burragubba, a leader of the Wangan and Jagalingou people, and his family were camping, practicing their culture and performing traditional ceremonies on a pastoral lease area. Police officers approached the group and asked them to leave, stating that an international mining company occupying the land had claimed they were ‘trespassing’. The site was the subject of an Indigenous Land Use Agreement but the family opposed the agreement and the mine, saying that Aboriginal people had been exercising their culture by fishing and hunting and performing ceremonies for more than 40,000 years. Cultural rights of Aboriginal peoples and Torres Strait Islander peoples are specifically protected by the Queensland Human Rights Act, including the right to maintain their distinctive spiritual, material and economic relationship with the land and waters with which they hold a connection. The family told the police that they had received expert advice that they could lawfully exercise their cultural rights and responsibilities. However, the police ordered the group to pack up their equipment and leave within an hour. The family says that this caused grief and trauma. The Queensland Police Service agreed to provide a statement of regret which was able to be shared publicly. The statement acknowledged that the events caused embarrassment, hurt and humiliation for Mr Burragubba and his extended family, that there are complex legal issues and cultural sensitivities, and that the Queensland Police Service will commit to take into account the issues in the complaint in future responses.

Source: The Second Annual Report on the Operation of Queensland’s Human Rights Act 2020-21, p.162