A Queensland government-owned water company is holding again 96 paperwork detailing its enterprise dealings with Adani, refusing to reply questions or launch any details about the character of agreements it says are industrial in confidence.
The supply of the billions of litres of water Adani wants yearly for its Carmichael coalmine in central Queensland has been shrouded in secrecy since its bid to pipe from the Suttor River was overturned by the federal courtroom.
However a right-to-information request to Sunwater dated in June this yr, seen by the Guardian, reveals the government-owned company has had enterprise dealings with Adani. The RTI was submitted by local weather advocates The Dawn Undertaking and requested all correspondence between Sunwater and Adani between June 2021 and February 2022.
In response, Sunwater recognized 96 separate paperwork captured by the scope of the request, however refused to reveal any of these paperwork, arguing that they had been exempt from disclosure as this might breach contractual obligations of confidentiality.
The Dawn Undertaking has requested an exterior evaluation of Sunwater’s refusal to reveal the paperwork.
Sunwater responded to questions from Guardian Australia by saying the provision of uncooked water to mining prospects was a part of its enterprise.
“As a water service supplier, Sunwater helps all industrial, irrigation and concrete prospects by entry to a industrial water provide,” a spokesperson mentioned.
“All Sunwater’s dealings with prospects are commercial-in-confidence. On this foundation, Sunwater has declined to launch any additional info.”
Adani, which has rebranded itself as Bravus Mining, responded to questions by saying the Carmichael mine had “the requisite water licences and entry agreements in place for operations”.
“Like different industrial customers we pay for the water we use, and like for different companies, these preparations are commercial-in-confidence,” a spokesperson mentioned.
Within the aftermath of final yr’s federal courtroom ruling, Adani mentioned the choice wouldn't delay the mine’s progress as a result of it had “secured” different sources of water, of which it mentioned the regulator – the Queensland Division of Regional Growth, Manufacturing and Water – was conscious.
The division final yr mentioned Adani’s solely related licence was an “related water licence” that may permit it to extract groundwater as essential from coal deposits.
A Guardian Australia investigation final June revealed that the corporate’s executives adopted a deliberate press technique to obscure particulars about its plans to supply water for the Carmichael coalmine.
Within the absence of the paperwork and with each events citing industrial confidentiality, the amount of water – if any – that Sunwater is supplying to Adani, its supply and the value of any association stays unknown.
The Greens MP Michael Berkman raised questions on the problems at finances estimates on Wednesday evening, and referred to a separate RTI request by the Australian Conservation Basis that discovered Sunwater had a contract to produce water to Adani by to 31 August 2020.
Given these prior dealings, Berkman requested Sunwater’s chief govt, Glenn Stockton, if it had any present contracts with the mining firm.
Stockton declined to reply, citing commercial-in-confidence causes.
Requested concerning the supply of any water that Sunwater was offering to Adani, Stockton mentioned its prospects within the Bowen Basin obtained it from two key sources: through pipelines from the Burdekin River and the Eungella Dam.
Berkman advised Guardian Australia that the corporate wanted to come back clear about its dealings with Adani.
“Sunwater is a public firm and the federal government is aware of a giant part of the general public can be pissed off in the event that they knew about this,” Berkman mentioned.
“That's precisely why they cover behind industrial in confidence as an excuse.”
The Maiwar MP mentioned Adani had been “extremely secretive” about how it will supply the “many 1000's of megalitres of water it must run its mine”.
“Publicly owned firms shouldn’t be propping up new thermal coalmines,” he mentioned.
Berkman additionally raised issues over “very giant however unknown” quantities of water drawn close to the positioning, which had raised fears concerning the drainage of the close by Doongmabulla Springs.
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