Indigenous group joins chorus of voices speaking up for the GAB

Josh Gorringe, CEO of Mithaka Aboriginal Corporation, said his organisation definitely did not want the proposal to go ahead.

"It would be one of the most catastrophic bad decisions that any government could ever make in Australia if they let it go through," he said.

Mr Gorringe said three quarters of Queensland relied on water from the GAB and if it was polluted how could it be fixed.

"I don't think you'd ever be able to fix it if it does travel away from where they reckon it's going to be," he said.

"I think the science is too unproven. Why do we keep on trying to wreck the natural environment by putting pollutants into places where they shouldn't be," he said.

Multinational mining company, Glencore, is awaiting a decision on its environmental impact statement from the state government as to whether it can go ahead with a trial to inject the liquified CO2 waste from the Millmerran Power Station into the GAB near Moonie. A decision is expected sometime this month.

Glencore claims its CTSCo's project is based on robust scientific fieldwork, data and analysis, and has involved review from expert third-party institutions. It also says that the carbon dioxide it is seeking approval to inject underground "will be food grade like the CO2 you find in soft drinks".

In 2015, the Mithaka people were granted native title over 33,000 square kilometres of country between Windorah, Birdsville and Bedourie, which, Mr Gorringe said, encompassed a huge area of the Great Artesian Basin.

Mr Gorringe said the springs of the GAB had been a main water source for indigenous people and there had been hunting grounds around those springs.

He said there were definitely Dreamtime stories about the Great Artesian Basin.

Mr Gorringe said if Glencore did get the go ahead, they would do like they did with the Lake Eyre Basin and "all team up again" and get the decision overturned.

"Like I say, it's one of the biggest water sources anywhere in Australia that's reliable all year round," he said.

Along with other organisations such as QFF, AgForce and conservation groups, Mr Gorringe said he had approached the state government with concerns about the Glencore proposal.

As recently as two weeks ago, he said he raised the issue with the Queensland environment minister.

As well as a federal court case mounted by AgForce to protect the GAB that is scheduled for a full hearing in August, there is a Federal Parliamentary Inquiry underway into the GAB proposal.

Its findings were meant to be handed down on May 1, but the Environment and Communications standing committee chaired by Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young is understood to want an extension until July 2.

In April, 2021, a Glencore statement said the CTSCo project would use China Huaneng's CO2 capture technology at the Millmerran power station to capture a stream of CO2, which would then be transported and stored permanently in "a non-potable aquifer" at a depth of more than 2 km.

The claim by Glencore that it is "a non-potable aquifer" has been disputed by numerous organisations including Australian Country Choice which has a cattle feedlot in the vicinity of the proposed injection site.