Upper Burdekin Wind Farm Indigenous Land Use Agreement

Pastoral land on Gugu Badhun country, Northern Queensland

The area covered by this agreement includes approximately 522 sq km and is located about 40 km south west of Ingham. This area is described in Schedule 1 and shown on a map in Schedule 2. Both these documents are attached below. The area is within the jurisdiction of the Charters Towers Regional Council Council.

Registered on the Register of Indigenous Land Use Agreements on 27 June 2022. This is an authorised body corporate agreement under the Native Title Act 1993 (Cth).

The Upper Burdekin Wind Farm Indigenous Land Use Agreement (ILUA) was agreed, under the provisions of the Native Title Act 1993 (Cth) (the NTA), between:

• Upper Burdekin Wind Farm Pty Ltd
• Gugu Badhun Aboriginal Corporation Registered Native Title Body Corporate
• William Richard David Leggett and Sandra Lyn Leggett

The ILUA provides consent to the development, construction, commissioning, operation, decommissioning, and rehabilitation of a wind farm by Upper Burdekin Wind Farm Pty Ltd on the native title land and waters within the area.

The Native Title Representative Body for this area is the Gugu Badhun Aboriginal Corporation Registered Native Title Body Corporate.

Background to the Agreement 

Upper Burdekin Wind Farm is a wind energy project proposed for development by Windlab. It will generate up to 600 megawatts of power from approximately 100 turbines (Upper Burdekin Wind Farm). Once operational, this proposal is set to provide clean, green power to up to 300,000 homes (Upper Burdekin Wind Farm).

The Gugu Badhun People's cultural heritage has been a key consideration in negotiations and a comprehensive Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Agreement was negotiated early on in the process to provide surveys, monitoring and mitigation measures to ensure that the cultural heritage is protected as effectively as possible (Gugu Badhun Aboriginal Corporation RNTBC, Media Release 11 July 2023).

This agreement also has a strong framework that ensures the Gugu Badhun People are involved in the project through employment, contracting, as well as cadetships so that they can help influence renewable energy developments on country (Gugu Badhun Aboriginal Corporation RNTBC, Media Release 11 July 2023).

Commencement and Termination

The Indigenous Land Use Agreement is binding from the date signed by all the parties and will start on the Commencement Date and end on the earlier of the Termination Date or on a date agreed upon by the parties. However, these dates are not specified within the Extract from the Register of Indigenous Land Use Agreements.

Native Title Provisions

Right to negotiate

To the extent that these are Future Acts in the ILUA area, the parties agree that the right to negotiate provisions of the NTA under Subdivision P, Division 3, Part 2 of the Act do not apply to the agreed future acts.

Extinguishment

The parties agree that the non-extinguishment principle applies. This means that under s 24EB(3) of the NTA, any of the activities authorised under this ILUA which may be inconsistent with native title rights and interests do not extinguish these rights and interests. Instead, they are revived when the activities are finished.

Future act provisions

The parties agree to:

• the granting of the Project Rights and the doing of the Project, excluding any carbon abatement interest or wind turbine generators located outside of the area shown in Schedule 4;
• easement requirements for the Project; and
• variations or amendments of a Project Right

Project refers to the general works on the wind farm by Upper Burdekin Wind Farm Pty Ltd within the ILUA Area such as development and construction work. The wind farm also includes wind turbine generators, electrical connections, construction compounds, and more.

Carbon Abatement Interest is the right to obtain the benefit of avoided greenhouse gas emissions in, on, or in relation to land or waters obtained under any state or territory legislation including

• an 'applicable carbon sequestration right' under the Carbon Credits (Carbon Farming Initiative) Act 2011 (Cth); and
• a 'carbon abatement interest' and 'carbon abatement product' as those terms are defined in the Land Act 1994 (Qld), Land Title Act 1994 (Qld) or Forestry Act 1959 (Qld). 

However, it does not include the right to obtain the benefit of avoided greenhouse gas emissions from the generation of electricity from a renewable source by the Project.

Project Rights means all formal documents such as approvals, lease variations, and permits that are required for the Project. 

For more details, refer to the Extract attached.

Native Title in the Agreement Area

The ILUA area is within the area of the native title determination Hoolihan on behalf of the Gugu Badhun People #2 v State of Queensland [2012] FCA 800.

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