Indian mining company Adani has agreed to end its five-and-a-half-year legal pursuit of environmental activist Ben Pennings, with the Queensland Supreme Court signing off on orders on Wednesday. Pennings declared a 'massive victory' on Thursday, though the court order requires him not to seek to acquire Adani's confidential information or to ask others to do so.
The case began in 2020 when Adani made an unsuccessful application to conduct an unannounced search of Pennings's family home for evidence he had obtained confidential information related to the Carmichael coalmine. Court documents revealed that Adani hired a private investigator to surveil Pennings and his family, including taking photographs of him walking his then nine-year-old daughter to school.
Adani later lodged a civil claim alleging Pennings sought to disrupt operations of the mine, its suppliers and contractors. In 2023, Adani dropped the part of its claim that Pennings had unlawfully accessed secret information. The company has now also dropped a demand for payment of damages, which at one stage stood at $600 million.
Pennings, national spokesperson for the group Galilee Blockade, described the legal action as a SLAPP suit (strategic lawsuit against public participation). He called on the government to ban such suits, as has happened in some US states and Europe. Adani's Australian mining business, Bravus Mining & Resources, said it was pleased Pennings had agreed not to obtain its confidential information, adding that the damages claim was 'never about the money'.
With a five-year injunction preventing him from campaigning against the company now lifted, Pennings said he intends to immediately return to direct action against the mine.
