Scott Daines, an anti-coal activist from Frontline Action on Coal (FLAC), announced on February 3 that he won a defamation dispute with Adani.
Daines was awarded $2000 in damages and Adani has publicly apologised for making false claims about him on the corporation’s Facebook page.
Adani falsely alleged that Daines and other peaceful activists from FLAC threw rocks at Adani workers’ cars and kicked car doors during a protest in October.
Adani released the defamatory statement and false accusations shortly after FLAC activists captured footage of an Adani security guard charging at, and assaulting, a camera operator at the protest.
Daines issued Adani a concerns notice under Queensland’s Defamation Act, and sought a retraction of Adani’s defamatory social media post and a public apology.
Adani’s lawyers, from the firm Ashurst, wrote back to Daines agreeing to his demands and to pay damages.
However, Adani misled its lawyers — instead of posting the apology on the Facebook page where its original post first appeared and which has 37,000 followers, Adani first posted the apology on an obscure page, which had just 50 followers.
Adani tried to claim it had fulfilled its duty. It recently changed its name to Bravus Resources, which is where its followers reside.
Daines pursued Adani for further costs and for the corporation to post an apology on the page where the original defamatory post was first published.
He wrote to Adani’s lawyers claiming Adani had “duped the firm” by providing it with false information about the history and status of its social media accounts in an attempt to hide the apology from the public.
Daines is continuing to pursue Adani for further damages for the delay in publishing the apology.