The man who took the fight to Andrew 'Twiggy' Forrest

Summary

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7am Podcast Summary

Episode: The man who took the fight to Andrew 'Twiggy' Forrest
Date: May 23, 2026
Host: Daniel James / Solstice Media
Journalist/Guest: Ben Abbatangelo
Focus: The battle by Michael Woodley and the Yindjibandi people against mining magnate Andrew Forrest (Fortescue Metals Group) over native title rights, the true costs of mining, and the personal and communal impacts of this landmark legal fight.

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Episode Overview

This episode revisits the two-decade legal and cultural struggle between the Yindjibandi people and Andrew Forrest's Fortescue Metals Group, culminating in the largest native title compensation payout in Australian history. Journalist Ben Abbatangelo recounts the story of Michael Woodley, the Yindjibandi lawman who resisted exploitation of his people's land to ask: what is the real cost of mining someone else’s country?

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Yindjibandi Country: Deep History and Modern Conflict

[01:15–03:02]

• Description of Yindjibandi Country:
  – Ancient landscape in Western Australia’s Pilbara region with “majestic hills and escarpments… rich red colours.”
  – The region holds “sites that map human occupation back 10, 20, 30, 40, 50,000 years” but is also a global hub of iron ore extraction.
  – “It gets to the heart of that ancient eternity, clashing with the contemporary realities of modernity.” (Ben Abbatangelo, [02:05])

2. Michael Woodley: The Reluctant Figurehead

[03:06–05:22]

• Who is Michael Woodley?
  – Senior lawman, CEO of the Yindjibandi Aboriginal Corporation.
  – Known nationally for standing up to Andrew Forrest and Fortescue’s mining interests on Yindjibandi land.

3. The Battle Over Land and Justice

[04:19–06:53]

• Failed Negotiations with Fortescue:
  – Forrest’s offer was a “fixed payment of roughly 0.057% of the mine’s income”—paltry compared to projected profits. – Woodley’s rejection:
  “We read your agreement, we understand your agreement, and to be frank with you, it’s crap. Right?” (Michael Woodley, [05:22])
  – Woodley insisted on a 5% uncapped royalty; negotiations broke down.

• Native Title’s Limits:
  – “A lot of people have an understanding that native title is land rights. It’s not. Native title doesn’t give traditional owner groups a right of veto… It just gives them a statutory timeline to negotiate…” (Ben Abbatangelo, [06:12]) – Fortescue (FMG) moved forward by backing a “breakaway” Aboriginal group willing to accept their offer, deepening division in the community.

4. The Legal Fight: David vs. Goliath

[08:27–09:45]

• A 15-Year Court Struggle:
  – Fortescue opened mines without consent; by 2017, federal court reaffirmed Yindjibandi’s exclusive possession. – Compensation hearings now force courts to “put a numerical value on close to 250 sacred sites... including rock art shelters that prove human habitation for more than 35,000 years.” ([10:13]) – Key question: Can a court truly weigh cultural loss and spiritual disconnection in financial terms?

• Power and Resilience:
  – Michael Woodley's perspective on real power:
  “I’m a Yindjibandi man. I know my law, I speak my language, and I walk the same lands that my ancestors have for tens of thousands of years. So if you want to talk about power, well, that’s power.” (Michael Woodley, via Ben Abbatangelo, [08:37–09:45])

5. The High Cost of Mining and Community Division

[12:04–13:10]

• Cultural and Familial Impact:
  – The payout ($150 million, far below the $1.8 billion sought) is “historic, but far below” what Indigenous leaders believe reflects the loss. Most of it barely covers economic loss. – The destruction inflicted:
  – 250+ sacred sites destroyed; “enduring, lasting pain… may never heal. It might take a generation to heal.” ([12:29])
  – Generational rifts: family members no longer speak or avoid each other due to divisions stoked by the case.

• Monetary Compensation is Inadequate:
  – “I don’t know how you can put a numerical monetary value on stripping people from the things that sustain them.” (Ben Abbatangelo, [12:29])

6. Michael Woodley Today: Reconnecting & Looking Forward

[13:10–15:21]

• Personal Growth and Acceptance:
  – Woodley reflects on acceptance:
  “I’ve learned to be mellow as well… it’s better to just let a rock be a rock because… you can’t enforce something that is not willing to change.” (Michael Woodley, [13:52–14:05])
  – Now relocated to his homelands: spiritual reconnection and optimism for healing and a thriving future for the Yindjibandi nation.

• Broader Implications:
  – Abbatangelo notes this case occurs as mining and “extractivism” intensify—in Australia, "extractivism is going to double, triple, quadruple down in the wake of the energy transition.” ([15:09])

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Memorable Quotes & Key Moments

• On the Offer from Fortescue:
  “We read your agreement, we understand your agreement, and to be frank with you, is crap. Right?” — Michael Woodley ([05:22])

• On the Nature of Power:
  “Andrew might be the richest man... But so what? That’s not power... I’m a Yindjibandi man. I know my law, I speak my language, and I walk the same lands that my ancestors have for tens of thousands of years. So if you want to talk about power, well, that’s power.” — Michael Woodley, paraphrased ([08:37–09:45])

• On Community Loss:
  “Family members no longer talk to one another. They avoid each other in the streets. There’s enduring, lasting pain... It might take a generation to heal.” — Ben Abbatangelo ([12:29])

• On Acceptance and Wisdom:
  “I’m a serious man. Right. You know, but I’ve learned to be mellow as well... it’s better to just let a rock be a rock because you can’t enforce something that is not willing to change.” — Michael Woodley ([13:52–14:05])

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Important Timestamps

• [01:15] Introduction to Yindjibandi country and the community
• [03:06] Profile of Michael Woodley
• [04:19] First meeting between Woodley and Andrew Forrest; failed negotiations
• [06:12] Explanation of native title limitations
• [07:31] Fortescue advances mining without consent
• [08:37] How Woodley defines true power
• [10:13] Legal process: courts must assign “value” to cultural and financial loss
• [12:29] Lasting divisions and cultural devastation
• [13:52] Woodley’s personal reflection and acceptance
• [15:09] Wider context: future of extraction in Australia

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Tone & Narrative

The episode is measured, deeply empathetic, and reflective. It foregrounds the gravity of cultural loss and the inadequacy of financial compensation, while highlighting Woodley’s quiet dignity, resilience, and hope. The story is framed as emblematic of broader tensions in Australian society—ancient culture vs. contemporary resource extraction and the enduring struggle for recognition and justice.

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Transcript

[A]

I'm Daniel James and you're listening to 7am. The federal court has ordered Andrew Forrest's Fortescue to pay the ijinbadi people over $150 million. It's the biggest native title compensation payout in Australian history. But for Yidjimbadi leaders, the judgment is complicated. The payout is historic, but far below the 1.8 billion they were seeking. The case goes back more than two decades, when Ford Fortescue's Solomon Hub mines in the Pilbara were built on Gidjanbadi land without the agreement of the traditional owners. And the payout includes only about $100,000 for economic loss, despite Fortescue making billions from the mines. So today we're returning to a conversation we first aired before the court handed down its decision. Journalist Ben Abbatangelo tells Ashlyn McGee the story of Michael Woodley, the Ijinbadi lawman who took on Andrew Forrest and asked, what is the true cost of mining someone else's country?

[B]

Foreign.

[A]

It's Sunday, May 24th. This episode was originally published in May 2024.

[C]

Ben, tell me about Yidjibundi country and this small community of Ngaruana and the man you met there, Michael Woodley.

[D]

So Yindjibandi country is located in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. It is a very humble town with a big heart. It has got majestic hills and escarpments that are rich red colours. It's incredibly vast, like the whole of Western Australia. But the Pilbara region itself is quite an expansive space. And in my mind, it gets to the heart of the Australian story. It is a region that archives some of the earliest human thoughts. There is countless sites that map human occupation back 10, 20, 30, 40, 50,000 years. But at the same time, what's interfacing with that is everything that we understand to be contemporary. It is the epicenter of resource extraction. It is where, you know, the majority of the world's iron ore is extracted from. There is offshore gas being plundered out of the waterways. And it gets to, I suppose, the heart of that ancient eternity, clashing with the contemporary realities of modernity. So I first met Michael Woodley towards the end of 2020. He's a senior Yinjibandi lawman and the CEO of the Injibandi Aboriginal Corporation, which is the prescribed body, corporate, to represent the interests of the Indjibandi people. Mate, it's so good to reconnect and it's just been a privilege to. Yeah, you're just A remarkable man.

[E]

Oh, thank you for letting on. Thanks as well. Right. For your views and comments.

[D]

I was fortunate enough to speak with Michael. He was zigzagging around town, was fortunate enough to get some of his time to hear about, you know, his reflections. And I say this because for most Australians that are aware of who he is, is known because he's been the person that has stood up to Andrew Forrest.

[C]

Okay. And so how did Michael Woodley become this guy who's known for battling Andrew Forrest and his enormous mining interests?

[D]

So Andrew Forrest is, I think he's held up in the Australian imagination, as, you know, a great Australian bloke with

[F]

a $20 billion fortune. Andrew Forrest is one of Australia's richest people. And as the founder of mining giant Fortescue, he's been a key business figure for decades.

[D]

But that wealth that Andrew Forrest has accrued, that has transformed him into Australia's richest man. The bedrock of that is exploitation of Aboriginal people's country, and specifically the Injibandi people's country.

[G]

I've had one message I give, and I've been giving this to ever since I became a businessman. The more, you know, Aboriginal people, the more you love them.

[D]

The crux of the story is that Andrew Forrest and Fortescue Metals Group in the early 2000s, wanted to develop Yingibandi people's country. The problem for them was that the Yingibandi had already received native title status. So for Fortescue to legally start developing on their country under native title laws, they had to broker an agreement. So Michael Woodley and Andrew Forrest met in a small Roeburn youth centre, where Andrew Forrest marched in seeking to broker that agreement with Michael Woodley. Now, what Andrew Forrest came to the table with was essentially a fixed payment of roughly 0.057% of the mine's income. And for context, we're talking about a development that would last decades, that would churn out tens of billions of dollars. So when Michael Woodley refused to sign onto that agreement, we read your agreement,

[G]

we understand your agreement, and to be frank with you, is crap. Right?

[D]

Which he would also, if he was to do so, would be signing away. You know, scores of sacred sites would be signing away, you know, really integral important pieces of Yinjibandi country that are central, you know, to their mythology, to their existence, to their sustainment.

[G]

But there's a big issue here, Andrew. And the issue comes with, you know, Iji Bani people looking after ourselves from the country that's making you rich and your shareholders and your investors.

[D]

So Michael Woodley was seeking a 5% uncapped rate. And when, you know, those talks broke down, it triggered a sprawling legal battle that has gone on for now, close to 15 years.

[C]

Ben, how did it even become a legal battle? How did Fortescue Metals come to push ahead without approval from the native title holders?

[D]

Yeah. An important thing for this conversation is that a lot of people have an understanding that native title is land rights. It's not. Native title doesn't give traditional owner groups a right of veto. It doesn't enable them to say no to those that want to develop their country. It just gives them a statutory timeline to negotiate with those companies and forces them into coming to an agreement. So I suppose a really key point here is that not only did they proceed with the operations without authority, without that agreement, they also look to finance a breakaway group.

[H]

This meeting held in March last year, revealed the bitter divide between Michael Woodley's group, which opposes the project, and a breakaway group of landowners.

[G]

Ok, we're going to take a vote on this motion. I see the hands of those who support this motion. Big up 5.

[H]

The meeting was ugly and physical. The breakaway group claimed to have won a vote by this show of hands, enabling them to negotiate directly with Fortescue. It was a big win for Twiggy

[D]

Forest and Fortescue just pushed ahead with their plans. In 2013, Fortescue opened its first Solomon Mine fire tale on the Indjibandi people's country without an agreement, without their consent. The. That's bending reality. And fundamentally, in my mind, that's what has enabled Fortescue Metals Group to churn out close to $50 billion of profit without ever paying a cent to the people whose land they're mining. But interestingly, in the courts in 2017, the Federal Court reaffirmed that the Indjibandi people had exclusive possession over that country. So that sprawling battle has culminated now in this compensation claim being lodged, in which the federal court will continue to commence hearings and likely hand down its verdict at the end of 2025.

[C]

I think one way of describing this is a sort of David and Goliath battle, which is a bit of a lazy comparison, but I just wonder how Michael Woodley sees this, this fight.

[D]

Yeah, I asked Michael that question when I first met him and he took a very long pause. He had a relatively cheeky smile that washed over his face after he gathered his thoughts. And then he lent in and just said, look, Andrew might be the richest man in the country. He might have access to the best lawyers and mix it with the top end of town. But so what? That's not power. And then he again took another breath and lent in a little bit closer with his eyebrows raised and just basically said, you see, I'm a Yinji Bandi man. I know my law, I speak my language, and I walk the same lands that my ancestors have for tens of thousands of years. So if you want to talk about power, well, that's power. And I suppose in my mind, that's what has encapsulated, you know, this story and how one incredibly proud, stoic man with the support of his tiny community has battled and beat a mining tycoon on a shoestring budget.

[C]

After the break, why a huge cash payout won't come close to healing the wounds. Ben, tell me about where the legal battle is up to now. What's happening in the courts as we speak?

[D]

So the courts are listening to preliminary hearings for the compensation claim that the Injobandi have lodged after 2020, when the high Court dismissed Fortescue's application to appeal its judgment. So after multiple court battles that have spanned multiple years, the court is now hearing this compensation claim. And it needs to put, I suppose, a numerical value on a whole lot of different things. It needs to consider what the financial value of, you know, close to 250 sacred sites that have been destroyed, including rock art shelters that prove human habitation for more than 35,000 years. It needs to put a numerical value on the cultural and familial ties that have been broken, many of which that are beyond repair. They also have to decide how much of the $50 billion of iron ore profits that Fortescue has churned out of the Indjobane people's lands belong to them. And then probably additionally start to consider how much of the profits belong to the Indjibandi people over the years ahead, knowing that Fortescue's Solomon Mines still has plenty of great days of extracting iron ore ahead of it. So, you know, are the courts best placed to determine what is the just and right and moral outcome? Or can they purely just engage with this through a legal lens and try and come to a determination there? But I know either way, when I speak to Michael Woodley, yes, there is some solace in the sense that they are getting towards an outcome and they will receive compensation.

[E]

You know, they need to be compensated. You know, our land was taken from us. We didn't deliver it, we didn't give it, we didn't sell it.

[D]

But if everyone had their time over again, you know, Michael has said that he and many others in the community wish this just never happened in the first place.

[C]

Is that because it's caused such huge divisions in the community?

[D]

Well, the community is, yeah. In other hearings, you know, the courts have heard how, you know, family members no longer talk to one another. They avoid each other in the streets. There's enduring, lasting pain that, you know, may never heal. It might take a generation to heal. It's the destruction of really significant sacred sites that get to the heart of a people's belief system that gets to the heart of who they are. So in that context, I don't know how you can put, yeah, a numerical monetary value on stripping people from the things that sustain them.

[C]

How's Michael Woodley doing now?

[D]

Michael is someone that just appears to defy gravity. He is always smiling, he's always calm. He has always got a really deep sense of presence. You know, when I speak to him, despite the busyness of his life and, you know, the challenges that he, you know, has to confront, it always just feels like you're the only person that matters in that moment. But, you know, when I asked him about the journey and what he's learned about himself, of course he told me that, you know, he's learned to just let things be the way that they are.

[E]

I'm a serious man. Right. You know, but, you know, I've learned

[D]

to be mellow as well, and that he's not necessarily going to change a rock into a flower and that it's better to just let a rock be

[E]

a rock because you can't, you can't. You can't enforce something that is not willing to change. So.

[D]

So Michael has moved back out onto his homelands, which is around 100 K's out of Roeburn. So it is, you know, 25 to 30 people there, I think, at the best of times. But for him, you know, it's a spiritual reconnecting. You know, he's really optimistic about the future. I think he's, you know, really pleased that this is coming towards. There's going to be a sense of closure, you know, in the wake of these federal hearings. And I think he's just really, you know, optimistic about turning, you know, Roeburn and the Indubandi nation into a thriving place and a thriving peoples. I think, you know, this is happening at a really important time when, you know, extractivism in Australia is going to double, triple, quadruple down in the wake of the energy transition and the need to extract, you know, volumes of critical minerals to support that so, yeah, there's going to be a lot of eyes watching this and it'll be really interesting to see, you know, what that judge hands down towards the end of 2025.

[C]

Ben, thanks so much for your time today.

[D]

Appreciate it. Thank you.

[A]

7am will be back tomorrow with an interview with Social Services Minister Tanya Plibersek. After another devastating week of violence against women and children, the government is resisting calls for a royal commission as consultation starts on Labor's second action plan to end violence against women and children. She argues the country needs action, not another inquiry.

[I]

What people who work on the front line have said to me again and again is we've been consulted. We've had eight royal commissions and major reports in recent years with a thousand recommendations. Our Family Domestic and Sexual Violence Commissioner, Michaela Cronin, last year totalled up all these recommendations. And I've got a lot of sympathy for the argument of frontline workers that we've been consulted. We know what the problem is. What we need is sustained action to change the incidence of violence in our community.

[A]

I'm Daniel James. Thanks for listening,

[B]

Sam.