Fresh delay to contentious Middle Arm gas project prompts call to “cancel it for good”

The timeline for developing the Middle Arm gas and petrochemical hub in Darwin Harbour has been pushed back again, prompting a local environmental group to demand the project be cancelled once and for all.

The Northern Territory government has quietly pushed back the deadline for the project’s developers to submit key documents for its environmental approval documents until 7 October 2028, after they missed the deadline for 7 October last week.

The Environment Centre NT said the project was supposed to have been completed by this year, according to its original plan, released in 2021.

It has also been sitting on a potential federal subsidy of $1.9 billion, pledged by the Albanese government, to dredge the Elizabeth River and build industrial jetties at the Middle Arm peninsula, and cover the costs of associated “regional logistics hubs”.

“It’s no surprise the NT government needs a further extension for environmental approvals for Middle Arm – rolling scandals have shown the project would be a disaster for our health, climate, and beautiful Darwin Harbour,” said Bree Ahrens, acting co-executive director of Environment Centre NT.

“There is no shortage of ideas for how the Federal subsidy could be used to enrich the lives of Territorians – but instead it’s chained to a project that would spell disaster for our communities and nature, if it ever happens at all,” Ahrens said.

Renew Economy sought comment from the NT government.

The environmental group said the latest delay followed a decision in February 2024 by Infrastructure Australia to reject the hub’s business case put forward by the NT Government. In late 2024, the NT government extended the original timeframe for environmental approvals for the first time.

In June it was revealed in NT Estimates that $36.2 million of taxpayer money had already been spent on logistics and infrastructure for Middle Arm, the environment group said.

The government has maintained a preference for developing fossil fuels in the territory.

Last month, NT chief minister Lia Finocchiaro oversaw a ceremonial ribbon cutting event to mark the flow of first fossil gas from the Beetaloo Sub-basin, declaring the moment as “a win for all Territorians and a true turning point for the Territory.”

The Environment Centre NT, however, said the Beetaloo event was a “PR stunt” that masked the project’s “bleak economic prospects” and a lack of social licence to proceed. The initial deliveries were merely appraisal gas, and the overall project’s viability remained in doubt, it said.