Gas industry regulator sued by Tiwi Islands Traditional Owners over Barossa gas project approvals

First Nations traditional owners have launched a Federal Court challenge to Santos’ plans to drill for gas off the coast of the Northern Territory, arguing approvals granted to the Barossa project are invalid because the oil and gas giant never consulted with the group.

The legal action has been launched by Tiwi Islands Traditional Owner, Dennis Tipakalippa, who says the gas industry regulator, the National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority (NOPSEMA), signed off on approvals for Santos to drill for gas in the Tiwi Islands despite Santos failing to fulfil its legal obligations to consult with the group.

Santos signed off on the $5 billion project’s final investment decision in March 2021, which wants to drill for gas in the Barossa gas field, located around 300 kilometres north of Darwin, to supply gas for export from the Darwin LNG facility.

The project was issued approvals from NOPSEMA to drill up to eight gas wells around the Northern Territory’s Tiwi Islands in March this year, but those approvals are now the subject of the legal challenge.

Tipakalippa was selected to represent the Tiwi Traditional Owner group in the legal proceedings, asking the Federal Court to set aside NOPSEMA’s approvals, disputing Santos’ claims that its consultation was sufficient.

“Santos say they did consultation for this drilling project, but no one spoke to me as a Traditional Owner and Senior Lawman for the Munupi clan. My clan, the Munupi, own these Northern Beaches. It’s our land that’s closest to the drilling site,” Tipakalippa said.

“We are the ones who are going to be affected. They never came to me in person or face to face. I think they couldn’t face my people.”

“We spend a lot of time out in the water – hunting, fishing. We only ever take what we can eat in a day, no more. We respect our homelands, our sea country and it looks after us. Santos should have respected us and consulted in the proper way.

“They think they can just go ahead with drilling our sea country without even talking to us. Enough is enough,” Tipakalippa added.

Planning documents submitted to NOPSEMA showed that the consultation undertaken by one of Santos’ project partners, ConocoPhillips, involved sending just two emails and making just one missed phone call to the Tiwi Land Council.

Additional documents submitted by Santos suggest the extent of the company’s consultation with both the Tiwi Land Council and the Northern Land Council – groups Santos acknowledged represent First Nations people in the relevant regions – consisted of handful of emails, with no face-to-face discussions undertaken.

Tipakalippa says Santos never consulted with the Tiwi Island traditional owners, despite being legally obliged to consult with any groups impacted by the gas project.

Marine scientist, and campaigner with the Environment Centre NT, Jason Fowler, said the project would have a significant impact on the environment and heritage value of the Tiwi Islands region, including by increasing the risk of irreversible damage caused by drilling and possible oil spills.

“Drilling production wells in the Barossa field will have a huge impact on marine life in the Timor Sea because it means two years of non-stop heavy industrial shipping activity and huge volumes of chemicals, cement and waste dumped into the sea during the drilling process,” Fowler said.

“Any mistake at the Barossa field, such as a well blowout or ship collision, could be devastating to the Tiwi Islands, particularly during the summer monsoon when strong northwest trade winds will push any oil spill towards the Tiwi coast. Tropical cyclones regularly cross the Timor Sea which greatly increases the chances for these disasters to occur.

“Santos have rejected key safety measures such as locating oil spill clean up equipment at Port Melville on the nearby Tiwi Islands, ceasing drilling during cyclone season and ruling out the mandatory use of double hulled ships. This all adds up to increased risk to Tiwi Islanders who will have limited ability to react if an oil spill occurs.”

Tipakalippa will be represented by the Environmental Defenders Office, who will argue that the approvals granted to Santos by NOPSEMA are invalid.

“In seeking approval for this project, Santos had a legal obligation to consult with people who might be impacted by the drilling. Our client is arguing that consultation did not occur, and so the approval is invalid,” Environmental Defenders Office special counsel Alina Leikin said.

“The stakes couldn’t be higher for the Tiwi community. Their food source, their traditional practices, their culture and the country they’ve protected for millennia will be at risk if this drilling goes ahead.

“These waters and the life within them mean everything to Dennis and his community, but they didn’t have a chance to voice their concerns before the drilling was approved. They were sidelined from the consultation process.”

Santos declined to comment on the legal proceedings. NOPSEMA acknowledged reporting ‘allegations that Santos failed to consult in connection with the Barossa Project development’, but likewise declined to comment on the legal proceedings.