Federal Labor will target the relationship between the Liberal Party, federal energy minister Angus Taylor and a gas company awarded $21 million in government grants – saying there is “stench around these grants” – but has stopped short of supporting the abolition of the grant program altogether.
Labor has flagged that it will refer grants awarded under the Beetaloo Cooperative Drilling Program – a $50 million fund by the Morrison government to provide funding for gas companies to drill for new gas reserves in the Northern Territory – to the Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) for investigation.
The ANAO has previously uncovered details of multiple problematic grant programs administered by the Morrison government, including the so-called ‘sports rorts’ and ‘car parks rorts’ programs, as well as questionable processes around a decision by Angus Taylor to award $4 million in taxpayer funds to support a proposal for a new coal fired power station in Queensland.
The move follows a Labor-Greens led Senate inquiry that unearthed significant links between the sole beneficiary of the grants program, Empire Energy, and the Liberal Party.
“The committee heard that Empire Energy, its Chair, Mr Paul Espie, and its largest shareholder, Tasmanian billionaire Mr Dale Elphinstone, have extensive connections into the Liberal Party, including but not limited to political donations,” the inquiry’s interim report says.
“Some submitters and witnesses suggested that the company used these connections to influence or secure funding grants under the [Beetaloo Cooperative Drilling] Program.”
Taylor visited Empire Energy operations in the Beetaloo Basin in October last year, a day after he and representatives from Empire Energy attended a Liberal Party fundraiser in Darwin.
The chair of a fundraising body affiliated with Taylor, the Hume Forum, also attended the site visit, along with other Liberal party politicians, fossil fuel industry representatives and a reporter from Sky News.
Taylor is not the responsible minister for the grants program. Federal resources minister Keith Pitt signed off on $21 million worth of grants to Empire Energy in July.
Labor said it would also seek to compel the Morrison government to release all correspondence and documents relating to Taylor’s trip to the Northern Territory.
The Australian Greens will move a motion in the Senate on Wednesday afternoon, which if passed would effectively cancel out the Beetaloo grant program altogether, by stripping Pitt of the necessary legislative backing to run the program.
The Greens would need the support of both Labor and the rest of the senate crossbench for the motion to succeed.
Some within Labor’s ranks have raised significant concerns about the Beetaloo grant program and would be willing to back the disallowance motion, but a party caucus meeting on Tuesday resolved to reserve judgement on the grant program until a senate inquiry into Beetaloo oil and gas exploration has concluded.
NT Labor senator, Malarndirri McCarthy, was one of the Labor caucus members to call on her party to rethink its position on the Beetaloo grants program.
“I urged the Caucus to rethink its position and vote against allowing $50 million in public funding being given,” McCarthy told the ABC.
“Of concern is the decision to award grants on a first-come first-served basis rather than a merit-based process, particularly when the only company approved for funding has extensive connections to the Liberal Party.”
Labor senator Murray Watt said, at the very least, Labor would seek to use the remaining work of the inquiry to probe further into the relationships between the Morrison government and Empire Energy, as well as contradictory information provided to the committee.
“Labor will use the Senate inquiry to pursue this apparent misleading evidence from witnesses,” Watt told the Senate.
“What we will also do is move another motion for an order to produce documents this week in this chamber to seek all correspondence relating to Minister Taylor’s visit to the Northern Territory, there is a stench around these grants.
“There is a stench around Minister Taylor’s involvement in them, and we deserve to see all correspondence regarding Minister Taylor’s visit to the Northern Territory.”
Advocacy group GetUp! welcomed the interim recommendations of the inquiry, which included a call for the Morrison government to investigate apparent conflicts of interest in the Beetaloo grants program, but the group slammed Labor for failing to support the grant program’s abolition.
“The Australian public deserve a genuine opposition to this Government and its vested interests. That means strong action on climate change, preventing destructive gas expansion, solidarity with Traditional Owners, and holding multinational gas giants and the Liberal Party to account,” GetUp First Nations Justice Campaign Director Larissa Baldwin said.
“If Labor is serious about respecting the wishes of Traditional Owners, enforcing decent governance standards and preventing massive releases of carbon emissions, they will vote to disallow the Government’s $50 million handout to giant gas corporations.”
In a dissenting report to the Beetaloo inquiry’s interim report, Coalition members of the committee dismissed concerns about potential conflicts of interest and political influence.
“The majority report seizes on such circumstantial evidence to draw conclusions and make recommendations which impute inappropriate behaviour in respect to the development and communication of BCD Program Guidelines and the awarding of a grant to Imperial Oil and Gas (a wholly owned subsidiary of Empire),” the Coalition committee members said, which include NT senator Sam McMahon and SA senator David Fawcett.
“The majority report glosses over direct evidence provided by the Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources that the BCD Program was modelled on similar schemes operating in other jurisdictions, and ignores written evidence from Empire confirming that there had been no discussion with Ministers or staff regarding the BCD Program and its guidelines.”
