Pitt re-issues government millions to Beetaloo gas projects after court slap down

The Morrison government has reissued almost $20 million in grant funding to controversial gas drilling projects in the Northern Territory’s Beetaloo Basin after the federal court thwarted the first attempt.

Federal resources minister Keith Pitt was forced to reissue $19.4 million in grant funding to Empire Energy, after the federal court nullified his original decision to give the company funding to drill for gas.

Last year, Pitt awarded a subsidiary of Empire Energy, Imperial Oil & Gas, three grants of around $7 million each to undertake three drilling operations in the search for gas in the Beetaloo.

The original grant announcement was made by Pitt in July last year. However, it took around three months for the formal grant contracts to be signed.

In the intervening period, the Environment Centre NT had launched a legal challenge seeking to have the grants nullified on the basis that the grants were an unreasonable exercise of ministerial power.

While the federal court did not agree with arguments that the grant funding was unreasonable on climate change grounds, it did conclude that the federal government’s own actions, particularly its failure to fulfil model litigant obligations, had rendered the grants unlawful.

As Pitt decided to sign the contracts for the grants while legal challenge was already underway, and failed to notify the Environment Centre NT that he was doing so, the federal court found the environment group had been denied an opportunity to seek an injunction.

The federal court ruled that the federal government had failed to fulfil its model litigant obligations and subsequently cancelled the grant contracts, ruling that Pitt had, in fact, acted unreasonably.

On Wednesday, Pitt blamed the delayed grants on the actions of “activists”.

“As the ACCC confirmed recently, it is imperative, and to the benefit of all Australians, that new gas developments are opened up as soon as possible to ensure continuing domestic supply to homes and businesses across the country,” Pitt said.

“Activists trying to stop or delay crucial gas projects threaten future energy security both here in Australia and in countries around the world that rely on our LNG exports.”

Climate action campaigners 350.org Australia labelled the decision to reissue the grant as an “atrocious misuse of public money.”

“The Morrison government is clearly more interested in giving money to their donors in the gas industry than hearing the concerns of Traditional Owners and local communities who don’t want Empire Energy’s project to go ahead,” 350.org Australia campaigns director Kelly Albion said.

“It’s 2022, we should be building big renewable energy with batteries that are manufactured in Australia, not digging up new sources of methane that will irreversibly warm our climate.”

Australian Greens leader Adam Bandt also slammed the decision.

“By signing off on NT Labor’s giant climate bomb, the Liberals are putting lives at risk,” Bandt said.

“Gas is as dirty as coal, and the Betaloo gas project will be worse for the climate than the Adani coal mine. The NT gas fields contain almost 70 years’ worth of Australia’s total climate pollution, and today Keith Pitt has signed off on detonating that climate bomb.”

The grants for the Beetaloo drilling operations have been the subject of significant scrutiny after it was revealed that, in the led up to the funding being awarded, Empire Energy attended a Liberal party fundraiser in Darwin and paid to fly a large contingent of senior Liberal party figures to its Beetaloo operations.

The trip included federal resources minister Angus Taylor, NT Country Liberal Leader Lia Finochiarro, and a contingent of political advisers and gas industry lobbyists.

In the months following the trip, the Morrison government announced the creation of the $50 million Beetaloo Cooperative Drilling Program. To date, Empire Energy is the only company to receive funding under the program.

Taylor has denied any involvement in the decision to award the grant funding to Empire Energy, a decision ultimately made by Pitt as resources minister.

The Morrison government has sought to pour significant funding into expanding the Northern Territory’s gas industry, as part of its “gas led recovery”. The push to open up the Beetaloo for gas exploration has been slammed by a number of environmental, health and First Nations groups.

This week, the Global Energy Monitor released a new analysis that suggests Australia was at risk of accruing more than $25 billion in stranded assets in the form of new gas infrastructure, the development of which is inconsistent with global decarbonisation efforts.