Spot the Blackfellas in this rent-a-crowd
Northern Territory
The Australian Environment Editor Graham Lloyd says a Federal Court judge rejecting claims by a group of Tiwi Islanders that a proposed gas pipeline would damage Indigenous cultural heritage is an “extraordinary” and “welcome judgement.”
The battle was between energy giant Santos and local Aboriginal groups.
Tiwi Islander Simon Munkara filed a challenge to the pipeline plans days before work was due to start in October, saying it would damage sea Country and Songlines.
The $5.8 billion gas project in the Timor Sea has been on hold at a cost of $15 million a month after drilling was hit with a legal injunction.
“It’s an extraordinary and, I must say, welcome judgement from the federal court,” Mr Lloyd told Sky News host Peta Credlin in response.
“The judge has blown the whistle on the way environment groups and academia are exploiting indigenous communities to further their own interests.
“The federal court has picked it apart and said, well this is concocted which is an extraordinary judgement to make.”
Mr Munkara argues the pipeline poses a significant new impact or risk to Tiwi underwater cultural heritage that was not assessed in Santos’ original environment plan for the pipeline approved by NOPSEMA, the National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority.
If a significant new impact or risk arises, the law requires a titleholder to submit a proposed revision of an environment plan to the regulator for approval before work can continue.
The drilling approval comes as Santos confirms it is in talks with Woodside Energy on a potential $80 billion merger.
Woodside’s $16.5 billion Scarborough gas project in Western Australia has also been delayed, with some parts of the project still waiting for regulatory approvals.
Cairns News: The indigenous people involved made some extraordinary claims about Santos drilling and pipelines causing harm to their underwater heritage sites.
We asked a Queensland Aboriginal Heritage archaeologist just what are these underwater sites.
He said he had never heard of such a thing, but according to Tiwi Islanders, underwater cultural heritage could be anything found along the pipeline route that may be of archaeological significance, existing 265klm NW of Darwin in the middle of the Timor Sea, 100 metres or more underwater.
But the archaeologist questioned how the Islanders were able to live on the seabed?
He said an infusion of bloodlines over the past few centuries between Aborigines, Indonesians, Javanese, Melanesians and Indians have resulted in the make up of Island inhabitants today.
“What could they possibly have left at the bottom of the ocean?” he asked.
Although not mentioned Santos would have to agree to pay Tiwi Islanders substantial royalties when the gas is exported.
The real issue for Australia is the gas to be extracted from these underwater wells is intended for overseas sales and domestic consumers will not benefit.
While ever we have the compromised Labor/LNP duopoly and the entrenched Canberra bureaucracy Australia will continue to be gas supplies and a quarry for the Oligarchy.
Maybe The Cairns News could print the Judge’s scathing comments directed at the climate scientists. Now that would be a story.
Now I know the provenance of the term Abolooney Diver. Reckon it must be circa 65,000 years old if not a day.
The worlds best story tellers have their “Alice in Wonderland” dream time fiction with their dream time scientific experts rejected for a change.
Trust the science. Don’t forget the mask! NOTHING created EVERYTHING out of NOTHING, or was it a BIG BANG? Don’t forget the monthly booster! And uh make your next car an EV.
In today’s Australian, the Federal Court judge was scathing of the (climate) scientist who gave evidence for the Tiwi Islanders.