A court will hear evidence from a traditional owner on a Northern Territory beach in a legal battle over the decision to allow drilling for a massive gas project near his home.
Tiwi Islander Dennis Tipakalippa is challenging the national offshore gas regulator’s approval of Santos’ environmental plans to drill in the Barossa gas field, 265km northwest of Darwin.
The Munupi Elder says he was not adequately consulted over the plan for eight gas wells about 150km north of his home at Pitjamirra on Melville Island.
“They think they can just go ahead with drilling our sea Country without even talking to us,” he said.
“It feels like a big backstab.”
Mr Tipakalippa is expected to give cultural evidence on Monday, potentially in the form of song and dance, to the Federal Court judicial review of the National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority’s decision.
The first day of the six-day hearing will be held at Pitjamirra, which is at the northwestern end of Melville Island and the community closest to the Santos drill site.
“We spend a lot of time out in the water – hunting, fishing,” Mr Tipakalippa said.
“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.”
After the on-Country hearing, the court will relocate to Darwin and Melbourne for the remainder of the proceedings.
Mr Tipakalippa’s lawyers, Environmental Defenders Office, will argue Santos failed to provide him, and his community, with the opportunity to have a say about the drilling that could impact their culture and way of life.
Greens Senator Dorinda Cox, who has travelled to the Tiwis for the hearing, said Native Title does not protect sea country and the case could establish what adequate consultation is for offshore gas projects.
“The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People clearly states that free, prior and informed consent is a human right,” she said.
“Free, means without coercion. Prior, means giving communities enough time to consider their options. Informed, means having access to all of the relevant information before making a decision.”
Santos, Australia’s second-largest independent gas producer, has previously said it would “vigorously defend” its Barossa project plan and it had all necessary approvals following consultation with stakeholders.
The $US3.6 billion offshore natural gas development is expected to create up to 600 jobs and will pipe gas 280km to the Darwin LNG facility, with first gas production expected in 2025.
The drilling, which started in July, is happening in waters between 204 and 376 metres deep about 33km from the Oceanic Shoals Australian Marine Park.
The company says the project, which is 43 per cent complete and on schedule, is one of the world’s lowest cost new LNG supply projects and it will give Santos and Darwin LNG a competitive advantage in the tightening global market.
It purchased the project in 2020 from US oil and gas giant ConocoPhillips, which activists have previously alleged sent just two emails and made one unanswered phone call to the Tiwi Land Council during the consultation period for a drilling plan.
NOPSEMA declined to comment on the legal case, saying the matter was before a court.
The regulator accepted the project’s environmental plan and approved the drilling activities in March, saying it was satisfied the project had complied with the regulations.
The Tiwi Islands are 85km north of Darwin.