24 April 2025
Greens candidate for Cunningham Jess Whittaker has called a move by a Federal agency to approve a new gas field north of Darwin as abhorrent.
The National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority has approved an offshore gas field which will add more than 270 million tonnes of heat-trapping CO2 into the atmosphere over its life.
“This approval, from NOPSEMA, is the final straw. The Federal Minister for Energy oversees this authority and he has the ability to halt this development. Minister Bowen has stated that the authority must act in the interests of the environment.
“This is one of the dirtiest gas projects in Australia and at a time when we have record heat wave temperatures throughout Australia and the Great Barrier Reef has suffered its sixth successive bleaching since 2016.
“It’s time we took strong action and we stop new coal and gas projects such as the Barossa gas field. We can’t continue on this pathway where we are adding huge amounts of greenhouse gases to our precious atmosphere.
“Right now we are faced with a reckless Labor government who have approved more than 26 new coal, oil and gas developments in the past three years.
“While the opposition under Peter Dutton has voted against every law to cut climate pollution in the past three years and their policies would increase climate pollution by at least 6.3 billion tonnes.
“The Liberal National coalition, if elected, plan to introduce a nuclear scheme that would lock in at least two billion more tonnes of pollution from coal, oil and gas. They also plan to provide $1.3 billion in funding for the gas industry, and ramp up polluting gas production by fast-tracking approval of new gas projects and expanding existing gas projects, including the North West Shelf in WA.
“This is madness. We can’t continue on this path. We need Greens members of parliament who can hold the Government accountable and bring real change to our weakened Environmental protection laws and agency.
“This election we have a once in a lifetime chance to get strong action to save our wonderful climate. The next parliament will be crucial to slash our climate pollution and turn things around for our children’s future.”
The Barossa field is about 300kms north of Darwin in Commonwealth waters and gas would be transported via pipeline to a facility near Darwin.
NOPSEMA approved the Barossa operations on 22 April. The approval comes two years after Santos was fined for a major spill off the WA coast, highlighting the company’s poor environmental track record. The Barossa gas field, risks vulnerable marine life, cultural heritage and contains significantly higher levels of CO2 than other Australian gas fields.
