A Senate inquiry report has laid bare deep divisions over the future of Darwin Harbour amidst accusations of "greenwashing" and an enormous subsidy for fossil fuels.
The report, tabled on Wednesday night, relates to a controversial plan to develop a major industrial precinct the Northern Territory is calling the Middle Arm Sustainable Development Precinct.
The proposal would see 1,500 hectares cleared from a mangrove-clad peninsula called Middle Arm. It's home to multiple threatened species and is located within kilometres of the city of Palmerston and the CBD.
Critics told the inquiry the precinct isn't sustainable at all and would open the gate to a massive expansion of the gas industry in the territory.
This has sparked concerns about climate change, health impacts, and a lack of First Nations consent.
, environmental management will be a key issue. In a recent debate, Opposition leader Lia Finocchiaro said Labor might pander to "economic vandals" who oppose Middle Arm but the Country Liberal Party would not.
What is being proposed?
The NT government says the development would help capitalise on access to natural gas and renewable energies to grow the economy, and create eco-friendly manufacturing jobs.
Its submission to the inquiry emphasised claims the precinct would play a key role in Australia’s net zero emissions ambitions by supporting strategies designed to develop green and blue hydrogen, critical minerals, and carbon capture and storage.
The NT government also highlighted how a "circular economy" approach would reduce emissions by capturing carbon produced at Middle Arm and redirecting it into manufacturing inputs required for the green transition.
Chief Minister Eva Lawler has said the Middle Arm precinct represents a key opportunity for the Northern Territory. Source: AAP / Amanda Parkinson
The federal government has backed the plan and committed $1.5 billion to subsidise infrastructure. The Coalition also supports the precinct, having previously promised $2 billion while in government.
However, the Greens joined with crossbench senators Lidia Thorpe and David Pocock in echoing opposition from a long list of Traditional Owners, environment groups, and health professionals.
"The proposed development at Middle Arm is a plan to build a fossil gas and petrochemical precinct," Senator Pocock said.
"Although some proponents have proposed projects that do not rely on fossil gas, it is clear that the current design of the precinct is structured in a way that has gas at its core."
The Greens and crossbench senators said the $1.5 billion in federal funding should be withdrawn.
'An absolute carbon bomb'
Documents dating from August last year described Middle Arm as a "key enabler" for fracking in the Beetaloo Basin, several hundred kilometres southeast of Darwin.
One of the main companies associated with the precinct plan is Tamboran Resources. It would operate a liquified natural gas export facility to complement its proposal for drilling 6,000 wells in the Beetaloo Basin.
Kirsty Howey, executive director of the Environment Centre NT, said attempts to "greenwash" the precinct were "gilding the lily and putting lipstick on a pig".
"If fracking in the Beetaloo Basin does go ahead it would be an absolute carbon bomb," she said.
That claim is contested by the NT government.
In promoting the project, it has relied on a report by the CSIRO to suggest that fracking could proceed without adding to Australia’s net carbon emissions.
But the report has been challenged by Dr Bill Hare, chief executive of global climate science and policy group Climate Analytics, .
"I think that the whole framing of this CSIRO report was very much designed to show that the Northern Territory’s policy settings could be achieved," he told SBS News.
Hare's review found the CSIRO underestimated emissions that would be created by Tamboran’s Beetaloo Basin and Middle Arm projects by 45 per cent.
He said they would generate 1.2 billion tonnes of emissions over 25 years, equivalent to three years of Australia’s current annual emissions.
Hare said this is "not a trivial problem at all" but "one that would pose major problems for Australia ultimately getting to net zero, and even meeting its greenhouse gas targets for 2030".
His report found the CSIRO had relied on overly positive assumptions about the ability to 'offset' emissions by preserving landscapes at other sites to compensate for carbon created by the Tamboran projects, as well as unproven technologies like carbon capture and storage.
"My impression is that the sustainable development and circular economy claims are essentially greenwash. I don't think this stacks up," Hare said.
SBS News has contacted the CSIRO for comment.
In a statement given to The Conversation for an article Hare published on its website, a CSIRO spokesperson said: "CSIRO scientists have delivered a robust and detailed technical analysis, confirmed through an intensive peer review process, of the greenhouse gas emissions associated with onshore gas production scenarios in the Beetaloo Sub-basin, and important information about realistic mitigation and offset options.
"CSIRO stands behind the quality of its research and the integrity of its peer review process."
'The white man is packing his pocket with cash'
The Middle Arm precinct is also opposed by Traditional Owners in the Darwin area, with a group of senior Larrakia leaders saying the precinct would be "built on our country without our consent" in a submission to the inquiry.
Traditional Owners of the Beetaloo Basin also voiced their opposition to fracking at the inquiry.
The Chair of Nurrdalinji Native Title Aboriginal Corporation, Samuel Janama Sandy, said "governments should not back fracking on our country, for gas which [proponents] will send to Middle Arm Gas Hub to be used, processed and exported overseas from Middle Arm".
"We are getting a peanut, while the white man is packing up his pocket with cash," Sandy said.
Traditional Owners and supporters have protested Tamboran's hopes to fast track its bid to frack the Northern Territory's Beetaloo Basin. Source: AAP / Dean Lewins
The Northern Land Council also echoed concerns about the Middle Arm consultation process.
In their submission, the Larrakia Reference Group said they "wholly reject" NT government assertions that revenue raised through Middle Arm could be used to help achieve targets to close the gap, saying claims of free, prior and informed consent were “deceptive and misleading”.
"It would seem that the Northern Territory government still does not understand what self-determination means," they said.
Health concerns
Larrakia leaders also expressed health concerns about climate change and air pollution.
They were joined by the Aboriginal Medical Services Alliance Northern Territory, Public Health Association of Australia, NT Paediatricians, independent academics and Doctors for the Environment Australia (DEA).
DEA executive director Dr Kate Wylie told SBS News that "fossil fuels are fundamentally a health hazard" since "climate change is well recognised as the greatest health problem facing human civilisation".
She said extreme weather, heat waves, floods, storms, impacts on food and water security, rising sea levels, infectious diseases and displacement can all contribute to an increased burden of disease.
"Air pollution kills more people than smoking," Wiley said.
This was a particular concern for 'fenceline communities' living near the proposed precinct, which could host petrochemical processing facilities. Experts testified these communities could face an increased risk of respiratory illness, adverse birth outcomes, cardiovascular disease and cancer.
Wiley said a systematic review of health literature in 2020 "found there is a 30 per cent increased risk of leukaemia in ‘fenceline communities’ living close to petrochemical processing plants" along with a similar increase in the risk of a chronic kidney disease called glomerulonephritis.
The UN Special Rapporteur on Toxics and Human Rights echoed some of these concerns.
‘Far from a done deal’
The NT government defended the precinct which it said is "underpinned by a rigorous engineering, design and analysis process including more than 200 studies and technical assessments to date".
However, it is yet to make this analysis public due to ongoing environmental approval processes.
A "strategic environmental assessment" of the precinct is underway.
Howey said the Middle Arm precinct is "far from a done deal" and vowed campaigners would fight to ensure the environmental assessments are rigorous.
"The penny has dropped that what is being planned is the destruction of Darwin Harbour, the place we call home. This will be one of the big environmental campaigns in the country if it proceeds," she said.
With additional reporting from the Australian Associated Press.
