A federal Senate committee has called for an inquiry into the Northern Territory government's controversial plans to build a manufacturing hub near Darwin Harbour.
The recommendation forms part of a Senate inquiry's long-delayed final report, released on Wednesday, examining the impacts of developing the Beetaloo Basin, a huge shale gas reserve about 500 kilometres south-east of Darwin.
Since the inquiry was announced in June 2021, dozens of scientists, lawyers, pastoralists, traditional owners and gas industry representatives have given evidence detailing the possible outcomes of commercial gas production in the basin.
Many voiced concerns over the resulting increase in carbon emissions and potential risks to local groundwater and ecosystems.
Proponents argued that Beetaloo gas would boost employment and protect Australia's future energy security.
The report's release came as a group of protesters gathered at Darwin Port to oppose the arrival of a drill rig sent by gas company Tamboran Resources.
Speaking at the rally, Larrakia traditional owner Eric Fejo said: "This is all wrong."
"The savagery from federal governments, territory governments and all the sharks — all the major corporations — are ripping our veins out," he said.
"They don't care about us."
Report puts Middle Arm hub under federal spotlight
The Senate inquiry — chaired by Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young — made 14 recommendations.
Among them were calls for a fresh inquiry into the Northern Territory government's Middle Arm Sustainable Development Project, "noting that a future liquified natural gas and petrochemical plant in the area would likely source feedstock from the Beetaloo Basin".
The Northern Territory government has promoted its Middle Arm precinct as a "low-emissions" manufacturing hub that will focus on developing green hydrogen, critical minerals and carbon capture technology.
As well, the proposal includes a petrochemicals manufacturing facility, which would convert natural gas into products such as plastics and paint.
The government has since removed all references to petrochemicals from official websites about Middle Arm, sparking accusations of "greenwashing".
Environment Centre NT's director, Kirsty Howey, said the Senate inquiry's recommendation for a further inquiry into Middle Arm would invite further scrutiny of the project by the federal government.
"It's pretty extraordinary that we're going to get an inquiry into this project, including who's behind it, who the characters are, who has secured the subsidy, and the circumstances in which it's being pursued," she said.
"We can expect some more fireworks about Middle Arm in the very near future."
In a statement, a Northern Territory government spokesperson said "gas is the transition fuel that enables renewable energy technology".
"We have always said the core component of the Middle Arm development [would be] sustainability and [would] include renewable energy," the spokesperson said.
The project has been promised nearly $2 billion of federal funding.
Calls for federal water trigger, transparency, offsets plan
The inquiry also recommended the federal government bring forward legislation to expand the water trigger to include all forms of unconventional gas.
This would allow independent experts to scrutinise how fracking projects would impact water resources before they went ahead.
A spokesperson said the Northern Territory government would "continue working with [the Australian government] on this".
The inquiry recommended the establishment of a register to show who is behind the companies operating in the Beetaloo, after it emerged that a Russian oligarch had stakes in one company.
It also recommended that the federal government develop a national plan to offset all scope two and three emissions from fracking the Beetaloo, as per the Pepper report.
Traditional owner and chair of the Nurrdalinji Aboriginal Corporation Johnny Wilson travelled hundreds of kilometres to voice his concerns at the inquiry last year.
"This is an important report, because it tells the story of how we never consented to the scale of fracking on our country which gas companies now want," he said in a statement.
"We hold big fears that fracking will tear the heart out of our land, damaging water and sacred sites."
Coalition senators oppose report
In the final report, Coalition senators on the committee submitted a dissenting report in response to the inquiry's findings.
They said they were "unable to support the majority report" because it was "characterised by overtly political and ideological selection of evidence", and accused the the Greens of "moral grandstanding" at the expense of industries.
"It is disappointing that the Australian Greens, through the chair, have decided to continue to wage an ideological crusade against the development of the Beetaloo sub-basin," they wrote.
In a statement, Tamboran Resources chief executive Joel Riddle welcomed the Coalition senators' dissenting report.
"It's a shame that, after months of investigation, Senator Hanson-Young's clear disdain for the gas sector still outweighs the obvious major economic, environmental and energy security benefits flowing from the strategic development of the Beetaloo," he said in a statement.
Mr Riddle also said his company was trying to "invest hundreds of millions of dollars in the region", increasing job opportunities and royalties for the Northern Territory.
Final fracking decision coming soon
This week, Northern Territory Environment Minister Lauren Moss flagged a final decision on whether fracking will go ahead could come within weeks, following the release of a critical environmental study, known as the SREBA study.
The Arid Lands Environment Centre's Hannah Ekin said the Northern Territory government should hold off on giving any further approvals for fracking until it has met the Senate inquiry's recommendations.
"We've seen the Environment Minister Lauren Moss say that we are weeks away from full-scale fracking approval," she said.
"But we still don't have an answer for how these emissions would be offset, and we still don't have a federal water trigger."
In a statement, a Northern Territory government spokesperson said:
"A lot of the content in the inquiry report is being addressed within the territory government's Hydraulic Fracturing Inquiry."
