Plibersek’s water trigger review angers Territory business figures

Territory business figures are seething at the Commonwealth’s Beetaloo water trigger plan. Read why it was introduced.

Federal Resources Minister Madeleine King’s office has denied the omission of gas or the Beetaloo Basin in her NT Resources Week’s opening address on Wednesday morning was a snub to the industry.

Stung by last week’s referral of the Beetaloo Basin project to the Independent Expert Scientific Committee announcement by federal Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek, Territory business figures suspected the omission was a deliberate snub.

With the backing of her Territory Labor colleagues, Ms Plibersek last week announced the Beetaloo project had been referred to the IESC to evaluate the impact on water.

There are fears that the review could lead to the application of a water trigger over the Beetaloo project, which developers have been trying to get off the ground for years.

An inquiry launched by the then CLP government in 2015 delayed Beetaloo development, then a Labor Government fracking moratorium also setback the project by an additional three years.

H&P super-spec FlexRig on location at the SS2 well pad, as drilling begins on Tamboran Resources Shenandoah South Pilot Project in the Beetaloo Basin.

A Territory business insider told this masthead Ms Plibersek’s water-trigger decision had a “profound” impact on the mindset of business owners trying to survive during a cost-of-living and interest-rates crisis.

“It’s instructional the federal government and Minister Plibersek waited until after the Territory Labor government had been voted out of office before lumping the IESC referral around the Northern Territory’s neck,” a businessman told the NT News.

“There are very real concerns among Territory businesses that the federal Labor Government is happy for the Territory to be dependent on Commonwealth support instead of using gas to help develop a strong industrial base from which to grow a proper economy.

“The Commonwealth has shutdown the Jabiluka uranium project potentially forever, they’re now looking at how they can make the Beetaloo project harder to get up, but then they approve a supposedly green project like SunCable that will not happen in the form it’s being proposed.

NT Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

“Minister Plibersek is using the Territory economy to try and harvest green votes in her inner-city Sydney electorate.”

Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro also criticised the inquiry.

“Clearly this isn’t a necessary review but the federal government are pushing ahead,” she said. “What we know is the Beetaloo Basin is going to present enormous opportunities for the Territory.

“We’re very focused on developing the Territory’s potential going forward and that we can shed the ridiculous title we’ve had for five-and-a-half years of being the worst performing economy in the nation.”

NT Environment Minister Josh Burgoyne described the inquiry as a “handbrake”.

“The Federal Labor Government has no reason to put a handbrake on developing the Beetaloo Basin,” he said.

“Our onshore petroleum industry is well regulated under a range of laws to ensure it occurs safely, and in line with community expectations.”

A spokesman for Ms King said she supported the Beetaloo project.

“Madeleine King speaks regularly about the potential for the Beetaloo whenever she is in the Northern Territory,” he said.

“Minister King has been consistent in her support for gas as is evidenced in the Future Gas Strategy. To suggest otherwise is ludicrous.”

Originally published as Plibersek’s water trigger review angers Territory business figures