Sweetpea Petroleum wins Supreme Court appeal against Beetaloo graziers

The Supreme Court has knocked back Territory farmer’s attempt to claim compensation for future damages from fracking.

Territory landowners have been denied payouts for future damage to their land by fracking operations, a month after the government greenlit the controversial industry.

A Supreme Court appeal has upheld a decision by the Northern Territory Civil and Administrative Tribunal, which found pastoralists Yarabala and BB Barkley Pty Ltd were not entitled to compensation from fracking giant Tamboran Resources.

The ruling by Justice Peter Barr quashes a 16-month legal clash over cattle lands 48km north east of Elliott, in the gas-rich Beetaloo Basin.

In February 2022, NTCAT President Mark O’Reilly and tribunal member Leslie McCrimmon ruled that the cattle ranchers were not owed compensation as part of negotiating access rights with the fracking company.

Yarabala Pty Ltd are the pastoral lease holders at Beetaloo Station on the Barkly Tablelands.

The court heard access agreement negotiations between Yarabala and Sweetpea Petroleum — a subsidiary of Tamboran Resources — broke down, forcing the graziers and gas giant to head to NTCAT.

The cattle company unsuccessfully argued it was owed compensation, for the deprivation of use or enjoyment of their land, and the damage caused by future fracking operations.

Yarabala argued the 293 km of pipeline tracks would decrease land values by $624,000, with any damage likely to take a decade to rehabilitate.

However Sweetpea argued there had been “nil” impact on its market value, and if any devaluation were to occur only then would they consider compensation.

As a Sweetpea representative argued: “There is no such thing as a personal injury case which assesses compensation before the plaintiff has been injured”.

“You can’t catastrophise what might happen,” Sweetpea expert witness and rural property valuer Frank Peacocke told the Supreme Court.

Chief Minister Natasha Fyles released the Final Implementation Report into the Scientific Inquiry into Hydraulic fracturing in May. Source: Supplied.

NTCAT said it could not “speculate” on the value of any future damage and loss, finding that

Yarabala was not entitled to compensation.

“Put shortly, the respondent has suffered no loss,” the 2022 ruling found.

“There has been no deprivation of the use or enjoyment of the land nor any damage caused to the land or improvements on it.

“Whether or not there will be and to what extent it will attract compensation remains to be seen.”

On Tuesday Justice Barr agreed, saying forcing the NTCAT to consider payouts for events which may never occur would “result in a significant distraction from the Tribunal’s core task”.

Justice Barr dismissed the appeal.

It comes a month after the Northern Territory government announced it would allow fracking in the Beetaloo Basin.

In May Chief Minister Natasha Fyles released the Final Implementation Report into the Scientific Inquiry into Hydraulic fracturing — five years after the Pepper Inquiry released its 135 recommendations.

The government had committed to meet all the Pepper Inquiry recommendations, however environmental groups have claimed less than half the recommendations had been met.

Originally published as Sweetpea Petroleum wins Supreme Court appeal against Beetaloo graziers