Equatorial Launch Australia blames NLC permits failure for decision to quit the Territory
Plans to operate a space base out of the Territory have been dashed after the company announced it would cease operations at the Arnhem Space Centre and relocate to Queensland.
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Plans to operate a space base out of the Northern Territory have been dashed after Equatorial Launch Australia announced it would “immediately” cease operations at the Arnhem Space Centre in Nhulunbuy and relocate to Weipa, Queensland.
A statement posted on the company’s website overnight said Equatorial Launch Australia had “been forced” to act because the Northern Land Council had failed to meet “its own specified deadline” for the approval of the head lease.
The NLC said it was being “unfairly blamed” by the space company.
ELA made global headlines in 2022 when it hosted three NASA rocket launches at the Arnhem Space Centre - the first ever by the space organisation outside of the United States.
The previous NT Labor Government invested $5m of taxpayers’ money into ELA and the company had plans to invest up to $100m developing the Arnhem base.
The company put the blame squarely on the NLC for its decision to leave the Territory, saying the lease approval process had been underway for almost three years, with the formal application lodged on January 1, 2022.
The company said the NLC had failed to meet its own specified deadline for the lease approval for the fourth time in October.
“Despite desperate appeals from ELA, the Northern Territory Chief Minister’s Department, and the Gumatj Corporation since February 2024, the NLC would not issue a head lease or provide any official reasons for the delays,” ELA’s statement said.
“The Gumatj are ELA’s direct landlord for the existing site and are the traditional owners and operators of the adjacent and disused bauxite mine on the Gove Peninsula, the site that ELA had requested for the spaceport expansion.
“The continued delays from the NLC have made the existence of the spaceport in the Northern Territory challenging, and the most recent delay to late 2025 to allow consultation with traditional owner groups had the potential to put ELA in breach of its contractual obligations with launch clients, and jeopardised a previously secured major funding round.
“Accordingly, management and the board of ELA were left with no option other than to act in the best interest of its customers and shareholders and abandon negotiations to seek an alternate equatorial site in Queensland.
“Working with the Queensland Government, ELA has identified a potential alternate site and has commenced planning and regulatory clearances for its contracted launches in Q3 2025. “The new site, named the ‘Australian Space Centre Cape York’, will be at Weipa in Queensland.
“ELA is saddened that the more than $100m investment that ELA was making in the East Arnhem region, and the projected $3.6bn in direct economic stimulus, local job creation, and support for local and regional students in STEM projects, as well as the long-term opportunities that were forecast over the life of the proposed lease, will now no longer materialise.
“ELA would like to thank the unrelenting support of the Northern Territory Government and the Gumatj Corporation, who have both been exemplary partners in the spaceport’s eight-year existence and throughout this difficult process.”
NLC chairman Matthew Ryan struck a defiant tone, saying ongoing negotiatioins since September 2023 had been unable to secure a Section 19 Land Use Agreement around the expansion of the Arnhem Space Centre.
He said the NLC has sought essential information and terms to be provided, so it could facilitate informative consultations with all Traditional Owners affected, including progressing the work of independent expert consultants.
“It is vital for Countrymen, and in the interest of all Australians, that sacred and cultural sites are protected and at the same time Aboriginal people are included in and benefit from economic developments on their Country,” Mr Ryan said.
“This can only be achieved through upholding the thorough Section 19 Agreement process,
facilitated by the NLC.”
Gumatj Corporation chief executive Klaus Helms said NLC delays could have stemmed from leadership turmoil which has seen a chief executive and chairman replaced in the past 12 months.
He said ELA had commitments to customers and had tried hard to secure the permits and had been forced to make a decision.
He said he was worried other major companies would see ELA’s challenges and avoid the region.
“This was a very big project for us and it would have put us on the map and now its back to the drawing board to find something new,” Mr Helms said.
“It’s very disappointing.”
A spokesman said the CLP government was disappointed, and it would explore legal options regarding the $5m grant, which amounted to a five percent shareholding in the company.
ELA chief executive Michael Jones has been contacted for further comment.
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