Federal review clears Environmental Defenders office of breaching funding agreement in Santos case

A federal review has cleared the Environmental Defenders Office of breaching its funding agreement during a case in which the judge found it ‘coached witnesses’ and ‘distorted’ the truth.

A federal review has cleared the Environmental Defenders Office of breaching its funding agreement during a court case against Santos’ Barossa project, in which the judge made damning findings the legal service had coached witnesses and distorted the truth.

The NT government, meanwhile, said it would not cut EDO funding after its own investigation found the Territory’s $100,000 annual contribution flowed to education initiatives, rather than anything related to adverse findings in the Santos case.

The Country Liberal Party has pledged to defund the not-for-profit if elected, as has the federal opposition.

Scrutiny of the EDO crescendoed in January after the Federal Court dismissed its attempt to stop Santos laying a gas pipeline in the Timor Sea, representing Tiwi Island elders who argued the project risked culturally significant underwater sites.

Protesters gather at the front of the Federal Court in 2022, rallying against gas developments in the Barossa field north of Darwin. (Photo by Tamati Smith/Getty Images)

Justice Natalie Charlesworth found there was an “inference that Indigenous instructions have been distorted and manipulated (by the EDO’s lawyers)”, that their “synthesised narrative” was unreliable, and that the lawyers had engaged in “a form of subtle witness coaching”.

Following the decision, Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek ordered a review into the federal government’s $8.25m funding agreement with the environmental legal aid, which runs until 2026.

Independent advisers for the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water this week found the funding agreement had not been breached, and there was no evidence indicating potential fraud.

The department added additional conditions to ongoing funding, including amending the grant agreement to expressly require the EDO comply with relevant professional legal standards.

The department also referred Justice Charlesworth’s judgment to the Law Society NT to consider individual lawyers’ conduct.

Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek and her Northern Territory counterpart Kate Worden. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

NT Environment Minister Kate Worden said she did not have concerns about continued EDO funding.

“I’m very satisfied that the money we provide to them goes into an educational space and they do some really good work there,” she said.

“I met with them locally and nationally to make sure the Territory voice was very clear that we were not supportive of any funding that goes into those sorts of activities (at the centre of the adverse findings).”

Country Liberal Leader Lia Finocchiaro said defunding the EDO would improve investor confidence.

“We back a strong economy, and to have a strong economy we can’t be making decisions around people who seek to only destroy economic growth and opportunity,” she said.

Most of the EDO’s $13.3m annual income comes from private donations and philanthropy.

In March the organisation launched its own independent review of the Santos court case, appointing a team of legal experts to recommend reforms, including on best practice when working with First Nations clients.