Chief Minister hits out at anti-gas protesters at NT Resources Week conference

‘You are wasting your time’: The Chief Minister has told anti-gas protesters who crashed a major resources convention they are not welcome in the NT.

Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro has told anti-gas protesters at a major resources convention to “go back to Victoria”, also hitting out at the Commonwealth’s decision to review whether the water trigger should apply to fracking projects in the Beetaloo.

About 100 protesters flanked the entry of the NT Resources Week conference in Darwin on Wednesday, calling on governments to halt the expansion of the Territory gas industry.

“The activists standing out the front: you are wasting your time,” Mrs Finocchiaro told the crowd of industry stakeholders.

“Go back to Victoria or wherever else you want to cause trouble, but you’re not welcome here in the Territory.

“Every Territorian is concerned about the environment, but what we see is protest for protest’s sake.”

Lia Finocchiaro addressing the NT Resources Week 2024 conference in Darwin. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

Nightcliff MLA Kat MacNamara, the first Greens candidate elected to NT parliament, was one of those protesting.

“Those demonstrating today were from the Territory,” she said.

“It’s the gas companies that are coming in here from out of town to take our gas for free, while Territorians suffer the consequences.

“Lia Finocchiaro is hiding inside a $3000 a head gas festival instead of facing Territorians who have real concerns about the expansion of the fossil fuel industry.

“Many of the people at the protest today were frontline workers – teachers, doctors, and nurses. How does Lia Finocchiaro intend to attract workers here if she treats them so dismissively?”

Greens MLA Kat MacNamara (yellow shirt) protesting outside the NT Resources Week 2024 conference in Darwin. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

Mrs Finocchiaro also took aim at federal Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek’s referral of gas projects in the Beetaloo to an independent scientific committee.

“Clearly this isn’t a necessary review, but the federal government are pushing ahead,” she said.

“The Beetaloo Basin is going to present enormous opportunities for the Territory.

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

Minister for Resources Madeleine King called for ‘a dose of reality’ from some opposed to Middle Arm. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

Federal Resources Minister Madeleine King said the Beetaloo had been “a very heavily scrutinised project”, but that the gas industry knew how important scrutiny was for its social licence.

“(The review) is a federal overlay, if you like, but a very important one that will do what it has to do and find out if water is indeed an issue in relation to the extraction of gas from the Beetaloo,” she said.

Mrs King also emphasised her support for the Middle Arm industrial precinct, noting the government’s $1.5bn commitment to the development was not conditional on projects such as the Beetaloo going ahead.

She called for “a dose of reality” from some opposed to Middle Arm, calling out “misinformation” shared in and out of federal parliament.

“Darwin is the only capital city in this country without a major mixed use industrial precinct – that has to change,” she said.

“The Middle Arm industrial precinct will be the biggest, most transformative industrial development in Darwin’s history.

“It’s unhelpful when people in parliament use the word ‘petrochemicals’ (in relation to Middle Arm) like it’s a dirty word, but we know that petrochemicals are the basis of our modern world. It’s microphones, pens – you name it – laptops, phones; they all have an element of chemical processing.”