Gas protestors accuse Santos of ‘’disregard’ for the community
Gas protester alleges conversation showed politicians ‘plotted’ a pre-determined outcome for Santos.
A ‘political plot’ between Treasurer Josh Frydenberg and former NSW Resources Minister Anthony Roberts was evidence the outcome of Santos’s $3.5bn Narrabri project has been pre-determined, a gas protester has claimed.
At a Council of Australian Governments meeting in 2016, Mr Roberts was overheard on camera saying to the then Federal Energy Minister Mr Frydenberg: “We’ll just back you, mate. People aren’t going to love us, they’re going to hate us.”
Mr Roberts later clarified his comments were a reference to “reform of the national energy marketplace” and that he was concerned the comments had been seized upon by opponents of the coal seam gas development.
Screenshots of the two politicians talking were shown to the Independent Planning Commission on Wednesday by an opponent of the mooted gas project, who said the conversation showed that politicians had plotted a pre-determined outcome for Santos.
“I can imagine there is probably enormous pressure on the three of you from both a federal and a state level to make a decision in favour of this gas mine,” protester Julia Walsh told IPC commissioners Steve O’Connor, John Hann and Professor Snow Barlow on the third day of public hearings on the project.
“What disturbed me quite a bit about this exchange is they think it’s funny. They think that the impact they’re going to impose on the people of NSW — particularly the communities in the area and the generations to come, who will be faced with the toxic legacy of the project — they think it’s funny. They laughed about the fact that ‘they are going to hate us’. Then they acknowledged their duplicitous nature with ‘we won’t say that in front of the TV’ but they didn’t know the cameras and microphone were on.”
Mr Roberts told the NSW Legislative Council in August 2016 he was concerned the comments were attributed to the CSG industry but reiterated that was not the case and was a broader recognition that when energy ministers made tough decisions “some people are going to really come at you”.
The IPC — responsible for deciding the fate of the controversial development — started a six-day public Narrabri hearing on Monday, with over 400 speakers registered to offer their views on the project. A final decision by the IPC is due by September 4.
A farmer in Boggabri, David Watt, who previously voiced his opposition to Whitehaven Coal’s Vickery coal project, said he was also worried about the repercussions of Narrabri with the project boundary 1.5km from his property.
“While the consultation with Whitehaven over its project has been disappointing to say the least, Santos’ has been non-existent. To me this just exemplifies Santos’ disregard for the community they are claiming to be working with and supporting,” Mr Watt told the IPC.
Mr Watt also rejected the notion that agricultural property in the area was low-quality grazing land and said his farm had produced significant supplies of wheat, canola and had topped the market in sales of heavy steers at the Gunnedah sales yard.
“On this farm alone we will produce enough wheat to make over two million loaves of bread, enough barley for over 10 million schooners of beer and enough canola for over 200,000 litres of canola oil, plus 21,000kg of prime beef.”
Santos’ plans to drill 850 wells could imperil two water bores on its property vital for food production, Mr Watt said.
“Without it, especially in dry years, our farm would grind to a halt. This is what I fear could eventuate with the drilling and dewatering of 850 new wells in this project area. While Santos claims any aquifers we use will not be affected, I remain unconvinced the depressurisation and faults in aquitards will not lead to either leakage from higher aquifers or contamination from them.”
Questions over Santos’ promise to keep all gas produced in NSW will also be challenged on Thursday by The Australia Institute, which is sceptical the project will help avoid shortfalls on the east coast forecast by the Australian Energy Market Operator.
Because “the east coast gas market is an interconnected network with export facilities, the Narrabri gas project will make no difference because any additional gas can simply be exported,” The Australia Institute principal adviser Mark Ogge will tell the IPC on Thursday.
“This is even more likely because although the Queensland LNG projects were approved on condition that they would supply gas from their own tenements, this has not been the case and they have sucked up massive amounts of gas from formerly domestic gas supplies in Victoria and South Australia, particularly Santos who vastly over-estimated the productivity of their fields.”
The gas producer touts the development — which could supply half the state’s gas needs — as a solution to the tight east coast market by undercutting LNG imports and offering the cheapest new supply source in the state if it does get the nod from planning tsars.
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