The chief executive of Australia's peak body for the oil and gas industry says no fracking will occur in the Northern Territory's Beetaloo Basin without consent from affected traditional owners or pastoralists.
Speaking at a Senate inquiry into the basin in Darwin on Tuesday, Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association (APPEA) CEO Andrew McConville said gas companies would not operate on land without permission.
Mr McConville also referenced several independent reviews that "pointed to hydraulic fracturing being able to be safely conducted in Australia".
The public hearing, chaired by WA Greens senator Dorinda Cox, heard from dozens of stakeholders about the federal government's controversial $50 million grants program aimed at accelerating fracking in the Beetaloo Basin.
Among them was traditional owner Johnny Wilson, who lives within 20 kilometres of fracking wells in the Beetaloo, and chairs the Nurrdalinji Native Title Aboriginal Corporation.
He told the inquiry mining companies had not gone far enough to adequately consult with traditional owners about the prospect of hydraulic fracturing on their land.
"Our concerns have not been heard throughout the Beetaloo Basin," he said.
Mr Wilson said he believed some local traditional owners who had previously consented to fracking were not fully educated about the risks.
"Our elders before, when mining giants came to sign off agreements, they never quite fully understood the full impact of fracking and what it will do to our Country," he said.
Other anti-fracking groups include environmental lawyers, academics and local cattle producers, who said they feared gas production would cause pollution and drive up Australia's carbon emissions to unacceptable levels.
Debate over a perceived 'conflict of interest'
Speaking at the inquiry, Dan Robins, from anti-fracking collective Lock The Gate Alliance, alleged a "conflict of interest" between Shaun Drabsch, the CEO of the Northern Territory's Department of Industry, Tourism and Trade, and gas giant Santos.
"Some of the conflicts of interest that we've seen at a Northern Territory level... [include] politicians who work for Santos one day, and then work for the Northern Territory government the next," he told the inquiry.
"Shaun Drabsch, who oversees most of the decisions around planning and environment, worked as a consultant for Santos in the Northern Territory, and he hadn't even updated his work résumé before he was working for the NT."
In response, Mr Drabsch confirmed he was a former Santos employee.
"It is a fact that for one of my 40 years of work, I was employed as a consultant by gas company Santos," he told the inquiry.
Mr Drabsch said his role at Santos was to coordinate the company's participation in the consultations led by the Territory government following a major fracking inquiry, known as the Pepper Inquiry.
"This should not be particularly surprising, as I am an economist with extensive experience in state and federal government processes," he said.
He said the NT government was "confident we are on track" to completing the Pepper Inquiry's 135 recommendations this year.
The NT government plans to consider approvals for gas production in the Beetaloo sub-basin in 2023, he said.
The inquiry's final report is due to be handed down on April 21.
