Hundreds of kilometres from regulatory eyes, out of sight and scrutiny, environmentalists claim the Northern Territory is the perfect hotbed for cowboy antics.
Now it's feared one of the last untouched tropical savannas and unimpacted river networks in the world is at risk.
On the edge of a vast clearing, as dust swirls up into the oppressive Northern Territory heat, Daphne Huddlestone's heart breaks.
This arid patch, hundreds of kilometres deep into the outback, once blended seamlessly into the surrounding bushland that stretches thousands of square kilometres.
This is one of the last untouched tropical savannas and unimpacted river networks in the world, dotted with sacred Indigenous sites.
But it's quickly becoming known as prime cotton-growing country.
Wagiman woman Daphne Huddlestone, a traditional owner and ranger, has guarded the stone country that stretches around Pine Creek for decades.
It was in July 2021, Daphne recalls, when her team of rangers trundled almost 100 kilometres down a dirt road towards the Daly River and were stopped in their tracks.
Mere metres from the river's edge, many hundreds of hectares of trees had been ripped from the ground.
"As we kept on coming past here, we just looked at it; they kept on knocking it, kept on knocking it [down]," she says.
Months later, as a bulldozer circles, breaking up the dry and cracked surface of the earth to prepare it for a crop that could make big profits for the Northern Territory, Daphne looks out and takes a deep breath.
"My heart is broken that there was (sic) trees here once upon a time and now it's all gone."
The 'silver bullet' crop
Deep in the Northern Territory outback, stations — some double the land size of London — are being bought for millions and converted at a rapid rate to make way for a lucrative industry: cotton.
Paul Burke, the chief executive of the NT Farmers Association, has been spearheading the expansion of the industry in the north.
He says it's a silver bullet crop that could rocket to a $200 million economy within the decade, helping small family farmers diversify from the cattle status quo, which has driven the Territory up until now.
"The flow-on effects to the port, the flow-on effects for road infrastructure, will be significant and all Territorians will benefit from those larger infrastructure investments that have been driven by cropping," he says.
Right now, there are few crops that are better bang for your buck.
With the rise of fast fashion, cotton prices have gone gangbusters.
It's a global commodity, and a full-size module sells for around $5,000.
"We've had investment from people coming from the southern states that are more traditionally known for cotton growing because of the results we've got," Paul says.
But now, satellite imagery shared with the ABC shows what appears to be land clearing without a permit, which is generally against the law.
Two stations are being investigated by the Northern Territory government.
The NT government's Environment Department says its regulations are strong, and proponents of the industry maintain the rules are being upheld.
But environmental groups say this alleged unlawful activity speaks of a culture of cowboy antics in a jurisdiction with limited environmental oversight and "a piecemeal set of laws".
'We will not make those mistakes'
In 2018, a ban on cotton in the Northern Territory was lifted.
Trial crops of a new genetically modified cotton succeeded and, shortly after, millions of dollars were raised to build the north's first processing plant on the outskirts of a small rural town called Katherine.
Amid intense scrutiny in southern drought-plagued cotton regions — like the Murray-Darling Basin — growers began eyeing the north's vast land and abundant and free water.
Since then, environmental groups, traditional owners and large sections of the community have waged war on the emerging industry.
"It's about our water … it's about our sacred sites … and it's important for our kids to be the next generation that can look after the area and protect the area," Daphne says.
At the heart of the debate are big concerns about irrigation and land clearing.
Cotton is traditionally a very thirsty crop, but one major difference between the Northern Territory and the southern states lies in the unique climate.
Annually, monsoonal rains drench the land and top up the rivers. It's this weather event the industry is counting on to set it apart.
"We don't think that cotton is going to be the massive water user that people talk about," Paul says.
"The production system we use here in the Northern Territory is predominantly a rain-fed system where we don't use any irrigation water."
Paul says that to blame the cotton industry for what happened in the Murray-Darling is "unfair".
"Cotton didn't kill a single part of the Murray-Darling; poor government regulation did, and we are in a unique position where we're starting from scratch.
"We will not make those mistakes."
Alleged illegal land clearing
In March last year, the NT government slashed approval times for land clearing permits from six months to six weeks in a bid to cut red tape and attract investment to fuel its ambitious plan to create a $40 billion economy by 2030.
"At that point, we really knew that we needed to start scrutinising very closely what was going to happen in the Territory with land clearing," says Kirsty Howey, executive director of the NT Environment Centre.
Then she received a tip-off from the Wagiman rangers.
"They had noticed there were trees felled very, very close to an iconic river, the Daly River on Claravale Farm … which recently had changed hands to [new owners with connections to] Dalby in the Murray-Darling Basin."
Further investigation using satellite images showed that land had been cleared without a permit between July and September 2021.
On September 23, a permit was issued to Claravale for part of the property, even though the land had already been cleared.
After multiple complaints from the Environment Centre, the NT government launched an investigation into the remaining land clearing, which spans almost 200 hectares.
The owners of Claravale farm did not respond to 7.30's inquiries or request for an interview.
In a separate remote part of the Northern Territory lies a massive drought-stricken cattle station on the Barkly Tablelands — reportedly bought by pastoralist Malcolm Harris in 2019 for $30 million.
In November 2021, satellite images revealed almost 5,000 hectares had been burned and ploughed before the regulators' assessment was complete.
In the NT, a permit is required for clearing more than one hectare of land.
During this investigation, 7.30 obtained a letter to the station from the Pastoral Land Board saying the board considered the applicant's actions:
"Show disregard to the pastoral land clearing application process and it is extremely disappointing that actions were taken to prepare land for clearing before the finalisation of the assessment process."
The station did not receive any fines or sanctions.
In December 2021 it was granted a permit.
7.30 made multiple attempts to reach the owners of Ucharonidge station but did not receive a response.
About 500 kilometres north, on the edge of the Stuart Highway, a massive shed has been erected to house a machine that separates cotton fibres from their seeds.
This is the cotton gin at Tarwoo Station.
So far, the industry has been hampered by the lack of a local processing facility.
Satellite images appear to show that late in 2021, four hectares of land were cleared at Tarwoo Station before the approval of a permit.
This station is also being investigated by the NT's Department of Environment in relation to unlawful land clearing.
7.30 was unable to identify the owner or operator of the station. A representative declined a request to be interviewed.
The Northern Territory's minister for environment also declined an interview.
The NT Department of Environment said it could not comment on Tarwoo and Claravale stations, as they were currently being investigated.
Doubts over allegations
Paul Burke says the NT Farmers Association has been at the forefront of pushing for robust regulations, and that the industry as a whole is playing by the rules.
"My understanding is [the government is in the] process of resolution, and there may not be a case to answer for. So I think, again, that may be a little bit disingenuous, and just trying to put some barriers up in front of industry that may not exist," he says.
Bruce Connolly, president of the Northern Cotton Growers Association, says he does not condone illegal land clearing and casts doubt over the allegations.
"The Northern Territory government has a rigorous process to go through for achieving the land-clearing permit. And whilst it's not easy, it's very appropriate," he says.
"And I don't think anybody will be trying to do any illegal clearing. It's simple, I don't think they are."
Kirsty Howey from the Environment Centre says a number of complaints from her office to the government pointing out suspected unlawful land clearing have been ignored.
She claims permits are being rubberstamped and retrospectively handed out by the decision-making bodies, which are essentially "turning a blind eye".
"To be pursuing the same kind of development that has destroyed the Murray-Darling Basin here in the Northern Territory is beyond belief," she says.
"But our government is so keen to see development here that we're seeing this industry being pursued without appropriate parameters in place to ensure that it can occur sustainably.
"We actually are the only jurisdiction in Australia without native vegetation laws … [and] we're the only jurisdiction without a biodiversity conservation strategy.
"Our tropical savannas are the second most intensely collapsing ecosystem after the Great Barrier Reef, we have the highest rate of mammal extinction in the world.
"Things are looking pretty shaky for the nature of Northern Territory right now."
A spokeswoman from the NT Department of Environment says all land clearing applications are assessed by an expert advisory panel and that as of March 2022, the Pastoral Land Board has powers to enforce breaches of land-clearing approvals.
She says land clearing guidelines require applicants to "demonstrate consideration of the presence of threatened species" and to "self-assess whether their proposal may have a significant impact on the environment".
The maximum penalty for unauthorised clearing of native vegetation is an $81,000 fine.
Community fearful for the future
In a helicopter gliding low across the Daly Region and over the river, Mike Harding, a pastoralist from Gorrie Station, points out big belts of dry land — scars in the savanna surrounding it.
As the cotton industry takes off across the north, he worries about how much water will be used, as well as what will be left of the landscape for future generations.
"Having seen the Murray-Darling, which is always a bugbear of mine and a heart-wrenching thing, I see it as another part of what could be a perfect storm," he says.
"I'm not against clearing and progressing our agriculture industry in the dry land way.
"But the old 'rip it down, you'd rather plead forgiveness than ask permission' … the whole show at the moment just does stink of turning a blind eye to generate some income to governments that just can't pay for what they are doing.
"Humans are humans and our track record isn't good … who is the watchdog here?"
Mike's son-in-law, Jeremy Trembath, a new father, holds even deeper fears for the future.
"I'm not a fan of land clearing. When you take, say, the Amazon burning, we're all happy to sign petitions and get on Facebook about that, and we've got D10 dozers running over our native savanna landscape here," he says.
"Thirty years down the track I don't want my son to look at me and say, 'Could you have done more Dad?'"
Watch 7.30, Mondays to Thursdays at 7:30pm on ABC iview and ABC TV
Credits
- Reporter: Roxanne Fitzgerald
- Producer: Hannah Meagher
- Photography: Michael Franchi
- Digital production: Jenny Ky and Myles Wearring
