Resources Minister Keith Pitt has reissued millions of dollars in grants to a fracking company searching for gas buried deep in the Beetaloo Basin, just months after a federal judge ruled the grants invalid and "legally unreasonable".
The Environment Centre NT launched a legal challenge in July last year, questioning the lawfulness of the Minister's decision to grant up to $21 million of taxpayer money to Imperial Oil & Gas, a subsidiary of Empire Energy, while they were the subject of court proceedings.
The Minister was forced to withdraw the grants, which were designed to expedite exploration in the basin as part of the Morrison government's gas-led economic recovery.
But Federal Court Judge Justice John Griffiths found the Minister did not have to consider the risks of climate change, as the company was only in the exploration phase, and rejected the ECNT's challenge to the validity of the grants program as a whole, which meant the grants could be revisited.
The new grants are worth a combined $19.4 million, and will support Imperial Oil & Gas to continue drilling the same three petroleum exploration wells previously in contention.
Mr Pitt would not reflect on the court's decision and would not be drawn on what is different about these grants.
However, he said the government was issuing the grants "under what is a valid approval decision under a valid grants program as it's being found by the courts".
"We're getting on with the job of firming up the resource in the Beetaloo Basin," he said.
It's important for the Northern Territory's economy, and it's important for Australia's national security and our national interests."
Australia exported 74 per cent of domestic natural gas production and 78 per cent of crude oil production in 2019-20, according to the Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources.
Mr Pitt said it was important to ensure "Australia's domestic supply, in particular, is guaranteed".
"What's very clear right now is that there is an enormous demand, particularly for LNG," he said.
"That's the reason there's been billions of dollars worth of investment in Australia. And we need to ensure we maintain not only our domestic suppliers that meet those existing contracts, but also look to support our friends and allies in their time of need."
'A slap in the face'
Environment Centre NT co-director Kirsty Howey said the Minister should expect rigorous scrutiny over the grants and whether they are in accordance with guidelines.
"It's frankly a real slap in the face for Territorians," she said.
"The Federal Court findings were absolutely scathing about Minister Pitt's conduct in entering into the contracts last year, the court found that he acted capriciously and unreasonably in entering into these contracts. And they were set aside.
"Territorians in good faith didn't expect them to be signed again. And it's shocking, frankly, that they have been."
Ms Howey reiterated the International Energy Agency's stark warnings last year against new fossil fuel developments if the world wanted to avoid catastrophic climate change, and said she expected to see an increase in court cases challenging the public funding of gas using taxpayer money nationally and overseas.
Traditional owner Johnny Wilson, chair of the Nurrdalinji Native Title Aboriginal Corporation, lives within 20 kilometres of the new fracking wells, and recently gave evidence to the Senate Inquiry into oil and gas exploration and production in the Beetaloo Basin.
Rebuking the government's decision to subsidise large oil and gas companies, he said the money would be better spent on "essential services our communities need, like housing, education, health and roads".
"It is poisoning our water, our animals and upsetting the songlines that run across our land," Mr Wilson said.
"Aboriginal households could have [solar power] keeping them and their families cool and lights on at night. Instead they are living in crowded houses as it gets hotter and hotter and they can't even keep medication cool."
The Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) questioned whether there would be a market for the gas, should commercial quantities be discovered, given the world's transition to renewables and clean technologies.
"The clear established global trend is towards more renewable power in electricity systems with grid scale batteries, and less gas," IEEFA gas analyst Bruce Robertson said in a statement.
In a public statement to its shareholders, Imperial said the grant would offset 25 per cent of the cost of its exploration.
"The new grant agreements replace previous grant agreements which became void as a result of a decision of the Federal Court of Australia," Imperial said.
"The grant agreements are on materially similar terms to those entered into previously and reported to shareholders on 10 September 2021."
