When Gudanji-Wambaya man Johnny Wilson learnt a gas well was being built about 20 kilometres from his ancestral home, he sensed a call to arms.

by Timna Jacks and Justin McManus

Commenting on the news of Chief Minister Gunner’s resignation, Traditional Owners from the Beetaloo region have called for a new direction from the NT government which embraces clean energy, not fracking, to help create jobs and secure energy security.

Nurrdalinji Aboriginal Corporation presents at Darwin hearing of Senate Inquiry into gas exploration in the Beetaloo. Comments on Taylor's budget announcement today of $50.3M for 7 new gas projects, including Beetaloo pipeline study.

Karl and Bobbie Roth are not the only residents of Larrimah who say that it is dying. "All the old houses are falling down, nobody wants them, and our population … we're all in our 70s and 80s," Mr Roth said.

Announcement by Minister Keith Pitt that he has reissued a grant of $19.4m to Imperial Oil & Gas to pursue fracking in the Beetaloo Basin, following a Federal Court ruling in December 2021 that Minister Pitt’s original decision to make the grant under the Beetaloo Cooperative Drilling Program was invalid because of ongoing court action.

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. 

Nurrdalinji Aboriginal Corporation presents at Darwin hearing of Senate Inquiry into gas exploration in the Beetaloo. Comments on Taylor's budget announcement today of $50.3M for 7 new gas projects, including Beetaloo pipeline study.

Commenting on the Morrison government’s latest grant of $7.5M for fracking exploration in the NT’s Beetaloo Basin, Nurrdalinji Aboriginal Corporation has called for a pause on all exploration and approvals until proper consultation occurs with Traditional Owners and the cumulative risks of fracking for water, sacred sites and native animals are better understood.

Commenting on the Morrison government’s latest grant of $7.5M for fracking exploration in the NT’s Beetaloo Basin, Nurrdalinji Aboriginal Corporation has called for a pause on all exploration and approvals until proper consultation occurs with Traditional Owners and the cumulative risks of fracking for water, sacred sites and native animals are better understood.

Janet Gregory writes, The Beetaloo Basin is my grandmother’s country, on my father’s side. It’s a special place – a mix of plains, dense woodland and shrubs, many of which are native to this area.

The Coalition has re-announced almost $20m for fracking company Empire Energy, a firm with links to the Liberal party, just two months after a court ruled a previous issue of the grants was invalid.

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".

As the wet season approaches the Northern Territory, Traditional Owners are fearful their water could become polluted because of fracking in their local area.