WHAT: Today’s announcement by Tamboran to the ASX that it has been granted “Major Project Status”.

WHO: Nurrdalinji Aboriginal Corporation represents native title holders from the Beetaloo Basin region. It made a submission opposing Tamboran’s recently approved Environmental Management Plan, noting concerns about inadequate consultation and risks to country and water.

Yanyuwa and Garawa woman and Director of Nurrdalinji Aboriginal Corporation, Joni Wilson, who lives with her young family between Borroloola and a tiny outstation at Lightning Ridge, in the heart of the Beetaloo Basin, is a jungayi for country which Tamboran plans to frack says:

"It's a disgrace that the NT government is again loosening regulation for Tamboran, selling out to big oil and gas against the wishes of Traditional Owners, Territorians and concerned citizens all around Australia. We are all suffering because of the NT government's lack of foresight and critical thinking.

"Tamboran has already polluted and been fined.* They should to be investigated for their blatant disregard for water that we need to depend on for generations to come, as we have for countless generations before.

"Tamboran is running the industry like cowboys. They will massively undersell the gas on the international market that they shouldn't even be taking out of the ground, sending all of the money overseas, with Australians barely seeing any benefit."

* Tamboran received a $6,500 penalty for using more than 300,000 litres of drilling sump wastewater as a dust suppressant: "Questions raised about the largest fracking project in the Northern Territory”, ABC transcript, 22 May 2023.