Prospects for the Beetaloo Basin took a turn for the worse on the weekend when Australia’s Climate Minister, Chris Bowen, rejected a vital carbon offsets deal.
Deputy Opposition Leader Gerard Maley said Chief Minister Natasha Fyles had failed to even negotiate with the Commonwealth over such a critical economic project.
“Natasha Fyles made it clear the volume of carbon credits required would be the Commonwealth’s problem but she has clearly failed to have that conversation with the Federal Government,” he said.
“In the absence of any attempt to make a deal, Chris Bowen, interviewed on the ABC’s Insiders program on Sunday, rejected the idea of the Commonwealth coming to the party.
“Territorians have suspected for a long time that the Chief Minister’s heart was not in the Beetaloo but was too afraid of the political fallout from a veto on onshore gas.
“It looks like she is trying to sabotage the Beetaloo and casting the blame on the Federal Government, reinforcing Territorians’ belief her government is an economic disaster.”
Natasha Fyles has said all 135 recommendations of the Pepper Inquiry would have to be implemented for the onshore gas industry to start in the Territory.
That would include offsets for all new emissions, which she says cannot be achieved by the Territory alone.
“Both our Territory economy and our environment needs certainty, not more confusion.”
“This offsets issue, we acknowledge as a Northern Territory, we cannot manage that. So if the rest of Australia wants our gas for electricity, then they need to work with us around the offset,” the Chief Minister told the ABC last week.
Mr Maley said if Natasha Fyles was serious about wanting Federal Government support, she would have urgently spoken with the Federal Minister.
“Her Canberra colleagues have been in government since May last year and to discover on Sunday that there has not even been a meeting casts serious doubt on the level of commitment from Natasha Fyles,” he said.
ENDS