<
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/jun/19/revealed-documents-detail-key-players-behind-vast-australian-fossil-fuel-expansion>
"In early 2022 the lobbying firm Dragoman met its client, the Northern
Territory government, to discuss how to convince the federal government to
support a vast new port and manufacturing hub in Darwin.
Now known as the Middle Arm sustainable development precinct, the hub will be a
major manufacturing centre for gas, petrochemicals, blue and green hydrogen and
critical minerals. The precinct is key to the territory’s ambition to develop
its massive natural gas reserves in the Beetaloo basin and offshore.
With the federal election looming in May 2022, the lobbyists were keen to
extract promises from the Coalition and Labor for the billions needed.
According to documents seen by
Guardian Australia, at the meeting were the
former Liberal minister Robert Hill, now “chairman of counsellors” at Dragoman,
and the former Labor leader Simon Crean, who had previously been engaged by
Dragoman to help the French government-owned submarine company Naval Group
improve its image with Labor.
The new documents show how the Northern Territory government pursued a strategy
to “influence the commonwealth government to support the establishment of
gas-based manufacturing in the NT”.
Central to that was the appointment of a lobbying firm in the lead-up to the
election that would provide “deep political insight, analysis and strategic
guidance”.
This was viewed as an urgent task, with one email between senior NT bureaucrats
in June 2021 noting: “We are about to start the political giving season!”
What was said by the former politicians at the May meeting is not recorded in
the documents but the group discussed “potential alignments and leverages” –
lobbyist speak for how to make the project appealing to both sides of
politics."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
