<
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/jun/21/we-will-win-tiwi-islanders-draw-a-line-in-the-sand-against-santos-gas-project-and-white-fella-rule>
"In a sport and rec shed at Pirlangimpi on the north-west coast of Melville
Island, off the coast of Darwin, senior Tiwi elder Pirrawayingi is talking
about maritime boundaries.
“Boundaries like in the sea – that’s white fella rule,” he says.
“When they draw boundary in the sea, we’re not interested in that because our
dreaming, it goes everywhere. You can’t measure that.”
Pirrawayingi, mayor of the Tiwi Islands regional council, is addressing about
100 Tiwi people during a break in a combined clan group meeting with Santos
about the fossil fuel company’s plans to drill for gas in the sea north of
Melville Island.
It’s 22 March, six months and one day since the senior Munupi lawman Dennis
Murphy Tipakalippa won a landmark federal court case against the drilling
permit for Santos’s Barossa offshore gas project.
Pirrawayingi addresses a community meeting
Pirrawayingi, a Tiwi elder, addresses the community meeting with Santos at
Pirlangimpi about the proposed Barossa gas project.
That case, and a subsequent appeal, found that the National Offshore Petroleum
Safety and Environmental Management Authority (Nopsema), had failed to assess
whether Santos had consulted with everyone affected by the proposed drilling.
The Barossa project would involve drilling for gas in the Timor Sea and
constructing a pipeline to pump it more than 200km to Darwin for processing.
Tipakalippa’s lawyers successfully argued that the Tiwi Islands traditional
owners were an interested party, whose spiritual connection to land and sea
country meant Santos was required to consult them.
The fossil fuel company was ordered to stop the drilling it had started for
eight exploratory wells about 100km off the Tiwi coast.
Its drilling rig remains parked offshore, a barely visible speck when seen from
the flight between Darwin and Garden Point airport, while senior Santos
executives spend weeks meeting clan groups on Melville and Bathurst islands to
provide information that should have been available when the company took over
the project from ConocoPhillips in 2020.
At the 22 March meeting, which Tiwi people gave Guardian Australia permission
to attend and report on, there is optimism among the traditional owners and a
readiness for a bigger fight they believe they can win."
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
