<
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/jun/24/consulting-firm-good-advice-empire-energy-private-deals-signatures-northern-territory-gas-sales-leaked-documents-ntwnfb>
"In late August 2024, a curious letter arrived at the Darwin office of Benedict
Scambary, chief executive of the Aboriginal Areas Protection Authority (AAPA).
The correspondence was typed and written in corporate style but it was attached
to four and a half pages of handwritten names and signatures of traditional
land owners from across the Northern Territory’s Top End. A name that Scambary
recognised was written on the back of the envelope – William John, a Mudburra
Jingili man.
As the head of the NT agency responsible for protecting Aboriginal sacred
sites, Scambary was familiar with many of the signatories’ names.
But what was unusual was the contents of the letter – it contradicted earlier
advice AAPA had been given from several of the signatories regarding the
protection of their cultural heritage.
The letter asked Scambary to explain why AAPA had stopped processing an
application by the gas company Empire Energy for an authority certificate it
needed at the site of its Carpentaria pilot project, a fracking operation near
Cape Crawford in the Beetaloo basin.
Authority certificates set conditions for developers working on or near sacred
sites in the NT and are mandatory before fracking projects can progress. Empire
Energy’s application for the Carpentaria project had been delayed after
heritage concerns were raised by traditional owners.
But the letter, which was leaked to
Guardian Australia as part of a trove of
documents from the Northern Land Council, asked Scambary to progress Empire
Energy’s certificate “as soon as possible”.
When the
Guardian approached Scambary he said that after receiving the
letter, AAPA staff felt it was necessary to contact the relevant traditional
owners and custodians again, to clarify their positions.
He said it emerged from those discussions that most of the signatures had been
gathered at two meetings held in August by Empire Energy and a consulting firm
called Good Advice.
But when AAPA officials read the letter to some of the people whose names were
attached to it, the traditional owners did not agree with its contents.
“The custodians were not aware of what they had signed, and were alarmed by the
letter’s denial of their concerns about cultural heritage,” Scambary said.
The traditional owners AAPA spoke to did not deny they had signed the sheet of
paper but they gave differing accounts of what they thought they were signing.
According to the leaked material, one thought he was merely signing an
attendance sheet.
The purported sender of the letter, whose name appeared on the back of the
envelope, also insists he did not send it.
When the
Guardian contacted John, he said: “It wasn’t [sent] by me.”"
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
