Santos,one of the nation’s biggest gas producers,has come under growing scrutiny over its plans to develop the Barossa gas project off the coast of northern Australia after the Federal Court last year ruled that the company had failed to consult traditional owners properly and forced it to halt drilling.
Traditional owners including Dennis Murphy Tipakalippa have been fighting Santos’ Barossa LNG project in the Timor Sea.Supplied
On Tuesday,six Tiwi Islands traditional owners and a Larrakia traditional owner said ANZ and other banks had arranged and finalised the $US1 billion ($1.5 billion) loan to Santos in September while the case before the Federal Court was ongoing.
Traditional owners are also lodging grievances against the banks for proposed loans to Santos’ Darwin liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant.
The complaints communicate the traditional owners’ deep spiritual connection to the Tiwi Islands,Larrakia country and surrounding sea country,arguing that Santos’ emissions-intensive project would disrupt song lines,sacred sites and cultural practices.
“It is all about respect,” said Dennis Murphy Tipakalippa,Munupi clan leader. “We want the banks to respect us,and to respect Tiwi voices.”
According to the complaints,ANZ contributed the equal-highest amount of $US65 million ($95 million) to the loan. Westpac,National Australia Bank,the Commonwealth Bank and Japan’s MUFG are also said to have contributed to it.
Vidhya Karnamadakala,associate Equity Generation Lawyers (which is supporting the traditional owners’ complaints) said the traditional owners did not want the Barossa project or the Darwin LNG plant extension to go ahead. “They have a right to say no,and they are asking banks to stop funding Santos,” she said.
The firm said it expected the complaint against ANZ would be the first test of the bank’s grievance mechanism implemented in 2021. “ANZ must show its shareholders,customers and the community that its human rights commitments are not just window dressing,” Karnamadakala said.
An ANZ spokesperson said the bank would consider the matter “in line with the processes under its Human Rights Grievance Mechanism”.
Santos declined to comment on Tuesday.
Equity Generation Lawyers has assisted in a series of climate-related lawsuits in Australia recently,including suing the $50 billion superannuation fund Rest over climate disclosures and representing a group of teenagers who challenged the former Morrison government’s approvals for Whitehaven Coal’s Vickery mine expansion near Boggabri,NSW.
Last year,a group of traditional owners lost a court case seeking to block South Korean export credit agencies from funding a deep-sea gas pipeline for Santos’ Barossa project.
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