23rd Feb 2021, 4:49 PM – Senate Motions - Environment - Beetaloo Basin

The majority voted against a motion introduced by Queensland Senator Larissa Waters (Greens), which means it failed.

Motion text

That the Senate—

(a) notes that:

(i) approximately 90% of regional water demand in the Northern Territory is supplied by groundwater,

(ii) First Nations communities and farmers remain strongly opposed to fracking in the Beetaloo Basin due to risks of groundwater contamination,

(iii) the Independent Scientific Inquiry into Hydraulic Fracturing of Onshore Unconventional Reservoirs in the Northern Territory recommended a review of risks to groundwater supplies,

(iv) the Gas Industry Social and Environmental Research Alliance, funded by the gas industry and the Federal Government, subsequently commissioned a review of the McArthur region, including the Beetaloo Basin, and

(v) the review, conducted by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation and Charles Darwin University, found stygofauna, Parisia unguis, throughout groundwater in the study area, confirming the interconnected groundwater system extends at least 300 kilometres; and

(b) calls on the Government to:

(i) withdraw funding for the Beetaloo Strategic Basin Plan, and

(ii) abandon its plans for a gas-led recovery, and instead support the farmers and Traditional Owners who do not want their water supplies threatened, their cultural heritage compromised, and the climate sacrificed by the Beetaloo fracking project.