Largely overlooked by the media, last Thursday’s amendments to the EPBC Act in fact enable quite radical changes to the structure of environmental decision-making in this country - writes @kirstyhowey.bsky.social & Simon Copland thepoint.com.au/opinions/251...

Great piece on new env laws. Key point on more powers to states: "Smaller govs in particular, such as the ACT and the NT, often struggle to properly enforce their own environmental laws." By @kirstyhowey.bsky.social & Simon Copland in @thepointau.bsky.social thepoint.com.au/opinions/251...

In the hubbub over EPBC laws, news of Santos making its biggest ever gas fracking play in the Beetaloo basin has flown under the radar One to watch as @kirstyhowey.bsky.social notes that "not a single NT fracking project has been referred or assessed under federal environment laws, ever"

#EPBC #BiodiversityOffsets 🧵 First thing to note is that biodiversity offsets do NOT address historic losses (i.e they won't help catch up on or make good already incurred habitat & biodiversity losses) 1/

Gaming regulator announces temporary halt on accepting bribes www.abc.net.au/news/2025-11...

‘In what Wilderness Australia described as “the most significant outcome for forest conservation in NSW in 25 years”, the government has committed to the full 176,000 hectares.’ www.smh.com.au/environment/...

"Northern Territory regulators found out about the DLNG leak in 2020, just hours after signing off on a proposal to extend its operations until 2050. It briefly sparked concerns of an explosion risk to people in Darwin and nearby Palmerston, 7 and 11 kilometres away respectively."

Kirsty Howey, ED at Environment Ctr NT: “the handling of the leak represents a ‘national scandal.’…A cover-up…by @ConocoPhillips, @Santos &…regulators. To know that there has been #methane leaking…in huge quantities is…shocking. 6/6 #climate #polluters @abc #auspol www.abc.net.au/news/2025-09...

This is so, so cooked. “The decision whether to repair the leak is a commercial decision made by Santos,” NT Environment Protection Authority says. In a statement, Santos says the tank “remains fit and safe for service for the life of the Barossa gas project”. www.abc.net.au/news/2025-09...

MASSIVE❗ "there has been methane leaking from the facility in huge quantities" (since 2006) “What we have here is a cover-up at every conceivable scale, by ConocoPhillips, by Santos and by a range of regulators” NTEPA, NT WorkSafe, Clean Energy Regulator, NOPSEMA, & CSIRO all knew about the leak

ABC investigation reveals Santos gas hub in Darwin has been leaking gas for nearly two decades. #auspol @kirstyhowey.bsky.social www.abc.net.au/news/2025-09...

“What we have here is a cover-up at every conceivable scale, by ConocoPhillips, by Santos and by a range of regulators... And it will be shocking to the people of Darwin and Palmerston when they realise the extent of the cover-up.” - @kirstyhowey.bsky.social www.abc.net.au/news/2025-09...

Banger of a piece here from the brilliant @ketanjoshi.co Detail about how Inpex is increasing emissions while being gifted carbon credits under the Safeguard Mechanism. And general observations about "Abundance Brain". Read it.

NEW: Incredible scenes in Sydney, Australia today as tens of thousands march for Gaza, demanding an end to the genocide. #MarchForHumanity (🎥 Ema Franklin)

Heading to Court tomorrow in Sydney for this important climate ruling!! newshub.medianet.com.au/2025/07/cour...

Devastating news for Kurangk/the Coorong. "We previously had 20 to 30 per cent of the Coorong that was healthy, and that is the area that the Karenia bloom has hit." - Faith Coleman www.abc.net.au/news/2025-07...

If I can sum up what just happened as neatly as possible: a Federal Court judge found the Australian government had ignored climate science when setting emissions targets, appeared to want to find for the applicants, but said his hands were tied by the law of negligence in Australia. /1

My late partner made, on behalf of her clients, multiple complaints about the behaviour of this cop. They were ignored. Her employer did not support her and she was ultimately fired for urging action. The northern territory does not deserve to govern itself. www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

I know I'm on this one a lot folks but it is very notable that the fact gas is a fossil fuel that needs to be eliminated from human society ASAP (no matter who owns it or profits from it) really doesn't seem to feature anywhere in these debates or coverage of these debates

"Lidia Thorpe, David Pocock & the Greens demand action after Good Advice & Empire Energy allegedly offered private deals to traditional owners to smooth the way for gas sales" Thank goodness 4 @lisacox.bsky.social cos despite qns in Senate ests by @senatorthorpe.bsky.social msm's shown lil interest

Calls for ‘urgent’ investigation into lobbying activities of fracking advocate and gas company

The Northern Territory is the second most imprisoned region in the world, following El Salvador. Almost 90 per cent of adult prisoners and close to 99 per cent of youth incarcerated in the NT are Indigenous. First nations people make up only 26% of NT www.sbs.com.au/nitv/article...

The only thing that could mitigate climate change is stopping the burning of fossil fuels. Tell your friends and radio producers.

A good friend who runs the Red Dirt Poetry Festival has a fundraiser up to take a group of poets on tour across the Northern Territory. Apparently the CLP government doesn't want to invest in the arts and they need $14k to make it happen. If you have a buck to spare, please help them out.

MEAA members at the ABC have said staff and the public deserve a full independent inquiry into how, time and time again, there is inappropriate influence on our editorial content. @withmeaa.bsky.social

Extraordinary investigation by @lisacox.bsky.social of how a consulting firm contracted by a Beetaloo fracking company worked behind the scenes to influence high stakes negotiations with Traditional Owners. There’s even a mysterious letter with a signature literally on the back of an envelope!

Traditional Owners in the area the gas companies call "Beetaloo" say they were misled into signing up in support of fracking by this shadowy gas consultancy with links to the land council. www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

www.theguardian.com/australia-ne... A brilliant investigation by @lisacox.bsky.social

Penny Wong, 2003: "I say suspicion is not enough. To justify going to war we need more than suspicion. What sort of world would we live in if suspicion alone was justification for participation in unilateral military action outside the auspices of the UN? "

War, what is it good for? (Oil and gas company profits)

What an absolute disgrace… www.abc.net.au/news/2025-06...

Did Australia enable the US attacks on Iran through the use of airfields like Tindal airbase? Is our government even more complicit in the war crimes being perpetrated by Israel and the US than before?

Nearly 26,000 hectares of bushland has been approved for clearing so far this year in the NT, with no federal oversight at all. Fracking in the Beetaloo has never been referred under federal nature laws. We’re out of sight and mind, and staring down the barrel of an environmental catastrophe.

The NT CLP Govt has backflipped on its 2030 emissions target promise (we won’t have one), dumped our renewables target, and is turbo charging gas expansion in the Beetaloo Basin, Middle Arm and offshore. Hello from Australia’s climate sacrifice zone. amp.abc.net.au/article/1054...

In 2016 Monash University divested from fossil fuels. In 2019 they got into bed with Woodside, Australia's biggest fossil gas company. www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

"Land-clearing is increasing...about 45,000 hectares of savanna habitat was destroyed between 2000 and 2020...equivalent to an area roughly the size of 22,500 MCGs." Read about our new report, The State and Future of the Northern Territory’s Savannas 👉 theconversation.com/the-top-ends...

Huge deforestation permits are being approved in the NT at a rapid rate, completely unregulated by utterly broken federal environment laws. A new report by @euanritchie.bsky.social and others shows how we are putting a natural wonder of the world at risk. theconversation.com/the-top-ends...

Australia's largest oil and gas project will continue until 2070, making a complete mockery of fake aspirations for "net zero emissions" by 2050. This shameful decision was postponed until after a federal election, just 3 weeks ago. Nobody voted for this. www.abc.net.au/news/2025-05...

US military fuel tanks in the middle of Darwin Harbour have been built without a building permit, and not to withstand cyclones, with an engineer saying they could cause “catastrophic consequences” for human life and the environment. I scarcely know what to say. www.abc.net.au/news/2025-05...

Australia's biggest oil and gas industry association released a report ahead of its national conference this week saying its membership thought Australia has done enough on climate and conceding activists are having an impact on investment. New from me in @reneweconomy.com.au.

Last week I was honoured to be part of a truly historic event. Clans of the Roper River convened to form a new governing entity for this magnificent waterway, under threat from fracking and industrial agriculture. You can read the full declaration here: territoryrivers.org.au/our-rivers/r...

A huge free water licence has been gifted to a cotton grower south of Mataranka hot springs, while Paspaley lines up for one nearby. We’ve been promised the cotton industry will be rainfed in the NT and avoid the mistakes of the Murray Darling - that was a lie. amp.abc.net.au/article/1052...

A leaked report has confirmed what Larrakia people and environmental experts have been saying all along — Labor's Middle Arm Gas Hub is an ecocidal disaster in the making. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

The Middle Arm petrochemical hub is to be built with $1.5B taxpayer money & allow more of NT to be fracked - damaging our climate, devastating local species & ppl's health This climate vandalism + Nature destruction must be stopped & govt $ withdrawn www.theguardian.com/environment/...

If #MiddleArm petrochem hub proceeds, the peninsula could lose: ❗78% of black-footed tree-rat habitat ❗70% of northern brushtail possum habitat ❗70% of old-growth woodlands ❗28% of rainforest ❗61% of seasonal wetlands ❗12.5% of far eastern curlew saltpan roosting habitat Labor & LNP back the hub 👀👇

“It’s pretty gobsmacking in terms of the impacts on nature... This is the kind of project that shouldn’t get past the starting gun based on impacts to nature” - @kirstyhowey.bsky.social, Environment Centre NT #MiddleArm

“Leaked document shows two threatened species could be completely wiped out at Middle Arm” The Middle Arm gas and petrochemical hub is still backed by a $1.5 billion taxpayer subsidy. It’s an atrocious project that should never have made it this far. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

As people head to the polls, it’s critical to call out the approval of Santos’ massive Barossa gas project—set to emit 270 million tonnes of CO₂. This gas is for export. It won’t lower domestic energy prices, but it will drive up emissions and profits for fossil fuel giants. #ClimateActionNow

Santos wins final approval for Barossa gas project as environment advocates condemn ‘climate bomb’ www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

Santos wins final approval for Barossa gas project as environment advocates condemn ‘climate bomb’