Polly Cutmore, a Traditional Gomeroi Owner and spokesperson for the Gomeroi People Claimant Group, has rejected the Native Title Tribunal’s (NNT) findings that the New South Wales government can lease the Pilliga Forest for its 850 coal seam gas mining project.
The NNT was asked if the leases, which overlap significant Gomeroi country, should be allowed. The NTT acknowledged the gas project’s contribution to climate change was a “serious detriment”, but said energy security was also an “important benefit” for the public as well as the Gomeroi people.
“With the help of government, Santos and other mining companies have avoided considering climate impacts on ordinary people from their actions,” Cutmore said on May 19. “In no way can these impacts be mitigated even if you believe Santos lies. Today’s decision is just putting profits before community.”
She said the Gomeroi People Claimant Group had, in 2022, already refused to give Santos permission to turn the Pilliga Forest into an industrial zone, deface its cultural significance and pollute its waters.
Santos initially won the NNT’s approval for the lease grant in 2022. But the Federal Court, last year, while unanimously rejecting the Gomeroi people’s five grounds of appeal, nevertheless found that the NTT had erred in its assessment of the Gomeroi people’s environmental concerns. Chief Justice Debra Mortimer said that the Gomeroi people had been “deprived of the possibility of a successful outcome by reason of the tribunal's errors”.
Cutmore said the NTT had ignored Traditional Owners by finding that Santos’ contribution to climate change and impact on the lives of Gomeroi people can be mitigated.
“We stood strong, united behind our culture against the gas company. Despite this decision, our mob should never be afraid to stand up for country, never be afraid to do the right thing for future generations,” Cutmore said.
Cutmore told the ABC on May 20: “The people from the Namoi, who rely on the water system, all the way through to the Murray Darling Basin, it's going to be devastating for the country, the land … It’s going to be devastating for our people. We took everything into consideration what Santos offered us at the [National] Native Title Tribunal table, we said no.”
She said this is the first time in NSW a Native Title Claimant Group had given their Nation a full vote to decide whether to accept Santos’ gas mining proposal.
“This is consistent with our Law,” Dennis Griffen, elder and Traditional Owner from the Liverpool Plains where Santos want to place their main pipeline. “But the NSW and Australian government doesn’t respect Indigenous decision-making and they dragged us through the legal system to get to this point. Griffen added that “this decision is not the end because we will keep resisting this gas invasion on our Country”.
Santos will now push for production licenses, although it is not clear how long this will take. Whether the project is viable hinges on a connecting pipeline to the Hunter, which the federal government is still assessing.
Unions NSW and Lock the Gate Alliance organsed a May 6 protest outside NSW parliament at which Gomeroi Traditional Owner Karra Kinchela said Minns “needs to understand that Gomeroi people have not and will never give Santos permission to destroy our country with its poisonous gas project”.