I thought I'd share with you a letter from Mark Ogge, the Principal Advisor of The Australian Institute:
Hi Dean
The fallout continues from the government cover up of a dangerous 20-year methane leak at the Darwin LNG export plant owned by Santos.
As reported by the ABC, the NT’s top environment regulator, Paul Vogel, approved the plant’s extension while also being paid by lobbyists for INPEX, a multinational gas company and part-owner of the gas project.
Now, Vogel has taken a side job at a mining company, which has also applied for mining licences on the NT's ecologically sensitive Melville Island.
What we’re seeing isn’t just a one-off conflict of interest, it’s part of a revolving door between government and industry that puts corporate fossil fuel profits before environment, climate, and our community.
This is state capture, where regulators that are meant to protect the public interest instead serve the interests of the companies they’re supposed to oversee. It compromises integrity and erodes public trust.
As Environment Centre NT Executive Director Kirsty Howe put it, "This goes to the heart of public confidence in the regulation of some of the most damaging and polluting projects in the country.”
It’s no wonder we can’t have nice things like ambitious climate targets. There’s simply no room for ambition, and even less for accountability, while the Australian government keeps waving through new gas and coal projects.
Just today, South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas has made a speech deriding 'eco-purists' and urging Santos' stalled gas project in NSW be fast-tracked.
Australia Institute research has for years exposed a systemic conflict of interest between gas and mining companies and the NT Government. Like revealing government appointments of gas and mining industry executives to important panels and commissions ¹ ² ³. Not to mention, our research uncovered that the NT Government has provided billions in subsidies for fracking companies and multinationals like Eni for decades.
Exposing conflicts of interest matters.
If there’s one small ray of sunshine in this sorry saga, it’s this – days after the methane leak scandal broke, the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company pulled out of its $30 billion takeover bid for Santos. Perhaps they, like us, were left wondering what else Santos was hiding.
More soon.
Mark Ogge
Principal Advisor
The Australia Institute
ABC News: NT regulator takes new side job with miner amid calls
to quit over gas leak 'scandal'
Hi Dean --
The fallout continues from the government cover up of a dangerous 20-year methane leak at the Darwin LNG export plant owned by Santos.
As reported by the ABC, the NT’s top environment regulator, Paul Vogel, approved the plant’s extension while also being paid by lobbyists for INPEX, a multinational gas company and part-owner of the gas project.
Now, Vogel has taken a side job at a mining company, which has also applied for mining licences on the NT's ecologically sensitive Melville Island.
What we’re seeing isn’t just a one-off conflict of interest, it’s part of a revolving door between government and industry that puts corporate fossil fuel profits before environment, climate, and our community.
This is state capture, where regulators that are meant to protect the public interest instead serve the interests of the companies they’re supposed to oversee. It compromises integrity and erodes public trust.
As Environment Centre NT Executive Director Kirsty Howe put it, "This goes to the heart of public confidence in the regulation of some of the most damaging and polluting projects in the country.”
It’s no wonder we can’t have nice things like ambitious climate targets. There’s simply no room for ambition, and even less for accountability, while the Australian government keeps waving through new gas and coal projects.
Just today, South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas has made a speech deriding 'eco-purists' and urging Santos' stalled gas project in NSW be fast-tracked.
Australia Institute research has for years exposed a systemic conflict of interest between gas and mining companies and the NT Government. Like revealing government appointments of gas and mining industry executives to important panels and commissions ¹ ² ³. Not to mention, our research uncovered that the NT Government has provided billions in subsidies for fracking companies and multinationals like Eni for decades.
Exposing conflicts of interest matters.
If there’s one small ray of sunshine in this sorry saga, it’s this – days after the methane leak scandal broke, the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company pulled out of its $30 billion takeover bid for Santos. Perhaps they, like us, were left wondering what else Santos was hiding.
More soon.
Mark Ogge
Principal Advisor
The Australia Institute
¹ Subsidising fracking in the Beetaloo Basin
² Submission: Northern Territory mining royalty consultation
³ Fracking can’t fire up NT manufacturing
I like how in this single letter, NT, SA and NSW are all implicated in a Big Gas cartel. It's obvious WA has Woodside, and some idiot approved the oil rigs in the Bass Strait, visible from the 12 Apostles! And Albo approved the extension of Woodside, after sitting on the Climate Change report. What ever happened to the Environmental Protection Australia Albo was chewing over before the election???
None of them pay royalties and almost nothing in taxes. And then we subsidise them! As long as the politicians are well fed, they don't care about the 99%.