In 2013, a $360 million expansion of the McArthur River Mine near Borroloola was approved by the Northern Territory Government, which more than doubled its zinc and lead output. Six months later, the mine’s waste dump spontaneously started combusting, which sent a plume of toxic iron sulphide smoke over the pristine coastal floodplains and savannah of the Gulf Country. Garawa Traditional Owner Nancy McDinny, among others, had been expressing concern that the dump’s reactions may have contaminated fish in the McArthur River and its tributaries.
‘Fish, sea turtle, dugong that we eat along the sea, shells, we’re too frightened to eat all of our bush tucker now, we grew up eating that stuff,’ McDinny said. In July 2014, elevated levels of heavy metals in fish and invertebrates were found in creeks on the mine site (both tributaries of the McArthur River). Glencore has continued to deny that it has contaminated fish off its site.
More than ten years later, the mine continues to have a devastating impact on sites of cultural significance. In March 2025, Glencore was fined a measly $31,500 for more than 13 years of sacred site law breaches, relating to water monitoring and infrastructure on the Barramundi Dreaming site. Following the judgement, the mine apologised, saying it ‘regrets the concern this has caused to Indigenous traditional owners and custodians’.
In 2022, after three years of deliberation, the NT Government blocked Glencore from destroying an ancient stone tools quarry in tandem with the dumping of half a billion tonnes of toxic rock near the river bank. In 2024, Native Title holders from the McArthur river area won their High Court case to block Glencore from expanding a port facility and a new dredge dumping area on the Gulf of Carpentaria.
While these developments are positive, they are overshadowed by the repeated encroachment of the McArthur Mine onto sacred cultural sites and the overwhelming disrespect shown toward First Nations custodians whose lands and waterways are continually violated. These repeated violations point to the inability of current state and Federal cultural heritage legislation to effectively prevent damage and destruction of First Nations heritage sites, including the blatant disregard for the principle of free, prior and informed consent.
You can read a fuller timeline of the McArthur River Mine here, which documents key changes to the mine’s operations over the years, including a series of adverse effects including significant waste rock dumping, elevated levels of heavy metals in fish and invertebrates in nearby creeks, contamination of cattle, toxic fire, and road train chemical spills.
Beetaloo Basin
For over a decade, opposition to the NT Government’s intention to support hydraulic fracturing of onshore unconventional reservoirs (commonly referred to as ‘fracking’) has been growing. In 2016, the NT Government imposed a two-year moratorium on further exploration while it undertook a scientific inquiry into fracking. After publication of the inquiry’s final report – along with government commitments to abide by all the safeguarding recommendations contained in it – the moratorium was lifted. In 2021, the NT Government laid out its plan to pursue advanced exploration of fracking in The Industry Research and Development (Beetaloo Co-operative Drilling Program) Instrument 2021.
Fracking in the Beetaloo Basin has been strongly opposed by a number of First Nations groups across the Basin – including the Gudanji, Yanyuwa, Garrwa, Jingili, Mudburra and Alawa peoples. In June 2021, Traditional Owner groups – with increasing support from environmental groups across the country – were successful in securing a Senate Inquiry into the fracking of the Beetaloo Basin.
The key environmental, financial, social and cultural objections presented to the Inquiry included:
- the threat to security and quality of water with the impacts of fracking and concerns regarding wastewater management;
- threats to sacred sites and waterways;
- absence of consent from Traditional Owners;
- expert doubts as to the economic viability of fracking without significant government subsidies, particularly given urgent need to decarbonise globally;
- a desire for public funding to be spent on people not profits; and
- the contribution of fracking of the Beetaloo and McArthur basins to climate disaster affecting the NT and beyond.
At a March 2022 hearing in Darwin, all these concerns and more were reiterated. In particular, concerns were raised about contamination of ground water and its depletion from the Great Artesian Basin, as well as the increased emissions burden on Australia’s ability to meet its 2050 zero emissions target.
Traditional Owners have been very clear – they don’t want this fracking to go ahead. They don’t want their lands and waters to be poisoned. They don’t want this climate bomb. There is no free, prior and informed consent – and this should be a necessity given the enormous scale of this potential climate disaster.
Yamatji and Noongar woman and senator Dorinda Cox
The Inquiry’s final report was made public in 2023, with recommendations that included increased consultation with Traditional Owners, including the implementation of free, prior and informed consent relating to Beetaloo gas exploration and production.
In June 2024, gas company Empire Energy was slammed for failing to report the discovery of stone tools and artefacts while conducting an exploratory survey on a ‘significant’ medium density site. In January 2025, it was revealed that 2,000 litres of contaminated fracking wastewater were spilled into the Beetaloo Basin, leading to the death of eucalypt trees and grass as well as high levels of toxic metals in the water. Empire Energy would not allow scientist Ian Wright, who accompanied concerned Traditional Owners, to test the fluids and waste held in its storage facilities.
The other company operating in the Beetaloo, Tamboran Resources, also reported spills of more than one thousand litres of drilling fluid and contaminated wastewater at its Shenandoah South Beetaloo project near Daly Waters in late 2024. A spokesman from Tamboran said “none of these recordable incidents caused material environmental harm”.
Tiwi Islands and Santos Gas Pipeline
The Tiwi Islands, located about 80 kilometres off the northern coast of Darwin, are home to approximately 3,000 First Nations people.
The remote region became the centre of a high profile legal dispute over the Barossa gas pipeline project contracted to Santos for $5.7 billion, after Traditional Owners launched legal proceedings against the company and the Federal Government. Backed by the Environmental Defenders Office (EDO), and led by Munupi Senior Lawman and Tiwi Traditional Owner Dennis Tipakalippa, TO’s argued that Santos were insufficient in their assessment of potential damage to tangible and intangible underwater cultural heritage sites and sacred dreaming places in the path of the 262 kilometre pipeline, a section of which comes in close proximity (7km) of the Tiwi Islands. Forecasted to operate over at least two decades, the proposal was estimated by the EDO to contribute approximately 469 million tonnes of carbon emissions, a level of environmental and cultural impact that Tipakalippa argues was not properly discussed in consultation with Tiwi Islanders. The case is significant as according to the EDO, it is the first in Australian history to oppose an offshore project impacting Sea Country on the grounds of a lack of consultation.
It’s all about our future generations. That’s what I worry for. What are they going to have, who are they going to be? Our lives are not just lived on the land, but in the sea – this home that we have loved for thousands of generations.
Dennis Tipakalippa
In 2024, Santos won the legal battle, clearing the way for the company to resume the construction of its pipeline. EDO lawyers were ordered to pay $9 million to Santos for its legal costs The final ruling cited divergences among Tiwi Islanders on relevant songlines and Dreaming stories, leading to the conclusion that “evidence asserting that the songlines relate to or extend into the area of sea country through which the pipeline will pass is insufficient”. Following the ruling, the Tiwi Land Council issued a statement acknowledging the decision, and emphasised Santos’ responsibility to continue to promote cultural sensitivity and respect when approaching the Tiwi people. The same year, the Council criticised Santos’s allocation of 10 million dollars as inadequate in “meeting the needs of the region”, urging a reconsideration in annual investment.
The case calls into question the extent to which current cultural heritage legislation is able to protect tangible and intangible cultural heritage, including underwater cultural heritage in Sea Country. It also reveals issues in the Native Title sector around future acts and Prescribed Body Corporate (PBC) resourcing when up against powerful multinational companies. On the back of the Santos case, proposed legislation was introduced to the Senate seeking to amend the Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage Act 2006 so that First Nations people are adequately consulted on the preparation of environment plans for proposed offshore energy projects. The Bill also sought to better include and protect underwater and intangible cultural heritage, as well as to ensure that Traditional Owners and other cultural knowledge holders are included in the list of relevant persons to consult. As of September 2024, the Committee tasked with leading an inquiry into the Bill asked for an extension of time to report until April 2025.
Further Reading/Cases to Watch