"Santos wins legal battle against Tiwi Islands elders over $5.7b Barossa gas project's underwater pipeline", 15 January 2024

Gas giant Santos has been granted permission to resume laying an underwater pipeline for its $5.7 billion Barossa gas project in the Timor Sea, north of Darwin, after winning a legal battle against a group of Tiwi Islands elders.

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[...] [R]uling means the gas company can resume construction of its pipeline, which will be used to pipe gas to Darwin before being shipped as LNG to buyers in South Korea and Japan.

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In handing down her findings, Justice Natalie Charlesworth told the court there was disagreement among relevant Tiwi Islanders about these songlines.

"The case founded on the traditional accounts of the Ampiji and the Crocodile Man was characterised by a significant degree of divergence among relevant Tiwi Islanders about the content of those Dreaming or songlines," she said.

"In the result, I have concluded that the evidence asserting that the songlines relate to or extend into the area of sea country through which the pipeline will pass is insufficient."

Justice Charlesworth also said she was not satisfied by claims the pipeline might damage potential cultural heritage sites along the sea floor.

"The evidence establishes nothing more than a negligible chance that there may be objects of archaeological value in the area of the pipeline route," she said.

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