Members of the Federation, along with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander activists, farmers, environmentalists, and union supporters, gathered outside State Parliament in Sydney today to back the Gamil Means No campaign against the Santos Narrabri Gas Project.
Santos’ proposed project plans to drill over 880 gas wells in the Pilliga State Forest, an area that holds sacred sites and cultural heritage for the Gomeroi people. The project is also set to release nearly 130 million tons of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.
The Albanese Labor Government was re-elected with promises to take strong action on climate change and reduce Australia’s emissions. However, the Narrabri Gas Project would emit more than a quarter of Australia’s total annual emissions over its lifetime if it proceeds.
The science is clear—Australia cannot meet its emissions targets while approving large coal and gas projects like Narrabri.
The Gomeroi Traditional Owners have been seeking recognition of their native title over the Pilliga since 2011, nearly a decade before the state and federal Coalition governments approved the Santos gas project in 2020. Since then, the Gomeroi people have united a broad coalition of unions, environmental groups, farmers, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples under the Gamil Means No campaign to oppose the project.
In 2024, the Federal Court overturned the Native Title Tribunal’s approval of the project, ruling that the Tribunal failed to consider the project’s impact on climate change. The Tribunal is set to make a new decision this week.
“We stand with the Gomeroi mob in their fight against Santos,” said Federation Aboriginal Education Officer Russell Honnery. “As a Gomeroi man, this issue is deeply personal to me because they are destroying my homeland.”
Honnery urged others to visit the land and understand its fragility. “The Great Artesian Basin provides water for the entire state, and they’re drilling through it to dig gas wells,” he added.
The Federation joined the Gamil Means No campaign in 2020 and is calling on the Minns Labor Government and all NSW parliamentarians to revoke approval for the project.
“We stand in solidarity with the Gomeroi people and demand the government protect the Pilliga from gas mining,” said Federation Senior Vice President Natasha Watt. “Acknowledging the Pilliga as Gomeroi land while ignoring their call to stop Santos is the height of hypocrisy, and we reject it.”
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