Federation members joined Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander activists, farmers, environmental campaigners and comrades from across the union movement outside State Parliament in Sydney today to support the Gamil Means No campaign against gas giant Santos.
Santos’ proposed Narrabri Gas Project will drill more than 880 gas wells in the Pilliga State Forest, destroy Gomeroi sacred sites and cultural heritage and pump almost 130 million tonnes of greenhouse gas into the atmosphere.
The Albanese Labor Government was just re-elected promising strong action on climate change and reducing Australia’s emissions – but the Narrabri Gas Project will release more than a quarter of Australia’s current annual emissions over its lifetime if it goes ahead.
The science is clear – Australia cannot meet our emissions reduction targets and keep approving big new coal and gas projects like Narrabri.
Gomeroi Traditional Owners applied for recognition of their native title over the Pilliga in 2011 — nine years before state and federal Coalition governments approved Santos’s gas project in 2020. Since then, the Gomeroi have brought together a broad alliance of unions, environment groups, farmers and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to oppose the project under the Gamil Means No campaign.
In 2024, the Federal Court overturned the Native Title Tribunal’s 2022 approval of the Narrabri Gas Project, ruling that the Tribunal should have considered the project’s contribution to climate change when applying the public interest test. The Tribunal is due to make a new determination on the project this week.
“We support Gomeroi mob in their fight against Santos,” Federation Aboriginal Education Officer Russell Honnery said. “Being a Gomeroi man myself, I find this fight really important because they’re destroying my homeland.”
“If this is the first time you’re hearing about this issue, come and visit the land and see how fragile it is. The Great Artesian Basin provides water for the entire state, and they’re drilling through it to dig gas wells.”
Federation joined the Gamil Means No campaign in 2020 and is urging the Minns Labor Government and all NSW parliamentarians to withdraw approval for the project.
“We stand in solidarity with the Gomeroi people and call for the government to safeguard the Pilliga from gas mining,” Federation Senior Vice President Natasha Watt said.
“Acknowledging the Pilliga is on the lands of the Gomeroi people whilst ignoring their call for Santos to not mine there is the height of hypocrisy that we reject”