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  • Sep, 2024

    Canberra is finally listening

    This week we put the voices of the Territory on the national stage. Traditional Owners, experts and environment groups were in Canberra this week, raising the alarm about the threats facing the Territory’s rivers.

    We met with Ministers, MPs, Senators and spoke to the media to make sure that the voices of Territorians and Traditional Owners are heard over the lobbying of big business. And Parliament listened!

    Thanks to pressure from people like you, Parliament has established a special inquiry into water, food and energy security in the Northern Territory. And we won a public commitment from Minister for Indigenous Australians, Malarndirri McCarthy to advocate for First Nations people to have a say in decision-making across the Roper River catchment.

    Our campaign is breaking through in Canberra as the government feels the pressure from Territorians who don’t want a repeat of the Murray-Darling disaster on Territory rivers.

    Traditional Owners Jocelyn James (Mangarrayi), Melissa Andrews (Ngukurr), Cecilia Lake (Mangarrayi), Anne-Marie Woods (Mangarrayi) meet with Minister Malarndirri McCarthy (top right), Senator Dorinda Cox (bottom left) and Senator David Pocock (bottom right).

    But the work doesn’t stop here. We know that the cotton industry will be desperate to influence this inquiry. And we need to make sure that the voices of Territorians can be heard over the influence of big business.

    Share the good news on your social media and ask your friends to join the campaign!

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    We will be keeping a close eye on this inquiry, working to support communities to have an increased say on decisions across the Roper catchment and keeping you updated on when you can have an influence.

    We need urgent action to restore integrity to the NT’s water management system, which has been riddled with conflicts of interest. As the cotton industry sets its sights on the Northern Territory, now more than ever, we need better management systems and laws that protect these unique rivers.

    Our campaign is working. Not even the politicians in Canberra can ignore the threats facing the Territory rivers. We know how important these rivers are to our way of life and environment and it’s about time more politicians did too.

    Learn more

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  • Sep, 2024

    We’re taking your message to Canberra

    Every Territorian knows how special the Top End Rivers are. The way of life that we all love is made possible because of these free flowing rivers and the unique environment they sustain.

    But these rivers are under threat. Big business has been taking advantage of a broken water management system riddled with conflicts of interest to take more water and bulldoze more land alongside our iconic rivers.

    Right now Traditional Owners and environmental groups are in Canberra to meet with the government and push for a national plan to protect our free flowing rivers. Will you have their back?

    You can add your voice to the call for national action and make sure that Canberra can’t ignore us. The more people who contact the government, the more powerful our actions Canberra will be.

    Be a voice for free flowing rivers. Send your message now.

    The recent 4 Corners investigation revealed just how broken river management in the NT is. And the community has had enough.

    The rivers of Australia’s north are some of the last free flowing tropical rivers in the world. They are precious to the people of the NT and internally recognised. We’ve all seen what has happened to the Murray Darling system. We can’t let that happen in the NT.

    We need the Federal Government to step in and prevent this disaster before it’s too late.

    Send a message to Canberra now and ask that they step up to protect these special rivers and the unique environment that they sustain.

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  • Sep, 2024

    Territory Rivers: the film

    The rivers of the Northern Territory are some of the last free-flowing tropical rivers in the world. But the threat of large-scale agriculture projects looms – which, if established in the Top End, will require huge amounts of water taken from already stretched river systems and natural floodplains. This documentary short looks at the science, cultural importance and wellbeing of some of the NT’s iconic river systems – and the people, wildlife and environments that depend upon their survival.

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  • Aug, 2024

    NT government defends cotton industry’s land and water use as calls grow for federal inquiry

    The NT government has defended allowing pastoralists to change pastoral lease uses without a permit, saying it’s legal to grow crops to feed livestock.

    A former pastoral land regulator says that rule only allows permit-free land use changes if the primary purpose of growing the crop is for cattle feed.

    What’s next?

    Some are calling for a Commonwealth inquiry into the NT government’s adherence to its own land use and water laws.

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  • Aug, 2024

    The NT Land Corporation maintains ‘strategic land’ for future projects. Where did it come from?

    Revelations of large-scale land clearing, free water licences and questionable legal grounds for cotton farming in the Northern Territory have been aired on Monday night’s Four Corners program.

    Among the issues raised in the program was the existence of a quasi-government entity, the NT Land Corporation, which manages about 600,000 hectares of land for economic development.

    That’s more than twice the size of the Australian Capital Territory.

    Despite its influence, little is known about the NT Land Corporation and how it works.

    Here’s what we do know.

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  • Aug, 2024

    Urgent calls for Royal Commission as Four Corners reveals Murray Darling disaster repeat looming in the NT

    Conservation groups Environment Centre NT and Arid Lands Environment Centre are calling on the Federal Government to establish a Royal Commission into water management, deforestation and impacts on the rights of Traditional Owners in the Northern Territory. 

    The calls follow revelations aired by ABC’s 4 Corners program, ‘Water Grab’, into the mismanagement of water licences in the Territory, land-clearing laws riddled with loopholes, and shocking conflicts of interest regarding government decision-makers. 

    The groups are calling on the Federal Government to immediately commit to:

    • Support the Northern Territory Government to implement an immediate moratorium on new water licensing and water allocations in the Roper system and land clearing permits on pastoral leases.
    • A Royal Commission into water management, land clearing and deforestation in the NT and the impacts on the rights of Traditional Owners.
    • A Commonwealth-funded First Nations-led governance project for the Roper catchment.

    Quotes from Kirsty Howey, Executive Director of Environment Centre NT:

    “This national scandal has exposed a fatally compromised system of land and water management in the Northern Territory,” said Executive Director of Environment Centre NT Kirsty Howey.

    “This is a complete dereliction of duty from Northern Territory decision-makers and raises serious questions about just how far the NT government are willing to change the rules to accommodate big business. The Federal Government can’t sit on the sidelines – urgent action is required before the Northern Territory’s iconic savanna is trashed, rivers are destroyed, and Traditional Owners rights are undermined. We don’t have time to wait.”

    “Territorians have made it clear they don’t want to see what has occurred down south happen to Top End rivers. 72.5% of NT residents say large cotton companies shouldn’t be allowed to expand operations until they fix the problems they have caused in the Murray Darling,” said Ms Howey.

    “The Northern Territory’s savanna is a national treasure and the world’s largest remaining intact tropical woodland – but it’s at risk of being bulldozed by cotton producers. Big cotton devastated the Murray Darling Basin – we mustn’t be bullied into making the same mistakes here,” she concluded.

    Quotes from Adrian Tomlinson, CEO of Arid Lands Environment Centre:

     “The Northern Territory is now a national embarrassment when it comes to environmental protection. It’s time for a complete overhaul, but we simply can’t trust the Northern Territory Government to do the job. We’re calling on the Federal Government to step in and publicly probe this unfolding disaster before it’s too late.” 

    “The Northern Territory is known around the world for its iconic natural treasures, including our free-flowing rivers and underground aquifers. But the policies of successive governments have paved the way for massive amounts of water taken from aquifers in central Australia and river systems – threatening groundwater dependent ecosystems and cultural values, as well as fishing, tourism, and our Territory lifestyle,” said Arid Lands Environment Centre CEO Adrian Tomlinson.

    “Whilst the spotlight placed on this scandal by 4 Corners is certainly welcome, this is by far not the first time that both the NT and Federal Governments have been warned of these matters, including by communities themselves. The 2022 release of the Georgina Wiso allocation plan resulted in 17 of the nation’s leading water scientists writing to the Chief Minister warning of ‘particularly poor and regressive’ approaches.”

    “Enough is enough. We need to ensure that we do not lose what makes the Territory so special – our amazing and unique natural environment,” he concluded.

    Notes for editors:

    • Polling of residents in Darwin and Palmerston, undertaken by uComms in April 2024.
    • Letter signed by 17 water conservation academics sent to then-Chief Minister Natasha Fyles on 23 November 2022.

    Background – A broken system

    • The Northern Territory is home to some of Australia’s most iconic natural places – soaring escarpments, pristine rivers, the largest intact savanna ecosystem remaining on earth. It is home to some of the world’s last free-flowing tropical river systems.
    • Since 2018, the cotton industry has set its sights on expansion in the Northern Territory. The significant environmental risks of an expanded cotton industry in the NT are documented in the 2022 report A Fork in the River. This expansion is occurring in a context of extraordinarily poor regulation.
    • The Environmental Defenders Office has described the NT’s laws as among the worst in the country. The Northern Territory is largely non-compliant with federal water policy, with the Productivity Commission recently described the NT’s water planning as “backsliding” compared with other jurisdictions (see page 130). Water Allocation Plans are not binding on decision-makers. Water is free for irrigators in the NT, which Government Ministers have described as our “competitive advantage”.  This means that, structurally, water licensing and allocations in the NT involve the transfer of public resources/wealth to private interests without compensation. It also means that there is no revenue to pay for regulation of water even if the regulators wanted to regulate the industry properly. In 2022, 18 water academics from around the country sent a letter to the Chief Minister calling for the NT’s water 
    • The NT is the only jurisdiction in Australia without native vegetation laws. Land clearing on the pastoral estate (where most of the development is proposed to occur) is regulated by the Pastoral Land Board. Land clearing approvals have rapidly accelerated in the NT, with proposals for cotton cropping expected to require much more. No pastoral land clearing applications have ever been assessed by the NT EPA under the NT environmental assessment laws, nor referred for assessment under the federal EPBC Act.
    • Traditional Owners have called for overhauls to the way that water is managed in catchments.
      • In 2023, Traditional Owners from across 20,000 square kilometres of the Roper River catchment travelled to Canberra to ask for protection of the river from threats posed by new water intensive industries in the catchment and to be at the forefront of decision-making for the river.
      • The delegation also asked for a ban on all further water extraction, licenses and surface water harvesting in the Roper catchment, including the groundwater and floodplains.
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  • Jan, 2024

    Video: Natural Values of Territory Rivers

    Witness what makes the treasures of the Northern Territory special! Our pristine rivers are a true natural wonder and are unique in this world.

    Unlike elsewhere in the world, Territory rivers like the Daly, Roper, Adelaide and Victoria remain in good shape – they haven’t been dammed, over-extracted and polluted like rivers down south.

    The health of these rivers is important for providing drinking water, food, jobs, and underpinning culture.

    They also support a wide range of unique species, some of which are not found anywhere else.

    Learn more

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  • Jan, 2024

    Video: Floodplain Harvesting in the Northern Territory

    “We’re looking down the barrel of a repeat of the Murray-Darling Basin here in the Top End and it’s something that the community is absolutely opposed to.”

    Kirsty Howey from Environment Centre NT explains the troubling process of ‘floodplain harvesting’ and why it risks our rivers.

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  • Jan, 2024

    ‘NT government-commissioned probe of report predicting cotton environmental impacts finds most claims supported’: ABC

    Read the story HERE, listen HERE, or watch it HERE.

    An independent assessment that the Northern Territory government commissioned to find out whether a green group’s report falsely claimed developing a major cotton industry could damage rivers and aquifers, has found most of its conclusions were correct.

    Story by Jane Bardon. (ABC 2 January, 2024).

    You can sign our action asking the NT Govt to act to protect our rivers, floodplains and surrounding savannas HERE.

    Learn more

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  • Jan, 2024

    Cotton gin opening increases Northern development tussle: ABC PM

    Listen to the story HERE.

    The opening of the NT’s first cotton processing plant is being touted as an important step towards developing the North by the industry, but increasing community concerns over water use.

    Interviews:

    Sue Brosnan, Katherine cotton gin project coordinator
    David Connolly, Tipperary Stations Group General Manager
    Rosina Farrell, Jilkminggan Mangarrayi community leader
    Kirsty Howey, NT Environment Centre 

    This report is from Jane Bardon. (ABC PM 15 Dec 2023 ).

    See updates and developments from this story HERE.

    You can sign our action asking the NT Govt to act to protect our rivers, floodplains and surrounding savannas HERE.

    Learn more

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