Senate to investigate controversial Middle Arm development amid calls for ‘closer scrutiny’

The Senate will investigate the proposed development of the Middle Arm precinct on Darwin harbour after the government voted to support an inquiry into the controversial project.

It follows a Guardian Australia investigation that revealed the Albanese government knew the project was seen as a “key enabler” for the export of gas from the Beetaloo basin, despite being branded a “sustainable development precinct”.

The Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young successfully moved to establish the inquiry after two previous attempts in past parliamentary sittings were voted down by the government and opposition.

“Gas fuels the climate crisis and taxpayers should not be subsidising its dangerous expansion,” she said.

“Greenwashing gas and ‘petrochemicals’ as renewables means this entire project requires closer scrutiny.”

The government has been under pressure from the Greens and crossbench to drop $1.5bn in financial support for the project.

Senior health professionals and concerned Northern Territory residents rallied in Canberra last month, calling for the government to withdraw the subsidy and rule out new gas projects in the Beetaloo due to their impacts on human health and the climate.

The Middle Arm development will be a major hub for gas, petrochemicals, blue and green hydrogen, critical minerals and carbon capture and storage, with Beetaloo operator Tamboran Resources, critical minerals company Tivan, and Fortescue Future Industries (Fortescue Metals Group’s clean energy arm), among the first companies announced as tenants for the site.

The Senate inquiry will have a particular focus on issues including the likely and intended future uses of the Middle Arm site, the funding intentions of the federal and Northern Territory governments and the project’s impacts on the climate, health and cultural heritage.

The inquiry had been recommended in a report from an earlier Senate inquiry that examined the Beetaloo basin.

Guardian Australia revealed in May that Larrakia traditional owners held concerns for Darwin’s only known Indigenous rock art, which is located near the site of the proposed industrial precinct.

The government’s decision to support the inquiry comes amid growing pressure over its approval of new and expanded fossil fuel developments, including a proposed expansion of a metallurgical coalmine in Queensland that received a green light last week.

The independent MP for Kooyong, Monique Ryan, who supported doctors who protested in Canberra in August, said the inquiry was a win for the community.

“After dragging its feet – and denying Middle Arm was a fossil fuel development – I welcome the government’s decision to support the Greens’ motion in the Senate to hold an inquiry into Middle Arm,” she said.

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She asked how a government could “in good conscience” take a financial stake in the project at a time when unprecedented conditions were being experienced in the northern hemisphere and Australia had just recorded its hottest winter on record.

The independent senator David Pocock said the inquiry would be an opportunity to “put the evidence on the table and try once again to convince the government to put people above gas company profits”.

Kirsty Howey, the executive director of the Environment Centre NT, said the proposed Middle Arm hub had been “mired in controversy from the get-go, and is in dire need of scrutiny”.

“The people of the Northern Territory have been gaslit and lied to by politicians about Middle Arm for too long,” she said.

“Australians deserve to know how $1.5bn in taxpayer money has been promised for what is essentially a massive fossil fuel expansion.”

Comment has been sought from the government. In parliament last month it admitted the project would benefit the gas industry but defended its investment because it would also support tenants focused on hydrogen and critical minerals.

It has said the development “will deliver economic growth to Northern Australia and help drive Australia’s future net zero economy”.