The government must release documents relating to the awarding of a $21 million grant to Liberal Party-aligned fracking company Empire Energy, after the Senate this afternoon supported a Greens’ motion.

The order compels the government to produce by 9.30 am on Thursday, 12 August, all correspondence, lists of applicants and grant guidelines related to its Beetaloo Basin grant scheme, in addition to details of any meetings between Ministers Angus Taylor or Keith Pitt and Empire Energy.

The Greens say today’s awarding of $21 million of public money to a private corporation to frack the Northern Territory will turbocharge climate collapse, threatens groundwater and goes against the wishes of Traditional Owners.

The money, taken from the $50 million Beetaloo Basin slush fund created by the Coalition and supported by Labor, will be given to Imperial Oil and Gas to drill three new gas wells.

The Greens call on the Queensland and federal governments to reject Arrow Energy’s massive expansion proposal to drill hundreds of new coal seam gas wells at Hopeland in the Western Downs Region and lay 440km of pipelines in fertile farm land.
 
Arrow Energy has applied to increase its number of coal seam gas wells at the Hopeland site from six to 286. The state government previously declared the area off-limits for future coal seam gas projects after land and groundwater was contaminated by the Linc Energy underground coal gasification disaster.
 

Responding to the Supreme Court’s decision to grant Adani a temporary injunction to silence anti-Adani activist Ben Pennings, Senator for Queensland and Greens spokesperson for mining and resources, Senator Larissa Waters, said: 
 
“I’m disgusted that a coal billionaire has used the courts to silence anti-Adani climate activist, Galilee Blockade leader Ben Pennings.

“We live in a broken democracy where big companies will do whatever they can to silence opposition.

The Greens condemn Adani’s attempts to silence Galilee Blockade leader, Ben Pennings, by seeking to  bankrupt his family with legal action and secretly applying to the Supreme Court to raid his home. 
 
Senator for Queensland and Greens spokesperson for mining and resources, Senator Larissa Waters, said:
 
“We live in a broken democracy where big companies will do whatever they can to silence opposition.
 

This Saturday's Northern Territory election has the potential to make history by electing a strong, independent Greens voice to Parliament, Greens Leader Adam Bandt MP has said, urging voters to put the Greens at the top of the ballot paper.

The Northern Territory Greens have run their biggest campaign yet, running nine candidates in an election that has hit boiling point over concerns about fracking.

The Labor party backroom boys are pressuring Queensland’s Labor Premier to approve stage 3 of the New Acland coal mine, showing fossil fuel donors still call the shots, say the Australian Greens.
 
“Proving how powerful the coal mining lobby and their donations are on federal Labor, there’s now three federal Labor party MPs pushing the Premier to approve the Acland coal mine despite the mine’s approval currently being before the High Court,” said Senator Larissa Waters, Australian Greens Senate Leader and Mining and Resources spokesperson.
 

Greens Leader Adam Bandt has pledged to fight the government’s gas push laid out in the Technology Road Map Discussion Paper released by the government today.

Mr Bandt also said the leaked COVID Commission push for a gas-rush shows the corruption of process the government is using to develop a plan for manufacturing.

“We need to be ending Australia’s addiction to toxic methane gas not feeding it,” Mr Bandt said.

“Coal, oil and gas are the primary cause of the climate crisis. We can't solve the climate emergency and economic crisis by pouring gas on the fire.”

The Greens have welcomed court proceedings against the Morrison Government for failing to apply national water laws when it assessed Adani’s North Galilee Water Scheme project, a key part of the Carmichael coal mine.

“The water trigger was introduced to protect farmers, landholders and community members by making sure the impacts on water supplies are rigorously assessed,” Greens Senate Leader and spokesperson on mining, Senator Larissa Waters said today.

Greens Senate Leader Senator Larissa Waters has today introduced a bill in the Senate to ban thermal coal mines in the Galilee Basin, effectively outlawing the Adani mine and Clive Palmer’s proposed coal mine.

She said opening up the Galilee Basin for thermal coal mining was a carbon bomb that would push global warming to unsafe levels and kill off the Great Barrier Reef.

“The Galilee Basin is a carbon bomb and in reality the science demands we don’t open up a single new coal mine,” Senator Waters said.