Australian gas giant Santos has been given permission to go ahead with the construction of a controversial underwater pipeline for a multi-billion dollar gas project in the Timor Sea north of Darwin. The company won the legal battle against a group of Aboriginal people from the Tiwi Islands in the region on Monday.
The indigenous population had sued over the project, Australian broadcaster ABC reported, citing the court responsible. Some Tiwi Islander elders had called on Santos to revise plans to avoid potential risks to indigenous sacred underwater sites. The company was therefore initially forced to interrupt work on the pipeline in November after the group filed summary proceedings.
The plaintiffs argued that Santos failed to adequately assess whether the 263-kilometer pipeline would damage underwater cultural heritage sites and sacred sites from the so-called Dreamtime. The pipeline as part of the massive Barossa gas project runs a few kilometers west of the Tiwi Islands.
Have inhabited the country for 60,000 years
The Aboriginals are convinced that ‘songlines’ (dream paths) run through the waters – a kind of mythical-cultural map of the indigenous population. Spiritual beings from the dreamtime live there, such as Mother Ampiji, also known as the Rainbow Serpent. The term ‘Dreamtime’ represents the complex mythology of the indigenous people who have inhabited the land for about 60,000 years.
The responsible judge now ruled that there is only “a negligible chance that objects of archaeological value could be found in the vicinity of the pipeline route”. Santos welcomed the verdict. “In accordance with the ruling and in accordance with the environmental plan applicable to the project, Santos will continue to lay pipelines for the Barossa gas project,” the group said in a statement.
Source: Krone
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