judgment

Munkara v Santos NA Barossa Pty Ltd - judgment

<p>This entry was provided by the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law. Please see the terms of use for citation and licensing of third party data.</p>

Litigation

Sabin

Sabin Litigation

order

Munkara v Santos NA Barossa Pty Ltd - order

Filing Year For Action

This case was brought on Oct. 30, 2023 by Simon Munkara, later joined by Carol Maria Puruntatameri and Maria Simplicia Purtaningatipuamantumirri, Aboriginal people of the Tiwi Islands belonging to the Jikilaruwu, Munupi, and Malawu clan groups. The applicants sought to restrain Santos NA Barossa Pty Ltd from commencing construction of a 262 km gas export pipeline in the Timor Sea, authorized under the Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage Act 2006 (Cth). They argued that under section 17(6) of the Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage (Environment) Regulations 2009, Santos was required to submit a revised environment plan because of the “occurrence of a new significant environmental risk.” The asserted new risks included the pipeline’s intrusion into waters spiritually significant to the Tiwi people, interference with ancestral songlines, and the possibility of disturbing artifacts or ancestral burial grounds along the pipeline’s route.

Because the action was initiated two days before construction was scheduled to begin, the Court granted an interim injunction on Nov. 2, 2023 restraining works until Nov. 13, 2023￼. On Nov. 15, 2023, the Court issued an interlocutory injunction of narrower scope, preventing construction along most of the pipeline route except the northernmost 86 km, effective until Jan. 15, 2024￼.

The trial proceeded in December 2023. On Jan. 15, 2024, Justice Charlesworth dismissed the application. The Court held that “occurrence of a risk” under regulation 17(6) refers to objective circumstances creating a danger, not to subjective states of knowledge. It found insufficient evidence of a spiritual connection between the applicants and the sea area affected by the pipeline and concluded that the chance of archaeological remains being present was negligible, falling short of a “new significant risk” ￼.

Following dismissal, the Court discharged the interlocutory injunction and ordered the applicants to pay Santos’s costs on a lump-sum basis, with costs to be assessed by the Registrar. Provision was made for further applications regarding variation of the costs order￼.

Munkara v Santos NA Barossa Pty Ltd

The Climate Litigation Database

Find climate change litigation data and indicators for {text}.

{text} litigation

Sabin Center for Climate Change Law provides Climate Litigation Database, a comprehensive database of US and Global climate change caselaw

Quickly and easily search through the complete text of thousands of climate change law and policy documents from every country.

Search the Climate Litigation Database

An aim to achieve a quantifiable outcome within a given time-frame, set by an institution such as a national government.

Policy instruments are techniques or tools used by governing authorities to promote certain policies in order to achieve predetermined goals. Put simply, instruments are how a government tries to achieve its goals, with this taxonomy being focused on national policy instruments.

Risk is the potential for adverse consequences resulting from the dynamic interplay between (climate-related) hazards, exposure, and vulnerability of affected human or ecological systems.

Groups  of people who are adversely affected by climate change or the response to it

A set of principles, processes, and practices that build economic and political power to shift from an extractive economy to a regenerative economy.

Renewable energy means all forms of energy produced from renewable sources in a sustainable manner.

Fossil fuel is a generic term for non-renewable energy sources such as coal, fossil gas, and oil (including crude oil, and petroleum products), that can be used for electricity and heat generation. Fossil fuels are hydrocarbons formed from pressurised and heated organic material buried over millions of years.

Molecules in the atmosphere that play a key role in the greenhouse effect by trapping heat radiating from Earth’s surface.

Area of the economy in which actors engage in identical or related activities.

In human systems, the process of adjustment to actual or expected climate change and its effects, in order to moderate harm, increase resilience or exploit beneficial opportunities. In natural systems, the process of adjustment to actual climate change and its effects; human intervention may facilitate adjustment to expected climate change and its effects.

The management and allocation of funds, assets and investments to meet various objectives