NT Police have said Chief Minister Natasha Fyles or her staff have not yet reported criminal damage to her electoral office after it had the number 9.8 spray-painted across the front by unknown parties, in reference to the government approving fracking in the Beetaloo Basin on Wednesday without having implemented recommendation 9.8 from the Pepper Inquiry.
The number 9.8 was written across the front glass doors, the front window as well as two mock Roman columns at the front, and there was an orange pattern spray-painted on the concrete in front of the doors.
Ms Fyles did not respond to NT Independent questions about the damage to the office while NT Police media manager Margaret McKeown said in a statement at 2.53pm, “At this stage the Northern Territory Police have not received any reports of criminal damage.”
The Final Implementation Report into the Scientific Inquiry into Hydraulic Fracturing was published Wednesday morning, but in the press release announcing the green light, Chief Minister Natasha Fyles failed to say all the recommendations had been implemented, with the government’s own website indicating there were 25 per cent still to be complete. Several hours later, the website was changed to show all recommendations were implemented.
The approval came with strong opposition from some traditional owners, environmental groups, some pastoralists, tourist operators as well as others.
The Pepper Inquiry, chaired by Justice Rachel Pepper, handed down its final report on March 27, 2018, with 135 recommendations that it said, if implemented, would mitigate risks. In April 2018, the Gunner Government accepted all of the Inquiry’s recommendations and lifted the moratorium on the exploration of unconventional shale gas developments in the Northern Territory, but pledged that all recommendations would be implemented before a full scale gas industry was allowed.
Recommendation 9.8 states: “That the NT and Australian governments seek to ensure that there is no net increase in the life cycle GHG emissions emitted in Australia from any onshore shale gas produced in the NT”.
The government’s “independent oversight officer” Dr David Ritchie’s final report makes it clear recommendation 9.8 had not been implemented.
The final report was released on the same day nearly 100 scientists published an open letter to the Northern Territory Government in national newspapers asking it to abandon its fracking plans, warning of “the damage it will inflict on our climate” and stating that the key Pepper Inquiry recommendation 9.8 had not been addressed.
In August 2022, former chief minister Michael Gunner’s electoral office was broken into in the days after he quit politics, with glass at the front of the office smashed.
A 47-year-old man was charged by police with unlawful entry, damage to property and going armed in public in that instance.
Oh the lefties are restless
Looks like Fair Wear and Tear to me.
There are only about ten anti-frackers left. Why didn’t you name them all? It is
time for Ritchie to admit that the NT is already at better than net zero with the increase
in vegetation density.