Photo: Now NSW Treasurer, Daniel Mookhey stands [LEFT] to capture the moment hundreds of Coonamble residents voted to unite against coal seam gas (February 2018). His leader, Premier Chris Minns, has now come out in support of the Narrabri Gas Project.
Farmer and long-running anti-coal seam gas campaigner Jeremy Borowski says locals against the Narrabri Gas Project may need to renew their efforts after the NSW and South Australian premiers made statements publicly backing the proposal in September.
NSW premier Chris Minns said the Santos project is “incredibly important” for supplying the state’s gas needs during the Australian Energy Nation Forum in Sydney.
“We need that project to go ahead because it’s absolutely crucial to our industrial base,” Mr Minns said.
“Particularly, it’s crucial for economic development, for jobs, for opportunities for young people.
“[It is] a controversial issue in some quarters.”
At the same forum, South Australian premier Peter Malinauskas criticised “eco-purists,” and “Lock the Gate NIMBYS and the Greens” opposed to the “vital” project.
Opponents, including environmentalists, scientists, farmers and First Nations groups, fear the project could contaminate the Great Artesian Basin, which is Coonamble’s only secure fresh water supply.
Santos submitted their Environmental Impact Statement for the project in 2017, which the NSW and federal governments approved in 2020 despite a record number of submissions against the proposal.
The Great Artesian Basic Protection Group campaigned actively in the mid-late 2010s, but wound back their activities over recent years after the proposed APA pipeline was discontinued and the Santos project faced legal and regulatory barriers including a native title challenge.
In 2023, Gomeroi applicants lodged an appeal against a decision in 2022 to approve the lease for Santos to drill on their cultural lands.
However, in May 2025 the National Native Title Tribunal determined that the project benefits outweigh likely cultural impacts.
The Gomeroi made another appeal against that decision, which is set to be heard on 25 November 2025.
On 7 October, NSW Farmers association warned politicians “not to destroy prime agricultural land and water resources to appease powerful lobbyists.”
It came after Federal Resources Minister Madeleine King said it was “only fair” the Australian Government conducted a review to ensure Australians could access cheap gas and NSW Premier Chris Minns recently said it was time to “pull the trigger” and start work on the Narrabri Gas Project.
“NSW Farmers does not, and cannot, support the Narrabri Gas Project, we believe it would come at an unconscionable cost to the state,” said President Xavier Martin.
“This project poses an unacceptable risk to the groundwater these farms and communities rely on, not to mention soil and air quality, and local food and fibre production.
“There is clear evidence to prove it, with nearby CSG (coal seam gas) mistakes fresh in the minds of the community.”
Australian Bore Water Users Association president, Coonamble-based Jeremy Borowski, said it may be time to renew community opposition to the project.
“If the government has taken a renewed interest, then it’s our social and environmental obligation to take interest in it again as well,” Mr Borowski said.
“We’ve got to make sure that we’re there to ensure the right checks and balances are put in place and reinstate our firm opposition to extraction of resources which will serve for very short term gain and has the potential to cause unimaginable damage to one of our most precious resources.”
Gomeroi woman Teresa Stanton has long spoken against the project and says First Nations opposition will continue.
“I think they’ll just keep fighting it,” she said.
“It’s just the destruction of the land.
“We know it wouldn’t be a happy ending.”