Traditional owners ask banks to reconsider Santos loan

April 04, 2023 11:09 AM AEST | By AAPNEWS

Google News:

Traditional owners ask banks to reconsider Santos loan — Image source: AAPNEWS

Recent News

FTSE 100 Set for Slightly Higher Open Ahead of Powell’s Senate Testimo...

Western Union Appoints Ricardo Alair to Lead Operations Across the Phi...

Sara Davies MBE Leads Empowering New Campaign for DB Wider Fit Shoes C...

Virgin Australia (ASX:VAH) Soars on ASX 200 Return After Long Hiatus

Seven traditional owners have asked a dozen Australian and international banks to reconsider a $US1 billion loan to Santos for its Barossa offshore gas project and a Darwin LNG project.

The six Tiwi Islanders and a member of Larrakia Nation lodged grievances with ANZ, Commonwealth Bank, NAB and Westpac and eight international banks over the loans, an activist group supporting them announced on Tuesday.

Other banks receiving the complaints are ING, DNB Bank, Citigroup, Royal Bank of Canada, DBS Bank, MUFG, SMBC and Mizuho.

Equity Generation Lawyers, a law firm devoted to climate change, filed the complaints with the banks on behalf the traditional owners, requesting a response by May 16.

The complaint filed with ANZ relies on the bank's grievance framework it introduced in November 2021 to respond to human rights complaints. The mechanism was set up after ANZ's Cambodian arm approved a loan to a sugar company that forcibly seized land from 681 families in collusion with state authorities.

"By entering into loans to finance the Barossa project, the banks are contributing to the immense impacts of this project on our clients' ancient and continuing spiritual and traditional connections to their ancestral lands and waters," said Vidhya Karnamadakala, an associate at Equity Generation Lawyers

"Banks appear to be breaching their own human rights policies. Banks cannot fund the Barossa gas project without the consent of our clients and the Tiwi communities."

ANZ has been contacted for comment.

Santos says it has since 2016 consulted with the traditional owners regarding the Barossa gas project, which it calls an important gas project for the nation that will enhance jobs and exports.

The project, which involves drilling 140km north of the Tiwi Islands, is about half completed and set to deliver first gas in 2025.

Disclaimer

The content, including but not limited to any articles, news, quotes, information, data, text, reports, ratings, opinions, images, photos, graphics, graphs, charts, animations and video (Content) is a service of Kalkine Media Pty Ltd (“Kalkine Media, we or us”), ACN 629 651 672 and is available for personal and non-commercial use only. The principal purpose of the Content is to educate and inform. The Content does not contain or imply any recommendation or opinion intended to influence your financial decisions and must not be relied upon by you as such. Some of the Content on this website may be sponsored/non-sponsored, as applicable, but is NOT a solicitation or recommendation to buy, sell or hold the stocks of the company(s) or engage in any investment activity under discussion. Kalkine Media is neither licensed nor qualified to provide investment advice through this platform. Users should make their own enquiries about any investments and Kalkine Media strongly suggests the users to seek advice from a financial adviser, stockbroker or other professional (including taxation and legal advice), as necessary.
The content published on Kalkine Media also includes feeds sourced from third-party providers. Kalkine does not assert any ownership rights over the content provided by these third-party sources. The inclusion of such feeds on the Website is for informational purposes only. Kalkine does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of the content obtained from third-party feeds. Furthermore, Kalkine Media shall not be held liable for any errors, omissions, or inaccuracies in the content obtained from third-party feeds, nor for any damages or losses arising from the use of such content.
Kalkine Media hereby disclaims any and all the liabilities to any user for any direct, indirect, implied, punitive, special, incidental or other consequential damages arising from any use of the Content on this website, which is provided without warranties. The views expressed in the Content by the guests, if any, are their own and do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of Kalkine Media. Some of the images/music that may be used on this website are copyrighted to their respective owner(s). Kalkine Media does not claim ownership of any of the pictures displayed/music used on this website unless stated otherwise. The images/music that may be used on this website are taken from various sources on the internet, including paid subscriptions or are believed to be in public domain. We have made reasonable efforts to accredit the source wherever it was indicated as or found to be necessary.
This disclaimer is subject to change without notice. Users are advised to review this disclaimer periodically for any updates or modifications.