Community and Business Reference Group meet for the third time

The third meeting of the Onshore Shale Gas Community and Business Reference Group (Reference Group) took place in Darwin on 12 March 2019.  Established to provide a forum for government to seek advice and share information, the Reference Group discussed the suite of regulatory changes introduced to date, further changes to come, and the overall progress of implementation of the recommendations from the Scientific Inquiry into Hydraulic Fracturing in the Northern Territory.

A number of speakers gave presentations to the group, including:

• an Industry Development presentation, including an overview of lessons learnt throughout the development of the shale gas industry in Pennsylvania, USA – presented by Director Tom Murphy from the Penn State Marcellus Center for Outreach and Research (MCOR), via videolink;
• an update on planned exploration activities for the 2019 dry season, and an insight into how the new regulatory regime has impacted industry – delivered by Origin and Santos Industry representatives;

The Reference Group discussed the current status of regulatory changes and key reforms and noted that significant progress has been made to date.

Having already provided input into the Quarterly Progress Report to December 2018, the Reference Group discussed key priorities for Government for the rest of 2019 as well as upcoming public consultation and engagement activities.

The Reference Group will meet again in May 2019.

A communique from the meeting has been published and will be available here

The CBRG meets 4 times per year and includes representatives from the community, environmental groups, local business, the gas industry, land councils and local government.

The chair of the CBRG can be contacted via email at Cbreference.group@nt.gov.au

To read more about the legislative changes that have been progressed to date, please visit Community Bulletin 12