Northern Territory government rejects accusations of bending the knee to incoming cotton industry
The Northern Territory Government has rejected accusations from indigenous communities and land experts that it's flouting its own laws to facilitate a new cotton industry. That's despite evidence presented in an ABC 4Corners story that farmers have been allowed to grow cotton on cattle stations without applying for permits and given water licenses to grow hay that are then used for cotton.
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00:00The N.T.'s indigenous communities are increasingly concerned the N.T. government is giving out
00:08large amounts of free water to the new cotton industry.
00:12Without the water, our culture won't exist.
00:17So traditional owners have brought maps of the Rupert River and other waterways they
00:21fear are under threat from cotton to Shoe and Darwin.
00:25We want to stop it because it affects our hunting grounds and we live on the land.
00:32They feel the N.T. government is bending or breaking its rules to facilitate the new industry
00:37and allowing their rights to be bypassed.
00:40The government not listening. We just want to save the river.
00:45The ABC's Four Corners programme has revealed the N.T. government has allowed farmers to
00:50grow cotton on cattle stations without applying for a permit to change the land's use.
00:57It's also giving farmers large water licences to grow hay, but then allowing them to use
01:02the water to grow cotton.
01:04You get your water allocation and a water allocation can be used for various uses.
01:10The government maintains it's legal to use up to half of a cattle station past release
01:15to grow crops without a permit.
01:17So you can grow, you might be growing cotton for feed for cattle.
01:21But the law only allows growing crops to feed cattle, not cotton for making t-shirts.
01:28Growing of hay or fodder crops is permitted. The growing of commercial crops that do not
01:33have sufficient nexus with the pastoral enterprise is not permitted without a non-pastoral use
01:38permit.
01:39The government's Pastoral Land Clearing Guidelines state where the clearing is for a non-pastoral
01:45use such as agriculture, then a concurrent application for non-pastoral use will need
01:51to be lodged.
01:52An application to clear pastoral land must clearly state the purpose of the proposed
01:57clearing, including specific crop types.
02:01It's prompted calls for Commonwealth action.
02:03We're calling on there to be federal intervention, whether that be a Royal Commission or public
02:10inquiry.
02:11The government requires, in my view, a Royal Commission to investigate what's going on.
02:16Traditional owners are still trying to be heard by government.
02:20We say they still want to continue with cotton.
02:24But they're not holding out much hope.