Agreements, Treaties and Negotiated Settlements Project

Santos Petronas Port Curtis Coral Coast GLNG Indigenous Land Use Agreement (ILUA)
Date:	1 June 2010
Sub Category:	Indigenous Land Use Agreement (ILUA) (Native Title Act)
Place:	Gladstone
State/Country:	Queensland, Australia
	The area covered by this Indigenous Land Use Agreement (ILUA) comprises around 502 square kilometres of land and waters, 68 kilometres southeast of Rockhampton and 37 kilometres northeast of Biloela in the state of Queensland. The ILUA area is located in the vicinity of Gladstone, extending towards Port Curtis. It falls within the jurisdiction of the Gladstone Regional Council.

Legal Status:	Registered with the National Native Title Tribunal on the Register of Indigenous Land Use Agreements on 15 October 2010. This is an authorised Area Agreement under the Native Title Act 1993 (Cth).
Legal Reference:	National Native Title Tribunal File No. QI2010/011
Subject Matter:	Land Use \| Oil and Gas
URL:	http://www.nntt.gov.au/Indigenous-Land-Use-Agreements/Search-Registered-ILUAs/ILUA%20Register/2010/QI2010.011/ILUARegisterExport.pdf
Summary Information:
This Indigenous Land Use Agreement (ILUA) was agreed between Santos GLNG Pty Ltd, Petronas Australia Pty Limited and Selwyn James Appo and others on their own behalf and on behalf of the Port Curtis Coral Coast Native Title Claim Group on 1 June 2010. The purpose of this ILUA is to provide consent for the grant of project approvals and the undertaking of activities related to the Santos-Petronas Gladstone Liquefied Natural Gas (GLNG) project, where these approvals and activities affect native title rights and interests.
Detailed Information:
Pursuant to this ILUA, Selwyn James Appo and others on their own behalf and on behalf of the Port Curtis Coral Coast Native Title Claim Group give their consent to the grant of all approvals and the undertaking of all activities related to the Santos-Petronas GLNG project that have an impact on native title rights and interests - whether or not these activities are future acts. The GLNG project The GLNG project proposed by Santos and Petronas consists of the following components: The establishment of exploration and production wells and other infrastructure to produce coal seam gas in in the Surat and Bowen Basins in Queensland; The construction of a pipeline that joins the coal seam gas fields to a liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility (with part of this pipeline to pass through this ILUA area); The construction of an LNG facility on Curtis Island; The establishment of marine facilities for loading LNG into ships for export, as well as a dredged material placement facility and swing basins and access channels in Port Curtis; The construction of an accommodation facility on Curtis Island; and The introduction of barging and ferrying between the mainland and Curtis Island. In particular, this ILUA relates to the proposed pipeline to be constructed as part of the project. The following activities are included in the "project activities" and "project approvals" to which the Native Title Claim Group has given consent: Access and entry to the land covered by the proposed pipeline; The construction, operation, maintenance, repair, decommissioning and rehabilitation of the pipeline and any land covered by the Pipeline License, as well as the LNG facility and any land covered by the facility; The grant of the relevant licenses and approvals for the construction of the pipeline; and The undertaking of any other activities that are necessary or incidental to the relevant licenses and approvals. Non-extinguishment principle The parties agree that the non-extinguishment principle in s 238 of the Native Title Act 1993 (Cth) will apply to any future acts to which consent has been given under this ILUA. This means that an act that would otherwise extinguish native title rights and interests will not have this effect, with native title instead being suspended only for the duration of the act. Right to negotiate provisions The parties also agree that the right to negotiate provisions in Subdivision P, Division 3, Part 2 of the Native Title Act 1993 (Cth) will not apply to any future acts covered by this ILUA. Native title in the ILUA area The Port Curtis Coral Coast Native Title Claim Group was involved in the Port Curtis Coral Coast native title claimant application, which was filed with the Federal Court of Australia as proceeding QUD 6026 of 2001. The claim relates to approximately 19,280 square kilometres of land and waters in the state of Queensland, and includes the area covered by this ILUA. The claim has been registered, and has been in mediation since 2002. Response to this ILUA While Santos GLNG Pty Ltd has viewed the large number of indigenous agreements it has signed in relation to its GLNG project as a positive development (see GLNG Media Release), such agreements have also been subject to criticism. In particular, several members of the Gurang nation have spoken scathingly of the terms offered to the Port Curtis Coral Coast Native Title Claim Group in its agreement with Santos, arguing that many members of the affected indigenous communities had opposed the terms, and that Santos had offered them very little in exchange for the right to use their land (see newspaper articles by Emery and Berry). Santos has responded to these criticisms by stating that its meeting with the Native Title Claim Group had been "constructive", and that this ILUA had been supplemented by another agreement that promised $4 million in training funding for indigenous communities (see newspaper articles by Emery and Berry).