Santos’s AGM will be held in Adelaide on Thursday 16 April 2026 and from 11am Nannas will return to our old stomping ground in Martin Place, where we protested weekly against Santos for years before Covid kept us off the streets.
The following video is from 2017 when we gathered in Martin Place, then walked through the city to deliver to the NSW Planning Department more than 8,000 submissions opposing the Narrabri Gas Project.
Can you believe it? We are still protesting this ridiculous project.
Background information
Santos’s Narrabri Gas Project was approved in 2020 despite strong opposition from Gomeroi Traditional Custodians, farmers, energy finance analysts, water and climate experts, and the environment movement.
Objections to the project included the loss or contamination of critical surface and groundwater resources, and the risk of damage to an important recharge area for the Great Artesian Basin. Destruction of ecosystems and endangered species in the Pilliga forest were also highlighted in submissions.
The Independent Planning Commission placed many conditions on their approval of the 850 coal seam gas wells in and around the Pilliga forest. Santos has not met some of the important conditions, including the construction of pipelines to transport the gas to the east coast market.
Two pipelines are required and one of them, the Narrabri Lateral Pipeline, is yet to be approved. The main pipeline, the Hunter Gas Pipeline, has approval but Santos needs a pipeline licence. Although Santos advertises in flyers and local papers that they are applying for a pipeline licence, they have not completed the necessary work to be granted one. Meanwhile the CEO hits the media from time to time with outbursts claiming they are ready to go and only being held up by ‘unworkable’ government regulations.
Meeting pipeline conditions is proving to be very difficult for Santos. Sixty-six per cent of landholders along the pipeline route refuse to engage with Santos, despite intimidation and threats of compulsory acquisition by company representatives. Communities have come together along the pipeline route to oppose it and stand up for their rights.
If the pipeline goes ahead, gas wells will spread to the Liverpool Plains, the best farming country in NSW, which is known to have coal seam gas beneath it. Deep cracks in the fertile black soil are visible when the soil is dry and close over when it rains. With this much soil movement it’s not a place for a gas pipeline, let alone a gas field.
Many landholders in the Hunter have bought ‘lifestyle’ blocks since the pipeline was approved in 2009. Title searches in 2025 still did not reveal the approved pipeline. Consequently, houses, sheds and other infrastructure have been built across the route. The threat of a pipeline through a newly purchased property has led to landholders’ dreams to be put on hold, and for some, a serious decline in mental health.
When in opposition NSW Labor opposed the Narrabri Gas Project and made promises that if elected they would stop it. See what their ministers said before they were elected in 2023 – Michael Daley (current Attorney General), Luke Foley (resigned from parliament 2018) and Daniel Mookhey (current Treasurer).
Gomeroi Traditional Owners, NSW Farmers, the Country Women’s Association of NSW, Unions NSW, Lock the Gate and the environmental movement are unified to protect land and water from the Santos Narrabri gas project and its pipelines.
Have your say about the Narrabri Gas Project by signing Lock the Gate’s petition to Premier Chris Minns.
New analysis reveals Santos contributes to quadrupled domestic gas prices (Market Forces)