Traditional owners from the Tiwi Islands have begun legal action to stop offshore drilling for a massive gas project in the Northern Territory.

The Munupi people are taking the federal offshore oil and gas regulator to court to challenge its decision to approve the work in the Barossa offshore gas field, 300km north of Darwin.

The community said it wasn’t consulted before the Santos-led project was authorised to drill up to eight production wells. 

It wants the Federal Court to scrap the National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority’s (NOPSEMA) approval. 

“My clan, the Munupi, own these northern beaches. It’s our land that’s closest to the drilling site. We are the ones who are going to be affected,” Dennis Tipakalippa said after the case bearing his name as the plaintiff was filed to the court recently. 

“They never came to me in person or face to face.”

“No one spoke to me as a traditional owner and senior lawman for the Munupi clan.”

Mr Tipakalippa said the drilling could threaten the Tiwi Island community’s food sources, culture and way of life…