Carte blanche approval for new gas drilling on Lutruwita / Tasmania’s doorstep an outrage

On 28 February 2028, Australia’s oil and gas regulator the National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority (NOPSEMA) approved plans by US fossil fuel giant ConocoPhillips to drill for gas along the Victorian and Tasmanian coastline.

The Wilderness Society considers it fundamentally unacceptable that NOPSEMA has granted approval for new gas drilling across a large area of highly ecologically significant ocean, without the company being required to specify drilling location. This open approval brings into question Australia’s entire system of assessing environmental risk when considering applications for new oil and gas drilling.

The Wilderness Society is also deeply troubled that approval has been granted for ConocoPhillips to drill in an area close to King Island and Lutruwita / Tasmania. This approval could see the closest new drilling to Lutruwita / Tasmania since 1982.

The Wilderness Society is concerned a new push for oil and gas industrialisation in the region adjacent to King Island and north west of Lutruwita / Tasmania could see the oil and gas industry continue to expand south down the Tasmanian west coast. Expansion in this region could result in an oil or gas condensate spill on the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area coastline, an area recognised as globally significant for its cultural and environmental values. The region is home to unique and threatened wildlife including the critically endangered orange bellied parrot, southern right whales and the endangered shy albatross.

The Wilderness Society is also deeply troubled by approval for new gas drilling on the doorstep of King Island, in the face of widespread community opposition. Polling of the King Island community in 2021 found 94 per cent of residents were opposed to oil and gas exploration in the sea off King Island.

Unlike other states, Tasmania is not part of a joint authority decision making process for oil and gas approvals, so this decision has been made unilaterally by the Commonwealth Government without the Tasmanian Government having a say.

Quotes attributable to Wilderness Society Fossil Fuel Industry Campaigner Fern Cadman:

“It is deeply worrying to see a carte blanche approval for new gas drilling so close to King Island and Lutruwita / Tasmania. How can NOPSEMA say it considers ConocoPhillips has reduced environmental risk to “as low as reasonably practicable” - the legal requirement - when drilling could take place anywhere within more than 3,000km of ocean? It’s patently ridiculous.”

“The region identified for possible drilling is adjacent to King Island and northwest of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area coastline. A spill from drilling in this region could have a devastating impact on an area globally recognised as having the highest number of cultural and environmental world heritage values anywhere in the world. It is not an appropriate location for oil and gas drilling.

“The last drilling so close to Tasmania took place in 1982. In 2025, as the environment and climate are in unprecedented crisis, fossil fuel companies like ConocoPhillips should not be handed approvals for new and expanded gas drilling.”

For interviews with Fern Cadman, Wilderness Society Fossil Fuel Industry Campaigner, please contact Rhiannon Cunningham, media adviser for the Wilderness Society on [email protected] or 0419 992 760