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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2023-11-29 Daily Xml
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Natural Resources Committee: Innamincka and Moomba Fact-Finding Visit

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY (16:28): I move:

That the fourth report of the committee, on its Innamincka and Moomba Fact-Finding Visit 20-22 September 2023, be noted.

From 20 to 22 September this year, the Natural Resources Committee conducted a fact-finding visit to Innamincka and Moomba. This is the committee report on that visit. The purpose of this trip was to learn about the carbon capture and storage project of Santos at Moomba and the Innamincka Regional Reserve's landscapes, including the Malkumba-Coongie Lakes National Park.

Members of parliament do not often have the opportunity to visit Innamincka and the region, and so members took the chance to make the trip. With me on this visit was my colleague on the Natural Resources Committee the Hon. Frank Pangallo MLC in this place, and from the other place, the Hon. Leon Bignell, Presiding Member and member for Mawson; Sarah Andrews MP, member for Gibson; and Ms Catherine Hutchesson MP, member for Waite.

Joining the committee were the Yandruwandha Yawarrawarrka traditional owners and the director of the Yandruwandha Yawarrawarrka Traditional Land Owners (Aboriginal) Corporation, staff from the National Parks and Wildlife Service and staff from Santos. Over three days, the committee heard what it is like to live in Innamincka and how they oversee the 1.3 million hectares of the Innamincka Regional Reserve and the development of a carbon capture storage facility.

On day one, the local community members openly discussed with the committee their living conditions, activities and concerns. They were grateful for the committee's trip to Innamincka as they rarely receive visits from members of parliament. One of the residents words were, 'We felt heard.' On day two, the committee visited the Australian Inland Mission building, one of the state's heritage sites in Innamincka. The building formerly served as a hospital in 1912, but with its restoration in 1994, the AIM building is now a visitor centre.

Joining the committee on this tour was Mr Robert Singleton, a Yandruwandha Yawarrawarrka traditional owner and director of the traditional landowners' corporation, Mr Paul McKinnon, National Parks and Wildlife Service ranger at Innamincka, and Ms Penny Koethe, Dig Tree Ranger. Mr Singleton engaged the committee with stories of the local Indigenous peoples' lives and activities in the area, both past and present. He also articulated his thoughts on how the local Indigenous people have dealt with the oil and gas industries in relation to preserving and protecting culturally and historically important sites within the regional reserve.

The committee heard from Mr Singleton and the staff of the National Parks and Wildlife Service that co-managing the reserve with the local Indigenous people's parks advisory committee had enhanced several stakeholders' understanding of the cultural, environmental and economic significance of the Innamincka Regional Reserve.

The committee was excited to see the Malkumba-Coongie Lakes National Park. National Parks and Wildlife staff led the committee on a guided aerial tour over the lakes, and there was a discussion regarding the challenges of managing such a vast and diverse landscape. The committee also heard about the essential resources needed to manage the land and the life within the Innamincka Regional Reserve. In the afternoon, the committee walked alongside the Cullyamurra Waterhole, learning of its origins and the relevance to the local Indigenous people. One funny sight at that waterhole was watching the Hon. Mr Pangallo eat a sandwich with three million flies trying to get into his mouth at the same time.

The National Parks and Wildlife Service staff also discussed with the committee the economic value of parks. In the report that the National Parks and Wildlife Service shared with the committee, it indicated that in the 2018-19 financial year the visitations to the 57 fee-charging parks in South Australia generated a total primary revenue of $15.4 million. This is important evidence that can be considered in future park management decisions.

The committee visited the Santos Moomba facility on the third day. Santos staff gave a presentation about the construction of their carbon capture and storage facility. The committee heard that the Santos CCS project allows the company to contribute to the reduction of carbon emissions in the country and overseas, and also maintain profits.

Santos has three carbon capture storage and clean fuel hubs at Moomba, Western Australia, and Bayu-Undan in Timor-Leste. In their presentation to the committee, Santos explained that their CCS project entails three key elements: containment, reservoir size or capacity, and injectivity, and involved four stages in capturing and storing carbon dioxide. These stages were, and in the following order: capturing, compressing, cooling and scrubbing out contaminants.

After undergoing these procedures, the captured carbon dioxide goes through the pipeline to the empty reservoirs or wells where carbon dioxide will be injected to about 1,500 to 2,000 metres below the surface. Santos explained to the committee that their reservoirs are not big open spaces or below ground empty or artificial lakes, but are cap rocks, where the injected gas fills the rocks' crevices. The committee heard that the carbon dioxide will be stored underground for a very long time.

The committee also saw the location of other decarbonisation technologies that Santos might invest in; namely, the direct air capture units that Santos is jointly working on with the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (commonly known as CSIRO) and the four Cooper Basin electrification units.

The committee asked about the role that carbon credits has on Santos's carbon capture and storage projects. Santos articulated that getting Australian carbon credit units was a key consideration in building the carbon capture storage project, because these credit units can be used by Santos to offset their carbon footprint or they can actually trade their credits to other emitters.

Another inquiry that the committee made regarding Santos's carbon capture storage project is whether the facility would only cater to industries in Adelaide. Santos has responded that during the project's inception they had planned for the project to eventually include other regional areas. Santos suggested that the carbon capture storage project would be low cost to enable faster and affordable lower emissions energy transition.

In regard to the level of demand for carbon capture storage projects, the committee heard that Santos expected a steady demand. Committee members considered the three-day fact-finding visit to Innamincka and Moomba highly informative. Several important aspects were covered in the trip: life in Innamincka; the co-management of the Innamincka regional reserve, including the Ramsar-listed Coongie Lakes, with the local Indigenous people's traditional landowners corporation; and the process involved in capturing and storing carbon dioxide permanently.

The committee appreciates the candidness of local residents, the inside stories of the local Indigenous people from Mr Singleton, the efforts involved in preparing the itinerary by the National Parks and Wildlife Service and Santos's explanations on their carbon capture storage project. I also commend the members of the committee for their time and work on the fact-finding visit and I acknowledge the committee staff for their very valuable assistance. I commend the report to the house.

Debate adjourned on motion of Hon. L.A. Henderson.

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