The Environmental Defenders Office was allocated another multi-million dollar instalment of taxpayer funding at the same time a Federal Government review of its conduct in the Barossa gas project legal saga was handed to the minister.
The money was part of “ongoing funding” that was flagged when Labor restored funding to the litigation firm in October 2022.
The Opposition estimates that the EDO could receive more than $15 million in public funding before 2030, which it has described as a “reckless use of taxpayer money.”
![Tiwi Islands community members say fossil fuel company Santos has not contacted them about its plans to start laying one of its pipelines for its Barossa offshore gas project off the Northern Territory.](https://timesofsydney.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/b5deb033c15efc3dbdd03b3bcc44ec33dd7468ea.jpg)
The firm’s taxpayer funding was scrutinized earlier this year after a scathing Federal Court judgment found that it confected evidence and coached Tiwi Islander witnesses during the fight to block Santos’ Barossa gas project.
Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek ordered her department to investigate possible grant breaches amid the political fallout, which included Opposition leader Peter Dutton pledging to defund the EDO if he won the next election.
The department cleared the EDO after receiving independent legal advice from law firm Norton Rose Fulbright.
However, new conditions will be added to the grant agreement, including a requirement that the EDO alert the Government’s business grants hub if their lawyers are subject to disciplinary action.
Appearing at Senate estimates on Tuesday, officials confirmed the department advised Ms Plibersek about the review’s findings on May 14.
That was the same day as the Federal Budget, which included $2.24 million for the EDO and Environmental Justice Australia (EJA) in 2027-28.
The review was published online on May 16.
Shadow environment minister Jonno Duniam said the timing showed the Federal Government was planning to “stick to its guns and give the EDO money” regardless of the review’s findings.
“The decision to sink millions more taxpayer dollars into the EDO before a review into their potential misconduct was finalised is ridiculous,” he told The West Australian.
A spokesperson for Ms Plibersek said the claim was wrong, insisting there was “no new money” for the EDO in the budget.
The Government insists the new figure reflects the funding allocated in its October 2022 budget, which included a commitment to $2.6 million each year in ongoing funding to the EDO and EJA.