A key Indigenous group has admitted making decisions on fracking is difficult.
Former Greens senator Lidia Thorpe took Indigenous community leaders to task at a parliamentary hearing on Friday, suggesting one land council was ignoring its people when making decisions on unconventional mining.
Senator Thorpe repeatedly asked Northern Land Council CEO Joe Martin-Jard if he'd stop fracking if his constituents indicated they did not want it.
"You say your legal principal goes out on country and gets direction and gets consent with mob on the ground ... I have traditional owners who you say you represent, who are saying they don't want fracking on their country," she told a Senate estimates hearing.
"If they ask NLC to stop fracking on their country, would the NLC say 'okay, yep, we're gonna stop fracking now' as your peak body, funded by the government?"
Mr Martin-Jard said it was a "really difficult question to answer" but said it was important to remember people can't speak for another person's country.
"Where there would be a meeting at a particular site ... and they made it clear they didn't support fracking, we would act on that," he said.
"We've had groups before saying they don't want it, some want more information, some say yes ... it's a broad church and people have different views about what they want done with their country but only those people can speak for their country."
Mr Martin-Jard declined to say whether the NLC would stop fracking projects until after a review into the processes.
The NT government is poised to reveal whether it will allow full-scale fracking to occur, but is hoping to inject new life into the gas industry to create jobs and generate revenue.
