Traditional owners from the Tiwi Islands did not need to be consulted on a massive offshore gas project because they were not relevant stakeholders, a barrister representing Santos claims.
Tiwi Islander Dennis Tipakalippa from the Munupi clan is fighting the national gas regulator's decision to allow Santos to drill eight wells in the Barossa gas field, 265 kilometres northwest of Darwin.
Under the law, the Munupi people were relevant and interested parties who needed to be consulted on the project, Mr Tipakalippa's barrister Claire Harris QC told the Federal Court on Wednesday.
The clan's cultural and spiritual connection to the land and sea readily falls into the legal understanding of an interest, Ms Harris said.
But Santos has argued the traditional owners were not relevant people and therefore the company did not need to consult with them.
The Tiwi Islanders did not hold individual interests in the project, the company's barrister Stephen Free SC told the Darwin court on Thursday.
Even if the Tiwi Islanders were considered relevant persons, Mr Free said Santos would only need to consult with them on a collective basis through a representative body.
That body would have been the Tiwi Land Council which Santos contacted, the barrister said.
Justice Mordecai Bromberg on Thursday also questioned Santos' environmental plan for the project, noting it did not have clear methodology explaining who was considered a relevant person,
That would make it difficult for the National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority to determine whether all of relevant parties were consulted with, the justice said.
But Mr Free argued the plan did outline the company's method for deciding who was a relevant person so the regulator had enough information to make its decision.
Santos' $US3.6 billion ($A5.2 billion) offshore natural gas development is expected to create up to 600 jobs and pipe gas 280km to the Darwin LNG facility, with first production expected in 2025.
The company says the project, which it purchased from ConocoPhillips in 2020, is 43 per cent complete and on schedule. The drilling that is the subject of the court case started in July.
Mr Free's final arguments continue.
