5 April 2023

Tiwi Islands and Larrakia Traditional Owners have lodged formal complaints alleging the big four Australian banks – ANZ, Commonwealth Bank, NAB and Westpac – and a host of international financiers breached their human rights commitments by participating in a $1.5 billion loan to Santos, related to the dirty and destructive Barossa gas project the company is trying to develop off the Northern Territory coast.

The Traditional Owners are demanding the banks pull out of the existing Santos loan, and commit to not funding the proposed expansion of the Darwin LNG project, which would be used to process and export Barossa gas. And the fight is not just limited to Australia. International banks SMBC, MUFG, Mizuho, ING, DNB Bank, Citigroup, DBS Bank, Royal Bank of Canada, and credit export agencies JBIC, KEXIM and K-SURE have all received human rights grievances for their role in the loan.

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