---
title: Tiwi Island elders issue new challenge to Santos
description: In a new push to stop Santos’ monster Barossa gas project, six Tiwi Island elders have applied to Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek to stop the installation of a critical gas pipeline due to start within days.
---
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# Tiwi Island elders issue new challenge to Santos
Tuesday, 24 October 2023
In a new push to stop Santos’ monster Barossa gas project, six Tiwi Island elders have applied to Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek to stop the installation of a critical gas pipeline due to start within days. The elders want Minister Plibersek to declare emergency protection for an area they regard as culturally significant, containing ancient burial grounds and songlines they fear are threatened by the oil giant’s Barossa gas export project.
A new study has found melting of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet may now be out of control, and set to raise sea levels throughout the following decades even if emissions are controlled to achieve the best possible scenario.
Residents on Vanuatu's north-eastern islands are taking cover - many of them in evacuation centres - as tropical cyclone Lola upgrades to a Category 4, with average wind speeds faster than 160-kilometres per hour.
**TOP STORIES:**
[New Tiwi Islands push to halt Santos’ $5.7b Barossa gas project](https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/new-tiwi-islands-push-to-halt-santos-5-7b-barossa-gas-project-20231023-p5eedi.html)
Santos’ besieged $5.7 billion gas project north of Darwin has struck another legal hurdle, with Tiwi Islanders applying to Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek to stop the installation of a critical gas pipeline due to start within days.
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[Tropical cyclone Lola upgraded as it nears Vanuatu](https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/2018912343/tropical-cyclone-lola-upgraded-as-it-nears-vanuatu)
Residents on Vanuatu's north-eastern islands are taking cover - many of them in evacuation centres - as tropical cyclone Lola gets closer. It's been upgraded to a Category 4, with average wind speeds faster than 160-kilometres per hour.
[Gagged and grief-stricken, but not without hope](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-10-24/odyssey-climate-scientists-suppress-truth-or-risk-funds-careers/102968970)
For the past 40 years, Antarctic ecologist Dana Bergstrom has studied one of the wildest places on the planet. But the wonder and awe is turning into a nightmare, as the impacts of climate change move much more rapidly than scientists predicted, or even imagined they could.
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A report by the independent Centre for International Economics released on Tuesday recommends making homes more resilient to bushfires, cyclones and floods. The report finds that reinforcing the national construction code for new homes could save $4 billion a year and keep a lid on premiums.
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The Marshall Islands are surrounded by ocean, but fresh water is in short supply. As climate change ramps up, communities are harnessing traditional knowledge and new research to better prepare for what the future holds.
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Wildlife injuries in Victoria have increased by more than 50 per cent compared to September last year, leaving experts worried summer will be worse, with a current boom in babies being born.
[Remember the climate map from your school atlas? Here’s what climate change is doing to it](https://theconversation.com/remember-the-climate-map-from-your-school-atlas-heres-what-climate-change-is-doing-to-it-216171)
You probably saw a multi-coloured climate map at least once in school. You might have pored over it, fascinated. But these maps were made for a climate that doesn’t exist any more, as new research shows just how fast climate change has altered these maps – and how they will continue to change.
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