The energy minister, Angus Taylor, and resources minister, Keith Pitt, have been asked to explain their dealings with the Liberal-linked firm Empire Energy before it received $21m in federal grants, after email records showed it asking for information on “eligibility criteria” and the “application process” well before the program guidelines were released.
A Senate inquiry has been probing the Coalition’s plans to open up the Northern Territory’s Beetaloo Basin to fracking and incentivise exploratory drilling by handing $50m in grants to resource companies.
So far, almost half of that money has gone to a single firm, Empire Energy, which the inquiry has heard has significant ties to the Liberal party. Empire’s managing director, Alex Underwood, has told the Senate inquiry that the company’s connections with the Liberal party did not help it obtain the grants.
“They played no role whatsoever in our applications for these grants. We follow due and proper process at all times,” he said.
The inquiry had previously ordered that any correspondence about the grant scheme between Taylor and Empire be produced to the Senate. It was told “there has been no correspondence between the Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction and Empire Energy or its subsidiaries discussing the [Beetaloo Cooperative Drilling] program”.
Documents obtained through FOI and handed to the inquiry separately reveal an email from an unnamed Empire staffer to Taylor’s office, dated 4 January 2021, which states: “Just before Christmas we discussed the Beetaloo Grant Program. Have you been able to identify the eligibility criteria and application process? Or could you please put me in touch with someone in [resource] Minister [Keith] Pitt’s office who may be able to assist?”
The chair of the committee, Sarah Hanson-Young, has now written to Taylor, Pitt and Empire Energy asking detailed questions about their interactions prior to the grants being awarded.
“Can you confirm that there has been no correspondence between you and Empire Energy or its subsidiaries discussing the Beetaloo Cooperative Drilling program?” Hanson-Young asked Taylor.
Taylor was also asked when the pre-Christmas discussion occurred, whether he introduced the company to Pitt, and why the January email canvasses the “eligibility criteria and application process” well before the release of the program guidelines in March.
The Guardian understands that Taylor’s office took the request as asking specifically for any correspondence between the minister himself and Empire. It believes there is no such correspondence.
The grants program is administered by Pitt, the resources minister.
Pitt said he would consider the requests in the letter but described the inquiry as a “politically motivated, anti-resources, fishing expedition”.
“I again stress that the decision to award the grants was my responsibility alone, and made with no input from any other minister,” he said. “As the sole decision-maker on the Beetaloo Cooperative Grants program, I assessed and accepted the advice of my department and an independent panel in awarding the grants.”
Quick GuideHow to get the latest news from Guardian Australia
Show
Email: sign up for our daily morning and afternoon email newsletters
App: download our free app and never miss the biggest stories
Social: follow us on YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook or Twitter
Podcast: listen to our daily episodes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or search "Full Story" in your favourite app
Hanson-Young said the ministers had “some serious explaining to do”.
“If the Ministers cannot adequately clarify their evidence then the committee will be asking them to front up and explain themselves under questioning by senators,” she said.
The inquiry has previously heard that in October, Empire Energy organised for Taylor, the member for Hume in New South Wales, to visit its first Beetaloo well in the Northern Territory. The company paid for a “return charter flight and hospitality” for the minister, the inquiry has heard.
Also on that flight was the chairman of Liberal fundraising body the Hume Forum, Ryan Arrold, according to an attendance list provided to the Senate inquiry.
The night before, Empire had paid $4,500 to attend a Country Liberal party fundraiser in Darwin.
Empire said it invited Arrold to inspect its site because it had learned that he was in Darwin. Taylor’s office said Arrold was a guest of Empire Energy and that Taylor did not invite Arrold on the trip.
Empire is chaired by Paul Espie, a frequent Liberal donor and director of the Menzies Research Centre, the inquiry has heard. Espie has previously been described in parliament as a doyen of the Liberal party.
The grants were decided by a three-member committee and Empire was declared as having satisfied the eligibility criteria. Documents tendered to the inquiry suggest one member of the committee had concerns about Empire’s satisfaction of some of the criteria.
The Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources says it was not aware of any links between Empire and the Liberal party prior to media coverage.
The department says Pitt was not advised of any conflict of interest concerns. That was because “no grant applicants or advisory committee members declared any actual or perceived conflicts of interest”.
The government insists the grant program has only given money to companies that “possess the highly specialised skills to meet the challenges of developing the basin as determined by an expert assessment panel”.
Labor has referred the administration of the grants scheme to the auditor general, but did not support a Greens disallowance motion that would have prevented the money from flowing to Empire. The Greens are planning to force a vote on another disallowance motion next month.