As gas giant Santos holds its annual general meeting in Adelaide, new polling shows nearly three in four South Australians believe gas companies should be made to pay for environmental damage they cause.
The polling comes as a growing number of parliamentarians and civil society groups urge the Albanese government to place a 25% levy on all gas exports.
“The war-driven fuel shortage has shown how dependent Australia is on dirty, expensive fossil fuels, and big gas drillers like Santos are doing everything they can to make it even worse,” said Australian Conservation Foundation CEO Adam Bandt.
“Australia needs to urgently break its addiction to coal and gas and become energy independent by investing in renewables built in the right places.”
Santos, Australia’s second largest gas company after Woodside, is headquartered in Adelaide and is steamrolling ahead with new projects at Narrabri (NSW), the Beetaloo Basin (Northern Territory), Barossa (off the NT coast) and in Papua New Guinea.
“Finding new sources of fracked gas is the opposite of what we should be doing during a climate crisis,” Mr Bandt said.
“Gas use in Australia is tracking down. New supply won’t cut prices. It will add to exports.
“If Santos and other companies are allowed to keep drilling in the Beetaloo and scale up the industry, thousands of gas wells could be drilled, which could result in an estimated 1.2 billion tonnes of climate pollution over 25 years between now and 2050.
“If the Beetaloo climate bomb is detonated it could single-handedly undo all efforts to cut Australia’s emissions.
“Going ahead with climate and nature destroying fossil fuel projects means more heatwaves, worse bushfires and the continued increase in extreme weather here in Australia, regardless of where the fuel is burnt.
“The best way for Australia to have energy independence and for people to save money is by investing in the sun and the wind and making climate-wrecking gas giants pay a 25% tax on their exports of Australian gas.”
Kirsty Bevan, CEO of Conservation SA said, “Santos was founded in South Australia and is still headquartered here. Adelaide is ground zero for the fight to stop the dirty gas expansions that Santos is pushing interstate, in the Beetaloo and Narrabri.”
The opinion poll of 1,242 South Australians conducted by Demos AU in March 2026 found 74% agreed or strongly agreed that ‘gas companies like Santos should be required to pay for environmental damage caused by their operations.’
Pic: Indigenous leaders and conservationists outside the Santos AGM, Adelaide, 16 April 2026