The department seems to have forgotten the meaning of precedent, especially in regard to petroleum exploration exclusions zones in the Northern Territory.

In a September 23 letter to Katherine Town Council, Mines and Energy Minister Willem Westra van Holthe said the department would not allow the entire area inside a municipal boundary to become an exclusion zone because it would “set a precedent for other communities to make similar requests”.

The Oxford Dictionary defines a precedent as “an earlier event or action that is regarded as an example of guide to be considered in subsequent similar circumstances”.

An action like extending exclusion zones in the Darwin area, which is exactly what the government did earlier this year in response to a public outcry.

There has also been strong opposition to existing exclusion zones in the Katherine region but it is unlikely to be heard by those in Parliament House.

Why?

It boils down to votes, and whether it is more beneficial to appease those who will decide the government’s fate in 2016, or reap the lucrative financial benefits of mining royalties.

The Katherine River corridor and Tindal aquifer might be of critical environmental importance to the region but neither is on the electoral roll.

Whether the Mines and Energy Minister wants to admit it or not, a precedent was set when the government decided it was worth extending exclusion zones around Darwin in the name of saving votes.