Last week, a Ministerial Instrument signed by Resources Minister Madeleine King authorised taxpayer funds to maintain the Cliff Head oil platform after the project’s proponents, Pilot and Triangle Energy, both went into voluntary administration in July.  

“Unless the federal government fixes its broken decommissioning laws, we’ll end up in this situation again, with taxpayers on the hook when oil and gas companies fail, and the government chasing industry for funds that should have been committed up-front,” Mr Roberts said. 

“The Federal Government should not be using Australian taxpayer money to maintain the fossil fuel industry’s abandoned infrastructure. 

“Resources Minister Madeleine King has promised the clean-up will be industry funded. What we need now is a clear plan and timeline to recover these funds from industry and meaningful, legislated changes to avoid this happening again in the future. 

“Right now, the Federal Government is proposing reforms to its decommissioning legislation. This is the opportunity to fix the very clear issues with unfunded decommissioning, and ensure Australians are not paying the cost of oil and gas companies failing to clean up after themselves. 

“Oil and gas companies must be legally required to set aside dedicated clean-up funds and upfront security at the beginning of the project - not after they've already left, collapsed, or offloaded the liability onto a smaller player. 

“With $60 billion in decommissioning liabilities sitting offshore across Australia to be worked through in the decades ahead, we must get these reforms right. 

“If it’s done right, decommissioning can be an opportunity rather than a liability. Half of the decommissioning work needed in the next 50 years is due to commence by 2030.  

“The huge volume of decommissioning required is a chance for WA to create local jobs in decommissioning and steel recycling – jobs that are working to protect the environment, rather than destroy it.”  

ENDS 

Media contact: John Cooke – 0433 679 780  

Background Information: 

Pilot Energy’s Cliff Head Oil Field and offshore well head is located off the Mid West coast of Western Australia, approximately 20 kilometres south-southwest of Dongara.  

Triangle Energy - which previously held a majority stake in Cliff Head - had been transitioning the asset to Pilot for a carbon capture and storage (CCS) project, which stalled when Pilot ran out of money.   

In July this year, Triangle Energy requested a trading halt to assess the impact on the sale following Pilot going into voluntary administration a week earlier. 

In August 2025, an alliance of unions and leading environmental organisations recommended a nation-first 'decommissioning hub' be built in WA to manage the state's growing number of retired offshore oil and gas infrastructure.