Persistent social movements work.

Broome community is gathering its strength and  building up capacity, experience, skills, resources, knowledge, resilience and will continue to persist,  with all  efforts to ensure that the world's largest gas refineries are not built at James Price Point (Walmadan). EVER!

Woodside you are now being put on notice.  All the blood, sweat and tears you have caused in our community, in our families, in our social fabric since your arrival in Broome has only build up our resilience and resolve.

It  does'nt matter how much money you throw around town, we will invest this into your own demise, and  remove your corporation from our communities. Even the people who may of thought that being gassed would be good for them, have tuned against you because they have witnessed :

• outrageous dis empowerment of our local Council;
• blatant Infringements of  social justice,  human rights, our privacy and our feeling of well being
• disdain of the  Aboriginal Heritage Act and our Cultural Heritage
• drilling in Heritage listed dinosaur track sites, whilst denying it
• contempt of our sense of place, multcultural community and lifestyled
• dismissal and repudiation of major social impacts and concerns 
• avoidance of responsibilities and evading  consequences for undertaking unlawfully works 
• the misuse and abuse of the  police service for the protection of machines to undertake unlawful activities
• private security force whose role is to intimidate and aggravate local Broome people
• flawed science
• the changing of community developed planning scheme and land use plans
• altering  planning laws and legislation to fit your agenda 
•  injustice, the corruption and the manipulation antics across many government departments
• gifts to senior gov civil servants,  football tickets and secret meeting over football matches
• establishment of a committee of one
• criminalisation of senior respected community leaders and strong community members,
• the use of old women to push your propaganda  about economic gains for indigenous people
• the manipulation of the training institutions and schools
• your lies, your spin, and your daily convoys .

The Broome community is a lot wiser to  your antics and those of your government lackeys and media mates.

The Broome community clearly understands that you are not a good corporate citizen; we do not have to dig to deep or travel far to understand the total social, economic, environment and heritage carnage you created in the Burrup to really appreciate your true destructive greed driven tendencies. 

Woodside, you will never get the social license to operate in our community. If you go into the dunes at Walmadan, touch the precious water sources, or continue on your proposed destructive path of our heartland and communities, your corporation and your brand will suffer untold economic, social and political consequences.  

You have faced delaying tactics and bad publicity, even before your project has been given any approvals. If you get those approvals and you and your join venture partners make the stupid mistake of approving the project in your final investment decision, that's when you will face the biggest community driven environment and social campaign this nation has ever seen. 

Just like you (Woodside, laying down your foundations) our campaign has also been laying down the solid foundations for a national social and environment movement, with an ever growing international profile and we will eventually succeed  in seeing the back of you, as you are escorted out of Country, even if it takes a little longer than we would all like. 

The Broome community isn't going anywhere, but Woodside is, the hell away from here.

Commentary - Aidan Ricketts:
Aidan, speaks not only for his region and community, but for many communities in Australia, like Broome who are already suffering under corporation invasion.

Clearly there is something very wrong with democracy in Australia when it comes to communities challenging the dominance of the fossil fuel lobby. This lobby has spent decades sewing up its links with politicians of all major political parties in Australia and now occupies a privileged position that threatens the integrity our governance system. The industry is over subsidised, under regulated and in the case of the new unconventional gas industry under-researched.



What else could explain a government granting a production license to a mining company barely three days after an overwhelming official public vote recorded 87% opposition?

When governments and corporations combine to steamroll communities in the face of such overwhelming opposition it is inevitable that serious conflict will result. Fortunately the social movements opposed to unconventional gas are committed to peaceful protest and non-violent direct action as the only remaining democratic avenue left to these embattled communities to protect themselves, their water and their environment.

Woodside's application for a Section 18 to destroy Significant Cultural Sites at Walmadan (James Price Point)

Woodside have applied for a Section 18 permit under the Aboriginal Heritage Act to disturb sites within the sand dunes system. The Aboriginal Cultural Materials Committee are due to decide on the application on the 21st of November according to the agenda, page 2.

The Aboriginal Cultural Materials Committee  Name Membership
Hon Gavin Fielding AM	ACMC Chairperson
Mr Bill Bennell	ACMC Member
Ms Bev Byron	ACMC Member
Ms Vanessa Davies	ACMC Member
Mrs Vanessa Kickett	ACMC Member
Mr Michael Robinson	Deputy Specialist Anthropologist
Ms Louise Austen	Deputy Member
Ms Julia Burns	Deputy Member
Mr Ben Cross	Deputy Member
Mr Cliff Weeks	Ex-Officio* - Director General, Department of Indigenous Affairs
Mr Alec Coles	Ex-Officio** - Director, WA Museum
Mr Ken McCrackan	Ex-Officio - Manager, Department of Regional Development and Lands

*   Deputy - Mr Aaron Rayner, Executive Director, Operations, Department of Indigenous Affairs
** Deputy - Dr Ian MacLeod, Executive Director, Collection Management and Conservation, WA Museum

 

9. ACMC Advertisment 10 October 2012

Confusion over gas plant dinosaur footprints - The West Australian

Confusion over gas plant dinosaur footprints - The West Australian:

He said the EPA had acknowledged that construction of the port, shipping channel, breakwaters, jetties and other marine infrastructure would affect coastal processes and lead to sedimentary change, affecting beaches up to 3km north of the harbour (including the area that is meant to be protected) and potentially as far as 7km south.

Both areas contained highly significant tracksites, Dr Salisbury said, but there appeared to be no recommendations to counteract the effects.

Removing any prints from the nationally heritage listed site would also greatly diminish the heritage value of the entire area, he said.

“It is not just footprints that are preserved, but rather an entire Early Cretaceous landscape that is literally frozen in time,” he said.

BIMBLEBOX | A documentary from the front lines of Australia's battle against coal and gas expansion

BIMBLEBOX | A documentary from the front lines of Australia's battle against coal and gas expansion:

At this critical time, when so much coal and coal seam gas expansion is planned in Australia, this film aims to win the hearts and minds of the people, exposing the destructiveness of this industry to our climate, communities and environment.



It tells the stories of the people fighting for their homes and culture. Australia is the worlds largest exporter of coal, providing almost one third of the worlds supply. It is impossible to address climate change without looking at Australia’s role in the planets climate future.

James Price Point and beyond Q&A

The Broome Community No Gas Campaign has worked for years, firstly to understand what LNG processing was all about and all the environmental, social, cultural and economic ramifications that this 14 LNG trains (14 refrigerators) would bring on down the line into our community.

We have cried out of years for national and international attention to our plight in opposing Woodside's invasion. Once, upon a time, the main stream media only showed interest in our story when the WA Police force were sent in to break our resistance and bully us into submission to the corporate and state will. 

 Yes, it was passionate, there were fireworks, there were the "attack dogs" but what the main stream media and the general public did not hear about was the aftermath, how this experience impacted our community and how it also consolidated us. 

Once we wiped away the tears, brushed off the pindan, paid all the fines, this wonderful community responded with the long loved Broome creative spirit. Banners covered our town in protest, film, documentaries, art, poetry, writings, community science research and photography exhibitions abounded. Local rallies spread across the nation in solidarity, candle light vigils were held, mothers days, concerts and information sessions were undertaken, numerous work delaying blockades and lock on actions proved to be successful stalling tactics, court cases on all levels of justice have been summoned, shire meetings attendances improved, all in the hope of raising our campaign profile and understanding of our community angst. 

Social media is now saturated with our issues, quality blog sites created and massive information networks interwoven. Major national conservation groups joined forces, all wishing to work with our community, along with bold, the beautiful and the famous and suddenly our campaign was seen for what it really is a " localized transnational resistance" 

And we are succeeding; we are winning the hearts and support of thousands, nationally and internationally. And from this point this community's campaign can only get bigger and more effective. Woodside are realizing that the only way out, is to leave.

If someone told Red Hand, in 2010 that the campaign would eventually attract the attention of programs from Living Black, the Country Hour, Four Corners, Catalyst, New Scientist, Q & A and make all the national papers with many many front pages, I would have not believed them.

Barnett seemed to get away with a lot of his old lies, last night. " only 1000 hectare site", "one refrigerator" (14 !!!!) , " no Cultural Songline", "no effect for the whales", "or dinosaur track sites", blah blah blah .............. but people are far more informed than he gives them credit. There is no such thing as bad publicity. 

Congratulations, to all the Broome Community, and their supporters around this nation and planet, because we are driving one of the nation's major environmental campaigns,  we are heading in the right direction, with good speed. 

The only question I have is "Who paid for poor darling Rita's ticket to Perth?"

Check out all the other questions on the Q&A Site.

      http://www.abc.net.au/tv/qanda/txt/s3620729.htm

AnonymousNovember 5, 2012 8:16 PM

Well,not bad I thought.Best part of 1/2 hour on Q&A tonight about JPP.Barnett told his usual porkies but they just didn't seem to carry as much weight this time.

The ground has definately shifted,and shifted in favour of the "no gas at JPP" camp.

It is still very sad to see Rita Augustine hoping that a gas plant will stop the suicides.Sad to hear Barnett use that and child abuse to justify his scheme.

If any of that was true then the first place to build a gas plant would have to be The Vatican.
How any whitefella can point a finger at the blackfellas over these issues is beyond me.
I went to an all white school and we had kids committing suicide because of abuse and no one ever suggested a gas plant was the answer.

Apart from all that Bob Brown was very good as was the Indigenous lawyer and Allanah.
The point that Broome would have as many jobs as needed from being a shore supply base was well made.

At one stage Tony Jones,who seems to get more about JPP than anything else,referred to the gas hub as "this disaster."

Video Questions | Q&A | ABC TV

Video Questions | Q&A | ABC TV

Burke will avoid making any decision on James Price Point

––– COAG reiterated its commitment to reducing duplication and double-handling of environmental assessment and approval processes while maintaining high environmental standards that are risk- and outcomes-based. In line with the timing agreed at the COAG meeting in April, consultations are underway and negotiations for bilateral agreements are about to commence.

Federal Environment minister Tony Burke listed the koala as a threatened species and gave himself the power to protect them, citing the poor performance of the states as the reason he needed to step in. Yet when COAG puts the planned reforms to our environment laws into practice by March next year, Tony Burke will hand this responsibility for protecting koalas right back to the states.

Will Tony Burke wait until these planned reforms are in place, so he will be able to completely avoid making any decisions on the Strategic Assessment Report for James Price Point? Will he just hand ball the responsibility back to this corrupted Barnett government and their corporate masters? If these reforms are implemented who and how will major state driven projects be assessed, by the proponent’s own departments? Who and how will monitoring and compliance be undertaken?

Although incredibly rare, the environment wins of the past have been when the federal environment minister stepped in to stop a project already approved by the states. The Franklin River is one example, as well as Queensland's Traveston Dam, cattle grazing in the Alpine National Park and oil drilling in the Great Barrier Reef.

If the ALP and the Coalition succeed in removing the federal environment minister from these decisions, this kind of win won't happen again.

The weakness is at the heart of the national environment laws - the Act does not set out clear levels of unacceptable environmental impacts. Rather, it operates by a series of triggers; if a development has a large impact on environmental values, then it triggers the federal environment minister's consideration for approval. Whether or not the development is allowed to go ahead, and under what conditions, is largely left to the whim of the minister, with few constraints - or soon, the whim of the states.

Tony Burke has said he will impose decision-making standards on the states, so they can't weaken environmental protection. But only recently, the Queensland Premier failed to uphold existing federal standards when approving the environmental assessment for the Alpha coal mine - so how can we trust the states to comply with new standards? And what happens when they don't?

This is why green groups and communities have hailed the reforms as the worst thing to happen to our environment in the last 30 years.

The possibility of 'approval bilateral agreements' - accrediting states to give federal approvals instead of the Federal Government - was written into the original Act. When the Howard Government passed the Act in 1999, the prospect of federal powers being handed over to the states was greeted with horror:

   

 ... In this legislation they have enabled the states and the Commonwealth to now go through a process where, through a bilateral agreement, in future the Commonwealth could say to Victoria — and states with track records of environmental vandalism like Victoria — 'Here, you have the responsibility for the Ramsar wetlands. Here, you have the responsibility for the environmental impacts of a toxic dump,' and just let it happen.

These were the words of Julia Gillard, MP. It's a bitter irony that it's now Prime Minister Gillard's own government, and her own environment minister, who will deliver the very same disastrous outcome she warned of 13 years ago. 

Our environment laws should be made stronger, not weaker. Our environment should be protected for future generations, not left to the states to be torn to pieces. And the Australian Government should remember they're being paid with our taxes to govern in the interests of all Australians, and do their damn job.

The Green are asking us to tell the ALP and the Coalition that Australia's environment is too important to leave to state governments. Join our call today: don't abandon it to the states.

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 This is happening now. This image has to reach the rest of the world. The Kayapo being expelled from their homes for the construction of the Belo Monte Dam, which will flood 400.000 acres of the Amazon Rainforest in Brazil.

Seismic exploration trucks from Queensland invade Casino

Seismic exploration trucks from Queensland invade Casino, northern NSW, on behalf of Metgasco, resisted by CSG-Free Northern Rivers, Saturday 3 November 2012

Just note the radical greenies and the relationship this company have with the police in this short clip.  This story and the images of invasion are all too familiar to the Broome community.

People across Australia are standing up against corporatism, in their local communities for the protection of their: community, water, air and health.  

Dam filled in - Deep pits dug - Country turned to dust

The clip you're about to watch portrays the extensive and continued destruction caused by woodside's exploratory works at James Price Point. The very large cleared area midway through the clip is the site of a recently filled in dam built to hold water extracted from the aquifer for tests. The large pit towards the end of the clip is one of two which were excavated recently.

Woodside has applied for permission to enter and damage the sand-dune country west of Manari Road near James Price Point (A short distance from were these images were taken). The outcome of their Section 18 Heritage clearance application will be known very soon.

This particular country has enormous cultural and environmental values. There are several heritage sites, the Song Cycle between Broome and One Arm Point passes through there and the monsoon vine thickets are a Threatened Ecological Community.

Broome community members are calling on Woodside to abandon its plans to drill and excavate sand dunes as part of its investigation for port facilities for the proposed gas refineries at James Price Point.

The sand dunes and rare Monsoon Vine Thickets have been recommended for protection by the WA Environmental Protection Authority twice in the past twenty years because of their environmental significance and their cultural heritage values.


produced by: Shane Hughes

The WA Museum also recommended they be protected in 1989 because of their outstanding archaeological and cultural significance.
"Woodside need to read these previous recommendations for the protection of this area so they get an understanding of how sensitive and important they are environmentally and culturally," said Broome Community No Gas Campaign spokesperson Nik Wevers.

"Anyone who reads the government reports that recommended there be no disturbance to the west side of Manari Road will come to the conclusion that what Woodside is proposing is not acceptable. We are calling on them to abandon their clearing and drilling work in this area," said Ms Wevers.
Such is the concern about Woodside's plans that Community members have already begun mobilising to protest any destruction.

"Many people in the community are concerned about Woodside's plans and are organising to take action to protect the sand dunes. This coast is Broome's backyard. It's where people go to recharge after a hard working week in town, it's not a place where we want to see drill rigs and excavators," Ms Wevers said.
"What we're seeing is that the community who love that coast are saying they're drawing a line in the sand and they're going to stand up and be counted for this one," Ms Wevers said.

Thank you for watching this clip and sharing to all and many ..

Seismic blast for blue whales

Seismic blast for blue whales:
 "It's astonishing on two levels," said IFAW campaign officer Matt Collis. "Firstly, because it was put forward by Woodside for this time, and secondly, because the environment department allowed it to go ahead."

Secret papers 'show how Shell targeted Nigeria oil protests' - Americas - World - The Independent

Secret papers 'show how Shell targeted Nigeria oil protests' - Americas - World - The Independent:
Serious questions over Shell Oil's alleged involvement in human rights abuses in Nigeria emerged last night after confidential internal documents and court statements revealed how the energy giant enlisted the help of the country's brutal former military government to deal with protesters.

Protection measures from Minister won't go far: JPP - ABC Kimberley WA - Australian Broadcasting Corporation

Protection measures from Minister won't go far: JPP - ABC Kimberley WA - Australian Broadcasting Corporation:

Dr Steve Salisbury, from University of Queensland, says the research report the Environmental Protection Authority used was inadequate, as did the authors themselves since the fossil experts had too little time to assess the area.

Dr Salisbury, who showed ABC TV's Catalyst program the trackways, says some of the most signficant prints are within the precinct site and will be destroyed, while those 900 metres away will most likely be buried by sand.

Woodside signs deal with Japan Bank | News.com.au

Woodside signs deal with Japan Bank | News.com.au:

 "Under the agreement Woodside and JBIC will hold periodic discussions relating to Woodside's future LNG developments and JBIC will consider providing financial support for those potential developments as well as creating opportunities for Japanese companies to participate in Woodside's future LNG developments," the company said.

Japan Bank for International Cooperation states on their web site: (JBIC) has made a new start as a policy financing institution wholly owned by the Japanese government. JBIC provides policy-based finance with a mission to contribute to the sound development of Japan and the international economy and society.

Everyone should be encourage to write to this company and inform them that any movement to finance Woodside proposed development at JJP,  Walmadan will be a great waste of money given the fact that IT WILL NEVER HAPPEN. 

THE ONLY OUTCOME FOR JBIC WILL BE THE DESTRUCTION OF THEIR BRAND NAME in the international economy and society.
 http://www.jbic.go.jp/en/

THIS IS THE TYPE OF CRAP THESE PARTICULAR PUBLIC SERVANTS SEND TO EACH OTHER ABOUT OUR HERITAGE

Dsd Letter 1

Minister endorses EPA appeals process on JPP - ABC Kimberley WA - Australian Broadcasting Corporation

Minister endorses EPA appeals process on JPP - ABC Kimberley WA - Australian Broadcasting Corporation:

Dinosaur tracks in gas plant's path "will go"

after 130 million years..."THEY WILL ABSOLUTELY HAVE TO GO"

WA Environment Minister confirms destruction of National Heritage listed dinosaur trackways by the proposed gas hub at James Price Point (transcript, ABC radio, Broome 30 Oct)...

Vanessa Mills, ABC Kimberley: But what about the footprints that will be damaged in construction of the precinct?

Bill Marmion, WA Environment Minister: "Well, they, they, that’s a...they will go. That, that, that’s, that was a determination by the EPA, and obviously that’s been, there were some proponents, sorry, appellants that, that obviously objected to that and that’s been dismissed".

Vanessa Mills, ABC Kimberley: So those footprints that are in the path of the precinct will actually have to be destroyed, there’s not going to be an effort to move them or protect them in any way?

Bill Marmion, WA Environment Minister: Well, I don’t know if, I don’t know if, if, if they can be moved, but I mean obviously that is something that could be considered, but where the, where the um site’s going, that’s, that’s unfortunately, that’s where some of the footprints are, so they will, they will, they will absolutely have to go.

How can this Barnett yes minister say this when these track sites are all Nationally Heritage Listed.

Conservation and local community groups reject Minister's decision on James Price Point Appeals

Conservation and Broome community groups have described as ‘pathetic and irresponsible’ Minister Marmion's decision on appeals against the EPA's assessment of the James Price Point gas hub.

Peter Robertson, WA State Coordinator for the Wilderness Society said, "All Environment Minister Marmion is doing by allowing the EPA's sham assessment to stand (with some additional conditions) is make it increasingly necessary for the Federal Environment Minister to reject the failed WA assessment and require substantial new studies to be conducted prior to any decision on Commonwealth approval.

“This is the perfect example of why the Federal government should not hand over approval powers to the states, because they can't be trusted.”

Martin Pritchard, Director of Environs Kimberley, said, "A record number of appeals were submitted against the EPA's report and recommendations, in response to which Minister Marmion appointed ex-deputy Chair of the EPA, Dr Roy Green, as the 'Appeals Committee' to assess the appeals.

“Let’s face it the State Environment Minister was never going to say that the proposal was environmentally unacceptable. He would have been committing political suicide if he did because the Premier, who is also the Minister for State Development, is the proponent for the project. This is purely a political decision, it’s not a decision based on science,” said Mr Pritchard.

In summary, conservation groups make the following points:

• The Minister's acceptance of the need for more studies on the project's impacts on whales, dolphins, dugongs, turtles and sawfish simply proves that the EPA assessment was based on inadequate information and no approval should be considered until all these studies have been completed;
• The growing number of 'strict conditions' proposed to be applied to the project won’t prevent its major, irreversible and unacceptable impacts and in fact only demonstrate that this is the wrong project in the wrong place;
• There are now at least 29 major condition 'headings' with a total of over 160 separate conditions (a further ~17 have now been added to what the EPA proposed);
• Dr Green told appellants during meetings that he could not recommend rejection of the EPA’s advice and call for a new, credible assessment, because to do so would be "futile - the Minister would ignore me";
• This is significant as Dr Green also told appellants in meetings that if he lived in Broome he'd oppose the project too;
• Conservation groups will ascertain how many of the 15 appeal grounds that were "allowed" by the Minister were appeals from Woodside or the Department of State Development seeking to weaken the original conditions."

Broome Community No Gas Campaign spokesperson Nik Wevers expressed concern that the social impacts of the project have again been ignored by this appeal process, despite the fact that they underpinned many of the appeals lodged.   

Media Statements - Statements - EPA’s findings endorsed on Browse LNG

Media Statements - Statements - EPA’s findings endorsed on Browse LNG:

 “My next step is to consult with decision-making authorities and other agencies, including the ministers for Mines and Petroleum; Transport; Lands; and Indigenous Affairs, on whether they agree that this strategic proposal should proceed and, if so, what conditions will be set.”

061-304-12 Min Advice to Appellants FINAL 30Oct12

NOTE - because the comments below are taken from Hansard "Uncorrected Proof — Not to be Quoted", please do not take the quotes below as final quotes...coz Hansard may be altered]

As you may have noticed Parliament has been 'debating' the Premier's JPP Land Agreement Bill this week. In today's West Carole Martin's latest attack on 'greenies' is given prominent coverage. Interestingly, while reporting her strong criticism of gas hub opponents for allegedly using terms like "kaffir", there is no mention of her saying:

Nobody has the right to assault anybody in their workplace. Then, what happens? We get 100 police to go up there to protect these people who need to go to work, and what happens? The police are criticised. Everybody is criticised. Think about this: who was protecting those workers? The police. They were not there just to kick a mung bean; it was not about that. They were there to protect workers on their way to work.

Of course Ms Martin's speech was heavily and repeatedly praised by Colin Barnett, who demanded the 'politically correct' media cover her comments instead of just those Sydney-based greenies only interested in "frollicking whales and dinosaurs".

But neither Barnett nor the West mentioned the great speech made by retiring ALP Member for Pilbara Tom Stephens! Its worth reading in full but here are some excerpts.

Tom Stephens (ALP Member for Pilbara [and first CEO of KLC - 1978])

I have by and large stayed out of the issue as it has played out, but my natural inclination is to say that the Kimberley will be the poorer for the advancement of this particular project; in my view, it will be adversely affected. The presence of the resource industry in the Pilbara region, with its 12-hour shifts, its fly in, fly out roster and its way of doing business, is not conducive to family and community life. It focuses on shunting people from all over the state, the country and the globe, as Woodside has done for the last 30 years, rather than focusing on the needs of securing communities that can work, live and play in a region. That is what I fear and predict will happen if this project is advanced north of Broome. I have seen the penetration of the fluoro vest in the Pilbara region as though it were the uniform that people put on when they get up in the morning and take off when they slump back into bed at night, with no clothes for sport or for working in the garden. In fact, there are no gardens left in any houses in the Pilbara. There is hardly a sports club left. There is hardly any community life left. The resource sector has constructed itself in a way that is destructive of human existence in regions such as the Pilbara and, I predict, also in the Kimberley. Aboriginal people are not easily attracted to surrender their close connection to their partners, their family and their communities in order to take up jobs in the resource sector, with its 12-hour shifts that are hell-bent on largely fly in, fly out operations rather than building up real work opportunities for people who value their wives, partners, kids, families and communities. 

...

We cannot pass this bill, which talks about the hope and promise of development in the Kimberley, without
thinking of the missed opportunities that have occurred in the Pilbara. I place on record that in the early 1980s
Woodside came to people like me and my party, in opposition and then in government, seeking and obtaining
our support for its developments in the Burrup, having given assurances and promises about Woodside’s
commitment to train and employ Indigenous people in that part of the world. Woodside said that it would
contribute to the protection of heritage sites and build cultural heritage facilities in places such as Roebourne. As
I look back over those 30 years, I see a trail of broken promises and a failure to deliver on commitments,
although recently Woodside has upped it a notch and focussed on the commitments that it made so many
decades ago now.

...

I look at the pressure for James Price Point to proceed that is being applied by the state
coalition government, the federal Labor government, the industry players that want it and the Kimberley Land
Council, which represents the majority decision of the title holders, in a context in which people may say that
they had a gun held to their head. There is a view that the James Price Point development will advance the
interests of the Indigenous peoples of that area. In my view, that is not a given; it is not guaranteed if the project
advances.

....

This bill will pass for all the reasons that have been described sensitively by members on this side of the house. I appreciate the sensitive way in which my colleagues have identified why the bill has their support. In another set of circumstances, I would love there to have been additional options on the table.

For me, this project should be delivering a pipeline into the Pilbara. The current conservation values and regional values of the Pilbara could not be any further adversely affected by this project than they have been to this point. The Kimberley region is a very special region. The future of the Kimberley would be better protected, in my view, by capturing all of the advantages that come from attracting people into that region to enjoy the natural environment and the wilderness environment of the Kimberley, without heavy industry of this sort, of which I fear this project is likely to be a major advance down that path.

…I think members got the flavour of my remarks; that is, I am not trying to lift the temperature and provoke people into antagonism. I understand why a section of the community of Broome opposes a project like this. I have a lot of empathy for them. If the world was different, I would be voting in a different way [i.e. against the Premier's Bill].

Well said Tom!

Colin misleads again!

And of course Colin Barnett repeated his usual misrepresentation about the Land Agreement Bill itself. Once again he falsely stated that, "The bill establishes the Browse LNG precinct as the only site for LNG on the Kimberley coastline—that is important."

In fact, as later questions demonstrated, the Bill does not prevent other LNG projects along the Kimberley coast at all. Under this Bill, for example, gas from the Kimberley's onshore Canning Basin can be processed to LNG anywhere in the Kimberley.

Other interesting comments:

Barnett: this is a very clear exercise of self-determination by Aboriginal people.

Martin:

I will give members an example of one of the things that really, really upset me. We have a once-a-year surf competition, and people come from everywhere. They surf between crocs and stuff, but they still come! These people come to Cable Beach for the surf competition; it is one trip that many people make from all over Australia. We get about 500 people; it is brilliant. What happens? The organisers of the Green mob decide they are going to put on a free concert, but they did not even have the respect to go to the shire and ask for a permit. They did not do that; if they had, they would have found that they could not have one because it would interfere with this one tournament that is run every year. How disrespectful is that? We get 500 visitors to our community once a year, and these people stuffed it up. Then they invited the community to come to a free concert and said, “Oh, these are all our supporters”! I mean, where did they come from? We get 10 000 people a week coming on holiday there—of course they want a free concert!

Fan Logan (ALP): Martin Ferguson should hang his head in shame. [For supporting floating LNG]

 Mr J.J.M. Bowler: It was that hatred that she [Martin] faced that led to her not standing at the next election.

Barnett:

[Martin] talked about the rich and famous who come to the Kimberley in a self-righteous way, as though only they care about the environment, only they care about whales or only they care about dinosaur footprints. Implicit in that is an attitude that we see all too often, particularly from people outside this state, and maybe from people living in the major cities—that somehow this state is a redneck environment, that we do not care about heritage, we do not care about the environment, and that we are somehow incapable of looking after an area like the Kimberley. I believe that the member for Kimberley made that point; I do not think I am putting words in her mouth.

I would suggest that the level of environmental assessment and standards for major projects in this state is world’s best, and it is about time we took some pride in that instead of letting people come over here and treat this state like a bunch of rednecks who do not know what they are doing. I doubt that there is a square kilometre of land in Australia that has been more carefully analysed in every respect than James Price Point.

Community call on Woodside to abandon drilling in sand dunes

Broome community members are calling on Woodside to abandon its plans to drill and excavate sand dunes as part of its investigation for port facilities for the proposed gas refineries at James Price Point.

The sand dunes and rare Monsoon Vine Thickets have been recommended for protection by the WA Environmental Protection Authority¹ twice in the past twenty years because of their environmental significance and their cultural heritage values.

The WA Museum also recommended they be protected in 1989 because of their outstanding archaeological and cultural significance².

“Woodside need to read these previous recommendations for the protection of this area so they get an understanding of how sensitive and important they are environmentally and culturally,” said Broome Community No Gas Campaign spokesperson Nik Wevers.

“Anyone who reads the government reports that recommended there be no disturbance to the west side of Manari Road will come to the conclusion that what Woodside is proposing is not acceptable. We are calling on them to abandon their clearing and drilling work in this area,” said Ms Wevers.

Such is the concern about Woodside’s plans that Community members have already begun mobilising to protest any destruction.

“Many people in the community are concerned about Woodside’s plans and are organising to take action to protect the sand dunes. This coast is Broome’s backyard. It’s where people go to recharge after a hard working week in town, it’s not a place where we want to see drill rigs and excavators,” Ms Wevers said.

“What we’re seeing is that the community who love that coast are saying they’re drawing a line in the sand and they’re going to stand up and be counted for this one,” Ms Wevers said.

“Anyone who wants to help out should get in touch,” said Ms Wevers.

For further comment, please contact: Nik Wevers 0417 998 598

Buru Energy

Buru Energy