Woodside 'obliged' over $1.5bn social deal | The Australian:Mr Bergmann said there were important lessons to be learned from the disastrous gas hub negotiations. He believed the KLC was "on track" to find a site that traditional owners could accept when West Australian Premier Colin Barnett and Woodside became aggressive.
He believed the benefits package would have led to enormous change for Aboriginal people, but the negotiations were much harder than they should have been because of Mr Barnett's threat to compulsorily acquire James Price Point if they did not agree. "You can't come in and pulverise Aboriginal people into a corner so they have no choice but to sign off on deals - you don't create healthy societies by doing that," he said. "If this is the way industry treats some of the most disadvantaged people in the world, and it is accepted by government, a standard has been set that is inconsistent with our international obligations."
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you don't create healthy societies by doing that," he said. "If this is the way industry treats some of the most disadvantaged people in the world, and it is accepted by government, a standard has been set that is inconsistent with our international obligations."
ReplyDeleteWho does he think he is kidding?
The standard was set long ago - not just here either - check what Woodside and the Australian government have done to Timor Leste over the Greater Sunrise gas.
Bergman is full of sh*t.
(as usual)
.......“Mr Barnett was reported on ABC news this morning as saying Aboriginal people would now miss out on revenue. If the government has tied provision of everyday services, which the rest of the state takes for granted, to funds derived from this project, then Aboriginal people should be outraged.
ReplyDelete.
“Just yesterday, the Premier admitted to me in Parliament that the state will derive vast sums of money from the Browse gas royalties, in the order of 10 or more percent, no matter where the gas is processed – so let’s put to bed this notion that we must have a gas hub at JPP or locals will miss out. What effrontery!
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“Last year, Mr Barnett rushed into law a State Agreement Act allowing virtual open slather on activities at JPP –and this is now the real danger, because there is nothing stopping processing of onshore gas from fracking, large port development, and any number of other large-scale industries – subject only to agreement between the parties to the Act, with little or no Parliamentary scrutiny.
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“The land acquisition is in place; the development of port infrastructure is approved; the workers camp has just been rubber-stamped by the Government’s Kimberley DAP; while we celebrate Woodside’s repudiation of this aspect of the Premier’s obsession, this is no time to let down our guard,” Mr Chapple warned.
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