Woodside’s $2 Billion Deal To Test Partners’ Resolve - Deal Journal Australia - WSJ

Woodside’s $2 Billion Deal To Test Partners’ Resolve - Deal Journal Australia - WSJ:

Due to be built in a place marked with one of the world’s longest chain of dinosaur footprints, Browse is facing opposition from environmental groups and has angered some traditional land owners.

What’s more, it has also faced disunity between its joint venture partners over the best way to process the gas for export.

Sauropod thoroughfare James Price Point

Some, such as Chevron and BHP, would prefer to have the resource piped to the existing North West Shelf project when it runs out of gas next decade.

Woodside is nevertheless pressing on with the development of a new LNG facility at James Price Point on the Western Australia coast by 2017, with the backing of the Western Australian and federal governments.
 



But if it keeps on pushing for a shiny new plant, Woodside could end up with fewer friends willing to accompany it along the way.

Colin Barnett Premier; Minister for State Development Tue 01 May, 2012 Browse development a vote for gas project Premier, State Development

Media Statements - Results:

“There is no doubt that this announcement is a vote of confidence and a major step forward for the Browse project and the development of a gas precinct at James Price Point,” he said.

"Notwithstanding this positive development the project still has some way to go to reach FID (final investment decision) in 2013 as the joint venture parties need to still determine the site for the LNG facility to process the Browse gas with disagreement over the Kimberley/James Price Point site versus piping the gas to the North West Shelf."

Woodside stake sale throws plans for LNG plant into doubt | The Australian

Woodside stake sale throws plans for LNG plant into doubt | The Australian:
WOODSIDE Petroleum has agreed to a $US2 billion sell-down of a 14.7 per cent stake in the giant Browse gas fields off the coast of Western Australia to its Japanese North West Shelf partners Mitsubishi and Mitsui, in a move that will throw further doubt on the likelihood of an LNG plant being built at James Price Point near Broome.

Under Mr Coleman, Woodside appears less likely to develop the Browse fields - through a new LNG plant at James Price Point - than it would under previous chief Don Voelte.

Instead, Woodside is now more aligned with the wishes of most of the Browse joint-venture partners for the fields to be developed by piping the gas further south to the existing North West Shelf plant at Karratha when reserves at its fields run low towards the end of the decade.

Woodside seals $2bn Browse LNG deal

Woodside seals $2bn Browse LNG deal: Woodside Petroleum has sealed a $2 billion deal to sell part of its stake in the proposed Browse LNG Development to Japan Australia LNG.

Woodside on Tuesday also said it had accepted an offer for a long-term sales and purchase agreement for about 1.5 million tonnes of LNG a year from the Browse development subject to completion of the equity offer.

Woodside said that while the price agreed by the parties was confidential, it was in line with traditional Asian pricing for conventional LNG projects.

CONFERENCE & DOCUMENTARY ON BIODIVERSITY AT KINGS PARK

Conference in English - Questions/Answers in French and English
Free entry - RSVP essential on 9386 7921 or by email to culture@afperth.com.au
Monday 14th May, from 6pm

First floor science offices - Biodiversity Conservation Centre at Kings Park

The Alliance Française de Perth will organise a conference presented by Alain Pavé and Bruno Cédat about the notion of biodiversity and its scientific and social meaning. Alain Pavé is a French emeritus university professor, member of the Academy of Technology and former director of the CNRS Amazonian Program in French Guyana. He is specialised in the dynamic of biodiversity, biology, in both theorical and progressive ecology and in the science of the environment.

This conference will be based on Bruno Cédat's documentary, the Goolarabooloo between nature and tradition. Biodiversity and ecosystem.

In August 2010, Bruno Cédat spent some time in an Aboriginal community in the Kimberleys, Western Australia, to film a documentary about diversity. This project led him to meet scientists, biodiversity and ecosystems restoration specialists. Assisted by French scientist, Alain Pavé and Kingley Dixon, Director of the botanic garden in Perth, Bruno Cedat's documentary reveals the biological wealth of Western Australia and the privileged relations of the Aboriginal with environment.

This debate will increase the awareness of the public towards environmental thematic through an educational documentary.

Nation now 'indifferent' to environment

Nation now 'indifferent' to environment:

Australians are effectively indifferent to global and societal issues, rating these significantly lower. What we see in these results is a picture of a relatively conservative society concerned with local issues that influence its members' daily lives.

It’s Not The Aboriginal Heritage Act That Needs Changing But The Chauvinistic State Government

In reference to the Western Australian Auditor General’s Report, September 2011  http://www.audit.wa.gov.au/reports/pdfreports/report2011_08.pdf  

It states that there are weaknesses in how social, environmental and economic conditions are monitored and enforced that need to be addressed if Parliament is to be assured that all the State’s interests are being protected. 

It not the Aboriginal Heritage Act that needs amending it’s the unprincipled and  injudicious executive management of Department of Indigenous Affairs (DIA) that needs altering  because they have no authentic professional abilities to implement or enforce approved Government policy,  undertake effective monitoring and reporting,  are totally non transparent in all their duties and they are never held  accountable for their negligence. 

These top ranking DIA officials only seem capable at obtaining gifts, tickets to attend the football matches from a variety of Corporations. 

Auditor General’s Report states: DIA has not actively monitored if operators are meeting the conditions placed on them under the Aboriginal Heritage Act 1972 (AH Act). This means that registered Aboriginal heritage sites could have been lost or destroyed without the State knowing or taking action.

As part of gaining approval to mine, proponents must meet the requirements of Section 18 of the AHAct. This Act aims to ensure that Aboriginal cultural heritage in WA is identified, managed and preserved.

Some operators must develop management plans to protect identified Aboriginal heritage sites. These can be archaeological sites housing tools and rock art, or ethnological sites of spiritual, historical or other importance.

As part of administering this activity, DIA keeps a register of identified heritage sites; a register of agreed heritage plans; and a register of who must report against these plans and when. DIA has identified that there are more than 7 000 mining tenements which have heritage sites. About 800 tenements have Section 18 requirements.

We found that DIA has only undertaken inspections of heritage sites when responding to complaints it received, but has taken no enforcement action when it has found non-compliance.

Because DIA has not been actively monitoring compliance with Aboriginal heritage conditions, it does not know the actual incidence of breaches of those conditions. In the last two years, it received 28 complaints related to the impact of mining on Aboriginal heritage. Of these, 21 are either still being investigated or awaiting investigation. Three have been closed with no further action taken and one referred to the State Administrative Tribunal. Three could not be investigated because they were more than 12 months old. The complaints involved alleged removal of rock art, mining within a significant site, building infrastructure on a significant site and failing to appropriately liaise with traditional owners.

DIA did not review all compliance reports required from mine operators in a timely manner. Nor did it effectively follow up those who had not provided reports. Most reports were received late or not at all.

For instance, in 2009 the Minister approved (under Section 18 of the AH Act) 114 applications to develop land on which an Aboriginal heritage site existed. 

The proponents of 62 of these applications were required to report to DIA on progress and heritage issues but only 28 (45 per cent) have done so. This low level of reporting and the fact that DIA does not review all the reports it receives, reduces DIA’s understanding of the levels of operator compliance with conditions. Financial returns are well managed, but some economic and social returns are not well monitored and enforced.

We also noted that DIA has not been inclined to take action on non-compliance with heritage conditions and that its legal capacity was somewhat restricted:

DIA has consistently failed to follow up when operators have not submitted progress reports or taken voluntary corrective action when a Section 18 condition has been breached. Non-compliance with conditions could for example be an operator’s failure to erect suitable fences to protect a heritage site or, actual damage to a site.

DIA cannot pursue matters more than 12 months after they have occurred. Three cases in the last two years could not be acted on as a result of this limitation.

DIA can only take formal action through the courts. It does not have authority to issue fines. However, it has the power to issue warnings and directions, but has never used these powers.

Doubt cast over Aboriginal Heritage Act shake-up - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Doubt cast over Aboriginal Heritage Act shake-up - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation):
Posted April 27, 2012
There have been accusations that the Western Australian Government's overhaul of the Aboriginal Heritage Act panders to the mining sector by making it easier for companies to disrupt sacred sites.

The WA Aboriginal Heritage Act Review – 

What we understand is happening

·       In May 2011 Dr John Avery was appointed to undertake a review of the WA Aboriginal Heritage Act 1972.  Dr Avery was engaged for a period of 12 months which will terminate in approximately 6 weeks.

·     The Minister for Indigenous Affairs, Peter Collier at the time indicated that Dr Avery would produce a discussion paper on any proposed legislative or administrative changes and that stakeholders and interested parties (including Aboriginal people, archaeologists and heritage professionals) would be provided with ample time to make submissions.

·        To date, no such discussion paper has been produced and no period of public review or comment has been provided.  To date, the work of Dr Avery has been conducted under a veil of secrecy, to the extent that the Heritage and Culture Division of the Department of Indigenous Affairs has been kept in the dark about administrative changes.

·        Despite the lack of consultation to date and the obscurantist responses to questions in parliament, we have managed to glean the following facts and believe this accurately characterises the current state of affairs.  From this we can surmise the intent of the review process.

·        On 10 February 2011 the Department of Indigenous Affairs (DIA) and DPC issued the “Cultural Heritage Due Diligence Guidelines”.  It is known, however, that these were in existence as early as August 2011, at which time relevant changes were also made to the DIA website without anyone being informed.

·         The steps set out in Part 2 of the guidelines are totally inadequate to achieve the rather ingenuously stated purpose of protecting and preserving Aboriginal cultural heritage and assisting land users in complying with their statutory obligations under the Heritage Act.

·        In a nut-shell, the purpose of these guidelines is, in the majority of cases, simply to assist land users to justify, to and for themselves, proceeding with their project or development proposal without the need for heritage avoidance or management strategies.

·        A secondary purpose of the guidelines is to assist in developing a valid section 62 defence under the Act, in the event that a site is damaged or destroyed by a proponent. 

·        The guidelines are also deeply disrespectful of the rights and interests of Aboriginal persons and groups and totally ignore the role of Aboriginal Representative Bodies in the management of heritage issues and the negotiation of heritage agreements on behalf of native title claimants and Traditional Owners.

·        The guidelines also state that the conduct of an Aboriginal heritage survey is only necessary where ground disturbance will disturb an Aboriginal site.  This presupposes that surveys are only required where an Aboriginal site is already known to be present.

·        In effect the guidelines do not recommend or explain any processes designed to establish whether there are any as yet unidentified Aboriginal heritage sites on the land.

·        Coupled with the issuing of the due diligence guidelines to industry, it is known that staff in the Heritage and Culture division of the DIA have been issued with an internal set of procedures, referred to as the “Registrar’s Guidelines”.

·        The DIA are being required to implement the policies outlined in the “Registrar’s Guidelines” which principally concern a strict application of the definitions of ‘Aboriginal site’ and ‘Aboriginal object’ under sections 5 and 6 of the Act.  Such an application will effectively result in greater that 90% of all Aboriginal heritage sites in this State being disqualified from legal protection under the Act.

·        It is understood that the Register of Aboriginal sites, which currently contains records of approximately 30,000 Aboriginal places and sites, will be reviewed in accordance with the Registrars Guidelines.  Based on the new narrower interpretation of section 5, up to 90% of sites will again no longer be qualified for legal protection under the Act and will be taken off the register.  At the current time, we are aware of at least one site (the Lake Yindarlgooda, Mammu Tjukurrpa – formerly registered site 30602) having already been de-registered.

·        The state government has a commitment to the Burra Charter for the protection of heritage places, though both the government and Dr Avery is clearly ignoring this commitment in their review.

·        Both sets of ‘guidelines’ discussed above appear in fact to be constructed to assist developers to avoid their statutory obligations by devaluing Aboriginal heritage.  It should be noted that the indigenous people of the Pilbara are already extremely socially disadvantaged despite living in the richest province in the state.  Should Dr Avery’s changes be allowed to go ahead unchallenged, he will, with the stroke of a pen, effectively devalue their heritage such that developers will be able to destroy what remains of their past without any legal impediment.

·        This will be the final dispossession of Aboriginal people and will represent yet another black mark on Australia’s already disgraceful human rights record.  The fact that the indigenous population is being dispossessed of its unique history and culture in a clandestine and surreptitious manner is the most heinous aspect of this State Government ‘initiative’.

·        I would urge every responsible citizen to demand that the review process be conducted in an open and transparent manner and that full disclosure of the nature, purpose, intent and content of the review be provided immediately so that this government’s shameful devaluing and bartering of our State’s heritage can be exposed to the full and comprehensive public consultation process that was promised last year by the Minister, Peter Collier.

Woodside Has All The Rights Of People And No Responsibilities At James Price Point

What Broome is facing is the emergence of a new organizational form; the transnational corporation, larger and more powerful than most national governments, controlled by autocratic central authorities, and able to function largely beyond the reach of legal and public accountability. These corporations have all the human rights of people but no responsibilities. They do not answer to the people or can be held accountable by the law because justice is served according to what you can afford. 

So with much personal angst, I have begun to believe that the innocent and concerned residents of Broome are currently being herded down the path to a Police State, being transformed from someone who is concerned for their children’s future into wanted criminals overnight. I no longer wonder whether if there is some grand plan, I know that their master puppeteers are poised and positioning to start to pull our strings again.  

In the past few decades the extent of transnational corporations’ vast financial power has eclipsed that of our elected leaders at an alarming rate. What Broome is currently bearing witness to is the rise of corporate power, regardless of people’s wishes because all governments are susceptible to bribery, manipulation and corruption? With the current WA state government the distinction between incompetence and dishonesty is blurred.

Regardless of their political persuasion our local, state and federal governments are becoming increasingly impotent, unwilling, or unable to intervene on behalf of people or the environment and seemingly have lost any sense of moral purpose. It is hardly surprising that the electorate is no longer hoodwinked into believing that process will deliver a fair,   just or considered outcomes, that mitigation and management are not possible because extermination is forever.

In a country, like Australia that proclaims democracy as one of our greatest achievements why then does it feel like our democracy is actually owned by corporate interests. We live in the era of the ascendancy of the corporation. Endowed with the rights of man and none of the responsibilities, they have proved corrosive to human values, health and community spirit. Only when we have the courage to look at the truth about these defective manufactures, can we try to bring ethics back into this sphere of life, back into this debate.

Unlike governments that are bound by borders, corporations can operate in almost any country, and can therefore choose how they want to divide the our shared earth’s resources and allocate locations for all the production facilities. This in turn gives them all the power to toy with one government over another the same way as Woodside has toyed with our community as a means of achieving favorable economic conditions, all on their terms, and all for themselves.

Over the last four years Broome community has observed how all three tiers of government have allowed corporate interests to take precedence over our community, the environment and our iconic multicultural and tolerant town and over real fair balanced economic and common sense. 

The reality is that Woodside like all other simpler corporations are not inherently moral, and therefore profit is the main goal of their business furthering diminishing the focus on doing the right thing. 

The global economy has become like a malignant cancer, advancing the colonisation of the planet's living spaces for the benefit of powerful corporations and financial institutions, turning them into  instruments of tyranny that are focused on totalitarianism. 

Broome will continue to retain its resistance to Woodside and their government puppet bullying and has reclaimed its power to localise its own economies while globalizing its community consciousness.

Kids Art and Writing Competition April 2012 Broome

The Theme of the Competition was

My Vision of the Future for Broome

Hands off country

My vision of the future for Broome .. by Billie McInerney (16 years old)

Recently, Hands Off Country conducted a children’s writing and drawing competition based on their visions for the future of Broome, following is one of the many entries received. Old times. I’d left to Perth; I was studying in uni down there. Working to live .. with no beautiful beach to slug on and no warm clear waters to indulge in, I was surely losing my mind. Every day was a haze of stress and people, unfamiliar people. The air was crowded with things that did not belong, dangerous things. People’s faces were crippled with the weight of sky scrapers and endless stacks of paperwork. Happiness was a foreign term, and relaxation was even more foreign. For these reasons I needed to escape. I needed freedom. I needed life. So I came back to Broome. I remembered Broome as a place where life wasn’t a race. Life was clean air, white beach strips, and mountainous sand dunes, red dirt that forced you to wear daggy clothes or the howling waves that drove you to shore. It was fishing for blue bone and wearing pearls, not knowing what time or even what day of the week it was, it was bushland that never ended, cuckoo birds. Broome was culture and community. Broome was freedom. Broome was my home. Although when I returned I wasn’t in Broome anymore. The air smelt familiar. Like the air in the city. Unfamiliar faces travelled by me. Familiar faces were worried and bleached. White construction cars flooded the streets. Houses and high buildings rose from what was endless bushland. Was I home? I decided to travel outwards, in the hope to find something familiar. An old camping spot perhaps. I found something. Something beyond what I knew. Trucks the size of houses. Machinery, pipes, scrap-metal. Smoke swallowed the sky while rubble choked the earth. Remnants of pindan cliffs lay flat, centuries old rock now demolished. Once white and red sand, now tons of concrete. Aqua blue water now grey with life perishing beneath its surface. The smell was chemicals, Sour and suffocating. The loud noise from machinery and trucks was deafening. A jetty stretched beyond the horizon devouring the ocean. It seemed a distortion of reality. It was a corruption, a thief. Country was no longer country, no longer wild and thriving, it was barren. Lost. Broome had been my place. A place to come back to and forget the stresses of my life. Broome was innocent and beautiful. Now it was Karratha.

Woodside lifts revenue and flags Pluto debut | The Australian

Woodside lifts revenue and flags Pluto debut | The Australian:
Quarterly production was down 10 per cent to 14.1 million barrels of oil equivalent from 15.6 million after tropical cyclone activity in Western Australia shut projects including the North West Shelf LNG terminal.

The tracks of cyclones affecting inland Pilbara are similar to those affecting coastal communities of Broome, Port Hedland, Karratha/Dampier, and Onslow. These cyclones typically form over warm ocean waters to the north of the state and intensify before crossing the coast, by which stage they are moving in a general southerly track.

Pluto was most recently scheduled to ship its first LNG cargo last month, so investors were relieved Woodside maintained its 2012 production guidance of 56 million to 60 million barrels of oil equivalent, and another 17 million to 21 million BOE from Pluto. "The operations team is well into the start-up sequence with first LNG anticipated in the coming days," Woodside said. "LNG vessels are being readied to arrive at Dampier."

Gasbag April 2012

Please help us and the Kimberley: 1. We urgently need you to cut and paste and send the below message to PM Gillard that Woodside's Kimberley plans are indigestible. To send her your email go to: http://www.pm.gov.au/contact-your-pm http://www.pm.gov.au/contact-your-pm 2. Join us outside Woodside HQ (cnr St Georges and Milligan) from 5.30-6.30pm on Thursday for a $5.50 per head alternative dinner for the PM - "Less income but better company!" Come dressed as guest to the Mad Hatter's Tea Party and you don't have to pay at all! Thank you! The Kimberley team.

Brown resigns as Greens leader - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Brown resigns as Greens leader - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation): Brown resigns as Greens leader

Updated April 13, 2012 13:33:32

Bob Brown says he has been mulling over his decision to quit as Greens leader since the election, but says he will remain 'green forever'.

Brown's protests and causes in his trailblazing career - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Brown's protests and causes in his trailblazing career - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation):
After 16 years at the helm of the party he founded, Bob Brown has retired as Greens leader and will stand down as a senator in June.

His resignation ends a trailblazing career in federal politics which saw him become Australia's first openly gay member of Parliament.

Since his early career as a doctor, Senator Brown adopted left-leaning causes and was passionate about the environment and human rights.

WA Premier rejects Browse Gas fears | social impacts | women

WA Premier rejects Browse Gas fears | social impacts | women:

 An independent report warning of adverse social impacts to women in Aboriginal communities if the controversial Browse LNG is developed at James Price Point, has been rejected by West Australian Premier Colin Barnett.

Doubts grow over $40bn Woodside project at James Price Point

Matt Chambers The Australian April 11, 2012

MORE doubts have emerged about the planned $40 billion Browse LNG project near Broome after the federal and West Australian governments agreed to give Woodside Petroleum another year to make a decision on going ahead. The move is being seen as acknowledgment a stand-alone project at James Price Point, north of Broome, is more unlikely amid growing community opposition, rising costs and the emergence of cheaper North American gas exports as a US shale-gas glut depresses domestic US gas prices.

Attack on environmental laws unsustainable | Bob Brown

Attack on environmental laws unsustainable | Bob Brown:  Australia's environmental laws are weak and inadequately policed now.

http://bob-brown.greensmps.org.au/sites/default/files/20120412_002bbepbc.mp3 Let's streamline environmental laws by making them tougher and more protective of the natural values of this nation,...
Senator Bob Brown