The government of Australia’s Northern Territory has dreamed of transforming its idyllic rural towns into a bustling industrial hub. The town of Broom, for instance, can be transformed into a dazzling district or an emerging “Dubai” while West Kimberley can become the next “Pilbara”.
Australian Environment Minister Tony Burke visits Broom to have a dialogue with the community on the gas project. Photo: The Australian
With the support of the West Australian Government, The Kimberley Land Council (KLC) approved the Woodside Petroleum’s $35 billion James Price Point gas hub—60 km north of Broom. The KLC expects the deal to return $1.5 billion in benefits to the region’s indigenous communities over 30 years. The KLC also sees the project boost tourism and other economic activities.
However, masterminds of this developmental plan did not realise that communities of indigenous and indigenous people would rise up to oppose this ‘developmental aggression’. In Broom alone, traditional owners, along with conservationists, have staged protests near the site saying the gas project will destroy their environment and cultural heritage.
Police busted protest riots and road blockades to allow Woodside Petroleum contractors to get in and cleared vegetation so geotechnical studies could be undertaken for the proposed hub. But a much larger protest group have defied police and held up a contractors’ convoy of trucks, bulldozers and front-end loaders from getting through to clear land for geotechnical studies for the project.
The Wilderness Society has vowed to launch a national campaign to encourage more opposition from the local community. News Limited has reported that the Society will target potential financiers of the gas hub plan that WA Premier Colin Barnett has said he hopes will transform Broome into the next Dubai.
The Society’s national campaign director, Lyndon Schneiders, also said “James Price Point was the largest single industrial development project in Australian history, with profound social effects on Broome and the local community,” according to the Australian newspaper that quoted him as saying.
Mr Schneiders feared that this project can set precedent for further industrialisation.
In order to appease the community, the KLC has vowed to push for the listing of Kimberley as a national heritage site. Board co-chairman, Tom Birch, has urged the state government for its enlistment. This step is hoped to provide an “extra layer of protection to ensure development in the Kimberley met the highest standards”.
Birch is, however, clear that the national heritage listing will not stop the gas exploration, but it will ensure “that any development is done sensitively and to the highest possible environmental and cultural heritage standards.”
Federal Environment Minister Tony Burke visited Broome last week and confirmed he would meet an August 31 deadline to make a decision on heritage listing for the west Kimberley.
