Editors --- "Burrup Peninsula - Approval for Woodside 'Site B' Development and Heritage Listing - Digest" [2007] AUIndigLawRw 25; (2007) 11(1) Australian Indigenous Law Review 134

• Burrup Peninsula- Approval for Woodside ‘Site B’ Development, and Heritage Listing

Burrup Peninsula- Approval for Woodside ‘Site B’ Development, and Heritage Listing

Approval for Site B Development made 27 February 2007

Michelle Roberts, Western Australian Minister for Indigenous Affairs

Announcement of Heritage Listing made 17 April 2007

Malcolm Turnbull, Federal Heritage Minister

On 27 February 2007 the Western Australian Minister for Indigenous Affairs, Michelle Roberts, gave Woodside Energy approval to develop a second parcel of land (‘Site B’) for its $10 billion Pluto gas processing plant, located on the Burrup Peninsula. The approval came despite calls for the project to be moved to protect close to three thousand pieces of ancient Aboriginal rock art dating back as far as 10 000 - 20 000 years. Nonetheless, Roberts said the approval would be subject to stringent conditions to protect Aboriginal sites of high significance and the relocation of any material, including rock art, would be done in consultation with the land’s traditional owners. Woodside has promised that its plans will not disturb 95 percent of the area’s rock art and says that about 160 rock art items are being removed on site A with authorisation from the state government’s Aboriginal Cultural Materials Committee.

The approval was made on the basis it that serves the interests of State and the nation by generating $17.5 billion. Furthermore, Roberts stated that there are no economically viable alternative sites for the project other that Site B. Work on the project began early last month after Woodside committed $1.4 billion to clear the first of two sites on which engraved images of faces, animals and symbols are scattered across the landscape.

On 17 April 2007, Federal Heritage Minister Malcolm Turnbull announced that the Burrup Penninsula would be registered as a national heritage site by the middle of the year. While the listing would ensure that most of the Archipelago’s rock art would be protected from future industrial development, Woodside has already moved 42 carvings from its development site, with estimates suggesting that it will continue to move between 100 and 200 further rock carvings before the listing takes effect.

Michelle Robert’s statement of approval for Woodside ‘Site B’ can be accessed in full at the Burrup Pennisula website:

<http://www.burrup.org.au/Resources_and_Links.html> .