Traditional owners, conservationists slam heritage laws as Fed Govt steps in over Perdaman project

Aboriginal traditional owners and conservationists say the Federal Government’s decision to intervene in the proposed $4.3 billion Perdaman urea project on the Burrup Peninsula highlights the ineffectiveness of the cultural heritage approvals process. Environment Minister Sussan Ley’s department has issued a non-binding request to Perdaman to cease work while it considered concerns from traditional custodians about the damage to the World Heritage-nominated Aboriginal rock arts and other culturally sensitive sites. There are about one million petroglyphs across an area of 37,000ha on the Burrup Peninsula which represent one of the densest and most diverse collections of 40,000-year-old rock art in the world. Traditional owners of the Murujuga had written to Ms Ley in February, requesting the use of emergency protection of the rock art on the site of the Perdaman plant. Marduthenera custodian Raelene Cooper said the requested pause on the plant was long overdue. “This should be an opportunity for all the politicians to think again and ask themselves how this situation got so out of hand,” she said. “How was this plant allowed to get to this stage when they knew the destruction it would bring to Ngurra, to our rock art, to our sacred places?” “The same mistakes and problems which led to the destruction at Juukan Gorge are happening again, here. “The Government made promises that something like that would never be allowed to happen again — they need to put those promises into action.” Ms Cooper also questioned the Northern Australian Infrastructure Facility funding announced in February. “That money could be so much better spent to help people across the country,” she said. “Rather than supporting these projects, the government should be using its money to address climate change. “We have seen what is happening with the flooding — Mother Earth is speaking.” Conservation Council of WA chief executive Maggie Wood claimed cultural heritage laws were unfit for purpose. “The very fact that it took an application of this kind from traditional owners to make our governments sit up and pay attention to the destruction of globally significant heritage shows that our cultural heritage laws are broken,” she said. “There needs to be a complete reset of relations between heavy industry and the First Nations community in our North West. “Too often, what passes for community consultation is really a very superficial exercise when what is really needed is genuine, open dialogue with the people for whom these sites are of the upmost cultural importance.” Perdaman was granted approval by the Environmental Protection Authority last September subject to a series of conditions including air emissions having no impact on the weathering of rock art within Murujuga beyond natural rates and for Perdaman to provide a revised greenhouse gas management plan.