WA government braces for testing time from Greens after call to extend North West Shelf

Australia Broadcast Center

2 days ago

WA Premier Roger Cook got his wish this week.
Woodside's North West Shelf gas project can continue operating off the Pilbara coast until 2070, and he can finally get industry off his back.
But don't ask him about the impact on climate.
Mr Cook was waiting with bated breath for the outcome of the decision from Federal Environment Minister Murray Watt, who approved the project's extension.
But green groups are not buying the reasoning for his support of the project — a bold claim about WA's gas.
"Our gas is about providing the opportunity for the globe to decarbonise," Mr Cook said on Thursday.
And it's something they're going to take him to task on.
Mr Watt said he considered the potential impacts extending the life of the plant would have on the national heritage values of nearby rock art and the economic matters, but the act which governs environmental approvals does not include provisions to consider the climate change impact of a project.
Which might explain why conversations regarding the climate have largely been pushed under the rug.
The premier chose to focus more on jobs and the economy, dodging questions about the impact of emissions.
"This saves literally thousands of jobs in Western Australia … and secures the future for Karratha," Mr Cook told reporters.
Federal and state Labor agree gas is important and will play a large role in the energy transition.
"In order to get that investment in renewables, you do need firming capacity, whether it be batteries, hydro or gas. And that is what will encourage that investment and the transition to occur," Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Thursday.
Deputy Premier Rita Saffioti echoed a very similar sentiment on Friday.
"This is all about making sure we get the balance right and making sure ... we also have the resources to continue to deliver affordable and reliable energy as we go through the transition," she said.
But green groups reject those lines entirely.
Greenpeace Australia Pacific's Geoff Bice thinks Mr Watt's decision could have provided a "step in earnest" away from fossil fuels — not towards.
"At the end of the day, there's a competition on for the role of energy being between renewable energy and polluting fossil fuels," he said.
"The decision to extend the life of the North West Shelf only makes that transition harder and pushes it out further both for our domestic economy and the regional economy."
Protest after protest has posed the same question about Australia's role in bringing down global emissions — is the government beholden to gas giants?
Or, as more informally put by federal Tasmanian Greens Senator Peter Whish-Wilson — do we have "a government that is in bed with big fossil fuel companies"?
WA Mines Minister David Michael was asked on Thursday if both state and federal Labor are prioritising gas over traditional owners' cultural sites — namely nearby ancient Aboriginal rock art on the Burrup Peninsula (Murujuga) near Karratha, which traditional owners say will be "stripped" from them with this extension.
"We're prioritising making sure we have gas in our system in WA to keep the lights on and to support industry," he said.
The WA government might be supporting industry but it won't be able to dodge questions about climate — and the impact on traditional owners — much longer.
Especially now with not one, but four upper house Greens MPs champing at the bit to hold it to account.
New Greens MLC Jess Beckerling used Question Time this week to point out discrepancies in the executive summary of the Rock Art Monitoring Report released last Friday by the government — which studied the impacts of industrial air emissions on those ancient rock carvings at Murujuga.
Referring to a line missing in a graph contained in the report, University of Western Australia professor of archaeology Benjamin Smith claimed the government "doctored" it.
WA Environment Minister Matthew Swinbourn said the "graph in the summary document was simplified", but the pressure from the Greens is likely not done yet.
And the headaches didn't stop there for the government.
In some awkward timing, an interim UNESCO report released on Tuesday knocked back the Murujuga Cultural Landscape to the World Heritage list, citing concerns about emissions degrading the Aboriginal carvings.
The draft decision called on the government to "ensure the total removal of degrading acidic emissions" — which might be a little hard to do now, until after 2070.
"It is disappointing that the draft decision is heavily influenced by claims made in the media and correspondence from non-government organisations, rather than scientific and other expert evidence," Mr Watt said in a statement.
Gas might be a balancing act for the federal and state governments, but one thing is certain — concerns about the climate are mounting and the pressure won't be letting up any time soon.
So it best be prepared to answer tough questions.