Latest news with #Curtin
The Advertiser
3 days ago
- Science
- The Advertiser
Fears for heritage site as gas plant expansion approved
Industrial pollution is damaging priceless rock art, an expert says amid protests over a decision to extend the life of a major gas hub. Woodside's North West Shelf project - which hosts Australia's biggest gas export plant - has been given the green light by the federal government to keep operating until 2070. The Australian energy giant still has to accept conditions around heritage and air quality at the project on Western Australia's Burrup Peninsula, home to ancient rock art, before the approval is made official. The approval has angered traditional owners, climate activists and scientists who have researched the impact of industrial pollution on the rock art at Murujuga. A report into pollution at the site, linked to a $27 million rock art monitoring project, was only released by the WA government a week before federal Environment Minister Murray Watt announced the approval. Benjamin Smith, an archaeologist at the University of Western Australia, said the executive summary did not reflect the key findings of the 800-page report by Curtin University scientists who he claimed were gagged from speaking publicly about it. "They were outraged that their report and the integrity of their academic findings had been misrepresented." Professor Smith told AAP the Curtin scientists felt the summary had "lied about their findings" so he was speaking out about a cover-up by departmental "spin doctors". The Cook government has dismissed the claims as offensive and factually incorrect. The Curtin scientists subjected rocks in a climate chamber to acidic pollution equivalent to emissions from the Burrup gas plants and found all the rocks showed evidence of degradation. Prof Smith said the Curtin research and his own studies showed the pollutants would eat away at the manganese in the rocks until they developed "holes like a Swiss cheese" that then caused the rock surfaces to break down. "It is direct evidence for the first time from a government study that industrial pollution is damaging the rock art of Murujuga," he said. The damage could be mitigated by putting scrubbers on the industrial stacks to filter emissions and reduce pollution but the best solution was to switch the plants' power from gas to electricity, Prof Smith said. "If you transformed all of those plants to electricity ... they could operate cleanly and we could have the perfect solution, which is profitable industry operating responsibly alongside the world's most important rock art site." Prof Smith said the famous Lascaux caves in France held only a few hundred wall paintings and dated back 17,000 years. But the rock art at Murujuga has a million images going back at least 50,000 years, including the world's first-known depiction of a human face and images of now-extinct animals. Murujuga has been put forward as a UNESCO world heritage site, with strong indications it will be accepted as such. But the application has been referred back to the federal and WA governments with recommendations to stop building on the site, to stop the pollution and to prepare a decommissioning report. Industrial pollution is damaging priceless rock art, an expert says amid protests over a decision to extend the life of a major gas hub. Woodside's North West Shelf project - which hosts Australia's biggest gas export plant - has been given the green light by the federal government to keep operating until 2070. The Australian energy giant still has to accept conditions around heritage and air quality at the project on Western Australia's Burrup Peninsula, home to ancient rock art, before the approval is made official. The approval has angered traditional owners, climate activists and scientists who have researched the impact of industrial pollution on the rock art at Murujuga. A report into pollution at the site, linked to a $27 million rock art monitoring project, was only released by the WA government a week before federal Environment Minister Murray Watt announced the approval. Benjamin Smith, an archaeologist at the University of Western Australia, said the executive summary did not reflect the key findings of the 800-page report by Curtin University scientists who he claimed were gagged from speaking publicly about it. "They were outraged that their report and the integrity of their academic findings had been misrepresented." Professor Smith told AAP the Curtin scientists felt the summary had "lied about their findings" so he was speaking out about a cover-up by departmental "spin doctors". The Cook government has dismissed the claims as offensive and factually incorrect. The Curtin scientists subjected rocks in a climate chamber to acidic pollution equivalent to emissions from the Burrup gas plants and found all the rocks showed evidence of degradation. Prof Smith said the Curtin research and his own studies showed the pollutants would eat away at the manganese in the rocks until they developed "holes like a Swiss cheese" that then caused the rock surfaces to break down. "It is direct evidence for the first time from a government study that industrial pollution is damaging the rock art of Murujuga," he said. The damage could be mitigated by putting scrubbers on the industrial stacks to filter emissions and reduce pollution but the best solution was to switch the plants' power from gas to electricity, Prof Smith said. "If you transformed all of those plants to electricity ... they could operate cleanly and we could have the perfect solution, which is profitable industry operating responsibly alongside the world's most important rock art site." Prof Smith said the famous Lascaux caves in France held only a few hundred wall paintings and dated back 17,000 years. But the rock art at Murujuga has a million images going back at least 50,000 years, including the world's first-known depiction of a human face and images of now-extinct animals. Murujuga has been put forward as a UNESCO world heritage site, with strong indications it will be accepted as such. But the application has been referred back to the federal and WA governments with recommendations to stop building on the site, to stop the pollution and to prepare a decommissioning report. Industrial pollution is damaging priceless rock art, an expert says amid protests over a decision to extend the life of a major gas hub. Woodside's North West Shelf project - which hosts Australia's biggest gas export plant - has been given the green light by the federal government to keep operating until 2070. The Australian energy giant still has to accept conditions around heritage and air quality at the project on Western Australia's Burrup Peninsula, home to ancient rock art, before the approval is made official. The approval has angered traditional owners, climate activists and scientists who have researched the impact of industrial pollution on the rock art at Murujuga. A report into pollution at the site, linked to a $27 million rock art monitoring project, was only released by the WA government a week before federal Environment Minister Murray Watt announced the approval. Benjamin Smith, an archaeologist at the University of Western Australia, said the executive summary did not reflect the key findings of the 800-page report by Curtin University scientists who he claimed were gagged from speaking publicly about it. "They were outraged that their report and the integrity of their academic findings had been misrepresented." Professor Smith told AAP the Curtin scientists felt the summary had "lied about their findings" so he was speaking out about a cover-up by departmental "spin doctors". The Cook government has dismissed the claims as offensive and factually incorrect. The Curtin scientists subjected rocks in a climate chamber to acidic pollution equivalent to emissions from the Burrup gas plants and found all the rocks showed evidence of degradation. Prof Smith said the Curtin research and his own studies showed the pollutants would eat away at the manganese in the rocks until they developed "holes like a Swiss cheese" that then caused the rock surfaces to break down. "It is direct evidence for the first time from a government study that industrial pollution is damaging the rock art of Murujuga," he said. The damage could be mitigated by putting scrubbers on the industrial stacks to filter emissions and reduce pollution but the best solution was to switch the plants' power from gas to electricity, Prof Smith said. "If you transformed all of those plants to electricity ... they could operate cleanly and we could have the perfect solution, which is profitable industry operating responsibly alongside the world's most important rock art site." Prof Smith said the famous Lascaux caves in France held only a few hundred wall paintings and dated back 17,000 years. But the rock art at Murujuga has a million images going back at least 50,000 years, including the world's first-known depiction of a human face and images of now-extinct animals. Murujuga has been put forward as a UNESCO world heritage site, with strong indications it will be accepted as such. But the application has been referred back to the federal and WA governments with recommendations to stop building on the site, to stop the pollution and to prepare a decommissioning report. Industrial pollution is damaging priceless rock art, an expert says amid protests over a decision to extend the life of a major gas hub. Woodside's North West Shelf project - which hosts Australia's biggest gas export plant - has been given the green light by the federal government to keep operating until 2070. The Australian energy giant still has to accept conditions around heritage and air quality at the project on Western Australia's Burrup Peninsula, home to ancient rock art, before the approval is made official. The approval has angered traditional owners, climate activists and scientists who have researched the impact of industrial pollution on the rock art at Murujuga. A report into pollution at the site, linked to a $27 million rock art monitoring project, was only released by the WA government a week before federal Environment Minister Murray Watt announced the approval. Benjamin Smith, an archaeologist at the University of Western Australia, said the executive summary did not reflect the key findings of the 800-page report by Curtin University scientists who he claimed were gagged from speaking publicly about it. "They were outraged that their report and the integrity of their academic findings had been misrepresented." Professor Smith told AAP the Curtin scientists felt the summary had "lied about their findings" so he was speaking out about a cover-up by departmental "spin doctors". The Cook government has dismissed the claims as offensive and factually incorrect. The Curtin scientists subjected rocks in a climate chamber to acidic pollution equivalent to emissions from the Burrup gas plants and found all the rocks showed evidence of degradation. Prof Smith said the Curtin research and his own studies showed the pollutants would eat away at the manganese in the rocks until they developed "holes like a Swiss cheese" that then caused the rock surfaces to break down. "It is direct evidence for the first time from a government study that industrial pollution is damaging the rock art of Murujuga," he said. The damage could be mitigated by putting scrubbers on the industrial stacks to filter emissions and reduce pollution but the best solution was to switch the plants' power from gas to electricity, Prof Smith said. "If you transformed all of those plants to electricity ... they could operate cleanly and we could have the perfect solution, which is profitable industry operating responsibly alongside the world's most important rock art site." Prof Smith said the famous Lascaux caves in France held only a few hundred wall paintings and dated back 17,000 years. But the rock art at Murujuga has a million images going back at least 50,000 years, including the world's first-known depiction of a human face and images of now-extinct animals. Murujuga has been put forward as a UNESCO world heritage site, with strong indications it will be accepted as such. But the application has been referred back to the federal and WA governments with recommendations to stop building on the site, to stop the pollution and to prepare a decommissioning report.
West Australian
4 days ago
- Science
- West Australian
Fears for heritage site as gas plant expansion approved
Industrial pollution is damaging priceless rock art, an expert says amid protests over a decision to extend the life of a major gas hub. Woodside's North West Shelf project - which hosts Australia's biggest gas export plant - has been given the green light by the federal government to keep operating until 2070. The Australian energy giant still has to accept conditions around heritage and air quality at the project on Western Australia's Burrup Peninsula, home to ancient rock art, before the approval is made official. The approval has angered traditional owners, climate activists and scientists who have researched the impact of industrial pollution on the rock art at Murujuga. A report into pollution at the site, linked to a $27 million rock art monitoring project, was only released by the WA government a week before federal Environment Minister Murray Watt announced the approval. Benjamin Smith, an archaeologist at the University of Western Australia, said the executive summary did not reflect the key findings of the 800-page report by Curtin University scientists who he claimed were gagged from speaking publicly about it. "They were outraged that their report and the integrity of their academic findings had been misrepresented." Professor Smith told AAP the Curtin scientists felt the summary had "lied about their findings" so he was speaking out about a cover-up by departmental "spin doctors". The Cook government has dismissed the claims as offensive and factually incorrect. The Curtin scientists subjected rocks in a climate chamber to acidic pollution equivalent to emissions from the Burrup gas plants and found all the rocks showed evidence of degradation. Prof Smith said the Curtin research and his own studies showed the pollutants would eat away at the manganese in the rocks until they developed "holes like a Swiss cheese" that then caused the rock surfaces to break down. "It is direct evidence for the first time from a government study that industrial pollution is damaging the rock art of Murujuga," he said. The damage could be mitigated by putting scrubbers on the industrial stacks to filter emissions and reduce pollution but the best solution was to switch the plants' power from gas to electricity, Prof Smith said. "If you transformed all of those plants to electricity ... they could operate cleanly and we could have the perfect solution, which is profitable industry operating responsibly alongside the world's most important rock art site." Prof Smith said the famous Lascaux caves in France held only a few hundred wall paintings and dated back 17,000 years. But the rock art at Murujuga has a million images going back at least 50,000 years, including the world's first-known depiction of a human face and images of now-extinct animals. Murujuga has been put forward as a UNESCO world heritage site, with strong indications it will be accepted as such. But the application has been referred back to the federal and WA governments with recommendations to stop building on the site, to stop the pollution and to prepare a decommissioning report.
Canberra Times
4 days ago
- Science
- Canberra Times
Fears for heritage site as gas plant expansion approved
Prof Smith said the Curtin research and his own studies showed the pollutants would eat away at the manganese in the rocks until they developed "holes like a Swiss cheese" that then caused the rock surfaces to break down.
Perth Now
4 days ago
- Science
- Perth Now
Fears for heritage site as gas plant expansion approved
Industrial pollution is damaging priceless rock art, an expert says amid protests over a decision to extend the life of a major gas hub. Woodside's North West Shelf project - which hosts Australia's biggest gas export plant - has been given the green light by the federal government to keep operating until 2070. The Australian energy giant still has to accept conditions around heritage and air quality at the project on Western Australia's Burrup Peninsula, home to ancient rock art, before the approval is made official. The approval has angered traditional owners, climate activists and scientists who have researched the impact of industrial pollution on the rock art at Murujuga. A report into pollution at the site, linked to a $27 million rock art monitoring project, was only released by the WA government a week before federal Environment Minister Murray Watt announced the approval. Benjamin Smith, an archaeologist at the University of Western Australia, said the executive summary did not reflect the key findings of the 800-page report by Curtin University scientists who he claimed were gagged from speaking publicly about it. "They were outraged that their report and the integrity of their academic findings had been misrepresented." Professor Smith told AAP the Curtin scientists felt the summary had "lied about their findings" so he was speaking out about a cover-up by departmental "spin doctors". The Cook government has dismissed the claims as offensive and factually incorrect. The Curtin scientists subjected rocks in a climate chamber to acidic pollution equivalent to emissions from the Burrup gas plants and found all the rocks showed evidence of degradation. Prof Smith said the Curtin research and his own studies showed the pollutants would eat away at the manganese in the rocks until they developed "holes like a Swiss cheese" that then caused the rock surfaces to break down. "It is direct evidence for the first time from a government study that industrial pollution is damaging the rock art of Murujuga," he said. The damage could be mitigated by putting scrubbers on the industrial stacks to filter emissions and reduce pollution but the best solution was to switch the plants' power from gas to electricity, Prof Smith said. "If you transformed all of those plants to electricity ... they could operate cleanly and we could have the perfect solution, which is profitable industry operating responsibly alongside the world's most important rock art site." Prof Smith said the famous Lascaux caves in France held only a few hundred wall paintings and dated back 17,000 years. But the rock art at Murujuga has a million images going back at least 50,000 years, including the world's first-known depiction of a human face and images of now-extinct animals. Murujuga has been put forward as a UNESCO world heritage site, with strong indications it will be accepted as such. But the application has been referred back to the federal and WA governments with recommendations to stop building on the site, to stop the pollution and to prepare a decommissioning report.
Sydney Morning Herald
4 days ago
- Politics
- Sydney Morning Herald
‘Gotcha moments' and ‘digital lynch mobs': Political mastermind issues warning for democracy
Tracing a line back to 1937, a year he described as 'nothing if not momentous,' he drew historical parallels that landed squarely on the contradictions of today's turbocharged information age. From the days when political news travelled slowly, curated by newspaper editors and radio hosts, to a hyper-connected world where 'algorithms have become the new controller of what you see and hear,' Crosby, 68, warned the shift was now as cultural as it is technological. Crosby's pronouncements could be viewed cynically by some, given the controversial playbook from a man branded a 'master of the dark political arts' famously includes the deployment of the 'dead cat strategy' of distraction and 'wedge politics' – tactics that, his critics, precisely contribute to the polarisation he now decries. Yet, he said a time when Joseph Lyons and Neville Chamberlain pondered threats from Hitler offered a rhythm of deliberation that modern politics lacks. 'The slower pace of 1937 allowed for deeper contemplation and more substantive policy discussions,' he said. The deepest transformation, Crosby argued, has been how people now consume politics. Where once politicians barnstormed towns and addressed entire communities from train platforms, he said they now 'maintain visibility through tweets, Instagram posts, TikTok videos and streaming appearances.' In this environment, 'campaign strategies deploy sophisticated data analytics, microtargeting specific voter segments with tailored messages and 24/7 content creation.' 'Without the pressure of instant response, politicians could deploy nuanced positions and voters could digest information more thoroughly,' Crosby said. 'The shared information environment, whilst more narrow, created common ground for democratic discourse. Today's instant connectivity has made politicians more susceptible to immediate public reaction.' Crosby said perhaps no speech in the archives loomed larger than the one delivered by John Curtin in 1944 — a turning point in Australia's strategic history. He used Curtin's break with Britain to highlight how Australia had always needed to balance sentiment with strategy. And, he warned, that lesson remains just as relevant today — particularly in a world of shifting power and fraying alliances. Loading 'Curtin had famously turned to America, declaring that Australia looks to America free of any pangs,' Crosby said.'[He] would use this forum to articulate Australia's wartime partnership with Britain while asserting our growing independence,' he said. 'By then Australian forces were fighting in Europe, the Middle East and the Pacific. While the homeland itself had experienced enemy attack for the first time, the strategic balance had shifted dramatically.' And, in a callback to Sir Robert Menzies, who addressed the club 10 times between 1948 and 1965, Crosby concluded with a note of cautious optimism: 'The old world is passing away and a new one emerges. Our task is not to cling desperately to familiar shores, but to navigate with confidence the uncharted waters ahead.' Loading The challenge now, Crosby said, was finding a way to do so without being drowned in noise.
