Christine Milne (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the answer given by the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy (Senator Conroy) to a question without notice asked by Senator Milne today relating to a proposed gas hub at James Price Point, Western Australia.

It is ironic that today, as protesters scaled the James Price Point gas rigs in protest about what is going on over there, Woodside should put out a statement saying that people should express their views in a peaceful and lawful manner. This comes on top of revelations over the weekend that Woodside pressured the Western Australian government to withdraw advice that had been made to Woodside about Woodside breaching Aboriginal heritage law—which would in fact see the directors of Woodside liable if that breach was demonstrated. Woodside is asking the protestors to protest in a peaceful and lawful manner; that is exactly what they are doing. But it would seem Woodside has some serious questions to answer, as does the Barnett government in Western Australia. What exactly is the relationship between Woodside, Colin Barnett and the Western Australian government in relation to the Browse Basin project being put forward by Woodside?

It is already evident in the assessment that was done by the Environmental Protection Authority over there that four of the five board members had to recuse themselves from the assessment because they had a conflict of interest, even though three of those five participated for something like 44 out of the 48 months this whole project was being assessed. They were there with a conflict of interest. That in itself is an appalling revelation. Now we discover that the one person who ticked off the project, the director, indicated in the report that there were issues that needed to be dealt with and addressed—including the marine and landscape impacts, greenhouse gases, heritage concerns and groundwater—and then failed to address them.

The point here is that the minister, Mr Burke, has had a request on his desk for more than a year now to immediately move for a declaration under sections 9 and 10 of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act to protect the area from desecration which is clearly going on. Woodside knows full well that these areas have significant Aboriginal heritage and yet has sought the Western Australian government's complicit engagement in withdrawing that particular correspondence. In any other set of circumstances, we would be calling for an inquiry to look at what level of corruption has been engaged in here—and yet we have the minister, Mr Burke, sitting on his hands and doing nothing as we see Woodside moving in to desecrate the area of James Price Point knowing full well that there are significant Aboriginal heritage sites there. How is that possible? Is it because we have a federal government that is trying to facilitate Woodside and the Western Australian government and turn a blind eye to the Aboriginal heritage that is there for everyone to recognise at James Price Point? It is time for a serious assessment of the relationship between the players and what has been going on. As Geoffrey Cousins has said:

This is a form of corruption where the government of the day is prepared on behalf of a preferred company to conceal information on an issue of public debate.

Now we have the EPA making its assessment for the Commonwealth government, and the Commonwealth government will rely on the EPA assessment to make a judgement about those impacts. We already have an understanding that four out of the five board members had to recuse themselves and it was ticked off by one person; now we find that the Western Australian government agreed to withdraw important information—information which, if it had been left there, would expose the directors of Woodside to jail under the act. That is how serious this matter is.

The whole thing shows there is a big stench of corruption coming out of the assessment of the Woodside proposal at James Price Point. The coalition of joint venture partners of Woodside must be increasingly worried about the stench that will attach to them as they continue to be associated with the project when virtually none of them wanted to be at James Price Point. They would be happy for it to be moved; but no, it is Woodside and the Barnett government that are insisting on opening up the Kimberley. Even the assessment on the whales is extremely misleading. This has to be dealt with.

Question agreed to.