Dorinda Cox (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise tonight to speak on the Woodside Scarborough Pluto gas project, which will now be the most polluting fossil fuel project in Australia. Eight few hours ago it was announced that the Scarborough gas project was given the final tick of approval. This is in fact a devastating day for our climate, our planet and our future.

The total pollution from Scarborough's Pluto project will be equal to 15 coal-fired power stations every year and it will be worse than Adani. Over the last few years, modelling has shown that WA is the only state where emissions are rising. It's no coincidence that WA is the only state with a massive exemption for its gas industry. The Morrison government's so-called commitment to net zero is impossible, given the gas projects which are being approved.

I was horrified to learn that the approvals for the Scarborough project were provided by both the state and Commonwealth governments without assessing the damage greater emissions will cause to First Nation's cultural heritage, including the precious Murujuga rock art. The petroglyphs of Murujuga on the Burrup Peninsula are a globally significant First Nations heritage site, currently nominated for World Heritage listing. This rock art depicts animals long extinct and the first-ever recorded human face. Hundreds of rock carvings are already being destroyed by the industrial pollution and nitrogen oxides which, when the dry particles mix with rain, actually turn acidic. Many other rocks were removed to make way for the Scarborough Pluto facility under the historical section 18 approvals, which have not been reassessed since 2007.

The remaining rock art is under significant threat from Woodside's acidic gas emissions. Thousands of tonnes of highly acidic gases are released each year from the gas-producing facility. Peer reviewed studies show that this atmospheric pollution has increased the level of acidity on the surface of the petroglyphs by a thousandfold. This acid is slowly eating away at the natural varnish on the surface of the rocks that have been protecting these carvings for millennia. This is leading to the irreversible damage of the petroglyphs. The Scarborough Pluto project will only make things worse by adding more acid gas into the atmosphere around the Burrup Peninsula.

When the Pluto facility was first built, Woodside was granted a section 18 permit which authorised the destruction or removal of over 100 First Nations cultural heritage sites and many more individual rock carvings. These approvals have not been updated since they were originally granted in 2007, despite new evidence emerging about the acid damaging the rock art. So where is Woodside's so-called social licence now?

I was deeply concerned to learn about the impact that the Scarborough gas project will also have on the marine environment. Seismic testing, drilling and offshore gas-producing operations will affect marine fauna, including whales, turtles and other marine species. Woodside is also planning to undertake dredging and dumping operations in the Dampier Archipelago, which is the richest area of marine biodiversity in WA. That's not to mention the impact of the increased noise and pollution on our marine life, coral reefs, seagrass and fish.

Despite these significant risks to cultural heritage and the ecosystem, the WA Environmental Protection Authority approved Scarborough Pluto, with no assessment of its environmental impacts. Emissions from the Pluto facility will be equal to around five per cent of WA's current total emissions every single year. But there has been no assessment of carbon pollution and this is compounded by the fact that almost every environmental approval required for this project remains outstanding subject to unresolved legal challenges, requires updating or is behind schedule. How is Woodside getting away with half-baked approvals? I'm certain that this has something to do with the donations that Woodside makes to the major parties—donations with are timed to coincide with the significant government decisions on the company's gas projects. It is not acceptable for any government to allow Australia's most polluting fossil fuel project to proceed without a full public environmental impact assessment.

Woodside has demonstrated time and time again that it does not take climate change seriously. The fact that they now have approval for the Scarborough Pluto project, which will result in the release of over 1.69 billion tonnes of additional direct and indirect carbon, tells you everything you need to know about their climate goals, and they cannot be trusted.

Woodside has a risk management strategy that amounts to a campaign of greenwashing, withholding information, regulatory capture and advocacy against action on climate change by state and Commonwealth governments. It cannot support the goals of the Paris Agreement and give the green light to the Scarborough project, which is massively increasing our emissions in WA. The science is clear: we cannot allow any new gas fields to proceed if we are going to have a chance at keeping warming below 1.5 degrees.

Woodside's chief executive, Meg O'Neill, today claimed that developing Scarborough delivers value for money for Woodside shareholders and significant long-term benefits locally and nationally. Ms O'Neill, how can this project represent value for shareholders when our major export partners such as China, South Korea and Japan have committed to net zero by 2050? The International Energy Agency has found that the global demand for LNG will fall dramatically over the coming decades. If Australia continues to rely on a fossil-fuel-heavy export economy which includes gas, it will leave the government, fossil fuel companies and its financial backers with significant risk of stranded assets. Today's final investment decision for Scarborough will lock Woodside into a high-pollution model that will not be profitable in a low-carbon global economy. This will keep WA in the dark ages.

First Nations people have been caring for country for 65,000 years. Successive governments have damaged cultural heritage in favour of big corporations like Woodside, and I am devastated at the thought that this climate bomb is going off in my home state of Western Australia. We are witnessing the destruction of country at the hands of Woodside, which is enabled by the WA Labor government.