00:00Well, in granting this extension, the Federal Environment Minister Murray Watt said that
00:07he has imposed strict conditions on Woodside for this project.
00:12He didn't go into too much detail, but we do know that it is in relation to the industrial
00:16emissions from that plant and specifically their impact on nearby Aboriginal rock engravings.
00:23So the peninsula in which the Karatha gas plant is home to is also home to about a million
00:28ancient Aboriginal engravings that are thought to be among the oldest in the world.
00:34So we know that for the last two years, the Western Australian government has been funding
00:39a monitoring program here in the northwest to study those rocks and to try and ascertain
00:46what, if any, impact industrial emissions from plants like the Karatha gas plant and other
00:51industry on the borough are having on those engravings.
00:55We know that the sort of broad aim of that program is to eventually develop a set of
01:00criteria.
01:01So a set of standards, which sets the minimum acceptable levels of pollution over the Borough
01:07Peninsula.
01:08So it seems to be that that program is what the Federal Minister is referring to in those
01:14conditions.
01:15Again, it's still very early days, and we'll wait to see if we get some more detail on the
01:20Federal Government.
01:21Now, of course, this is a big day for oil and gas giant Woodside.
01:25As you mentioned, this project has been grinding through the state and federal approvals process
01:30for more than six years now.
01:33So let's take a listen now to the head of Woodside, Meg O'Neill, reacting to today's decision.
01:39We have a very strong working relationship with the Muraduga Aboriginal Corporation.
01:44We've worked closely with traditional custodians for more than 40 years now.
01:48And whilst we haven't always gotten it right, we have very strong working relationships now.
01:53And we support the World Heritage Listing, and we believe industry and heritage can coexist.
01:58I'll leave it to the state and the federal government to comment on the UN report.
02:03And what's been the reaction from the local traditional owners?
02:10Well, Joe, there is a lot of people with traditional connections to the petroglyphs, more than five
02:16different language groups.
02:17We know that for some, today is going to be a very tough day.
02:22One source that we know in town told us that it's been considered a day of mourning for some
02:29people of those different groups.
02:31We were going to speak with a Nalama woman today.
02:35So the Nalama people are one of the five language groups that have connections to the rock engraving.
02:39She said she was too distressed to speak with us today.
02:42And I think that speaks to how this decision has been received by some in the First Nations
02:49community.
02:50We also spoke with Kayleen Daniel today.
02:53Now her mother, Tootsie Daniel, was one of the fiercest advocates for protecting the rock
02:58art in recent years.
02:59She passed away last year.
03:01She had actually met with the former environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, pleading for her
03:06to not extend the Northwest Shelf project.
03:11But speaking to Kayleen today, she did want to stress that, you know, for the people that
03:15are advocating for the preservation of the rock art, they don't see this as the end of the
03:20story.
03:21So we're going to keep campaigning for, you know, stronger protections for those engravings.
03:28And of course, keep pushing for a World Heritage listing at some point in the future.
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