The northwest shelf extension has brought mixed reactions from those who live in Pilbara. While business owners have embraced it, traditional owners - who have for years tried to stop the project - are devastated.
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00From above, Australia's largest gas plant is an impressive sight, but on the ground
00:07its 40 year extension is being felt close to home.
00:10Murujuka meant so much to us. It's not just a place where you can just go and put a gas
00:16plant.
00:17In Roben, a 45 minute drive from the Karatha plant, traditional owners mourned the decision.
00:23Others were too distressed to be interviewed.
00:25The government did, it did choose industry instead of the traditional owners.
00:33Minister Murray Watt says there are conditions associated with the project's approval, but
00:37the body representing traditional owners at Murujuka say they haven't been consulted.
00:42We found out about the decision through media reporting rather than directly from the minister's
00:46office and you know we've made the point repeatedly that it's critical that traditional owners
00:52are central in the decision making.
00:54Meanwhile, some local business owners say the decision has come as a welcome relief.
00:58It gives us the security we need to be able to invest in new accommodation, new infrastructure
01:04and make our asset better for the community.
01:07That sentiment echoed by the Karatha Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
01:10What it also does is ensure that there's more people in town and more people the more vibrant
01:16the city is, which is fantastic.
01:19For the younger generations, it's a decision not being taken lightly.
01:22It's amazing that it builds so many jobs for local people.
01:27But if you're ruining the environment in the first place, you're not going to have enough
01:31people that want to live there by the end of it.
01:34Murray Watt had always flagged that this decision would upset people.
01:38But it's here in Karatha where the split is the strongest that the project's impacts will
01:42be endured.