Mixed feelings resonate over community on oil and gas project expansion off the coast of Karratha

ABC NEWS (Australia)

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.

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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.

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