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| Local people protesting against Woodside's gas hub on Manari Road, Broome. Photo | Damian Kelly. |
The outcome is a testament to people power. It shows that communities are capable of stopping inappropriate developments, even when those developments are worth $45 billion, lead by some of the most powerful companies in the world, and backed by governments.
It's also a wake-up call to resource companies about how important social licence is. Woodside has deemed its James Price Project 'financially unviable'. This is in part due to the continual stopping and delaying of work at the project site by a committed group of local people supported by a coordinated international movement. Woodside has learnt the hard way that they should not have attempted to force an unpopular development on a community that doesn’t want them there.
A major lesson that Australia can take from all of this is that states cannot be trusted with environmental assessments. Premier Barnett and the Western Australian Government have been acting as both the gas hub’s main proponent and it’s primary environmental assessor. This inherent conflict of interest is simply unworkable and the Federal Government must be involved to provide some rigour to the process. We continue to call on Federal Environment Minister, Tony Burke, to rule against this destructive project once and for all.
In the meantime, Premier Barnett and his government must officially dump this tainted project so that the people of Broome and Traditional Custodians can live in peace without the threat of alternative projects at James Price Point hanging over their heads.
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