Dampier Archipelago

Tuesday, 20^th November 2018

Greens MP Robin Chapple has raised concerns that any further industrialisation of the Burrup Peninsula would accelerate pollution levels, potentially making the air quality of the Karratha area one of the worst in Australia.

According to a recent report by the Australian Conservation Foundation, the Karratha based post code area of 6714 currently has 38741283.97 kg of emissions in the air, from 31 polluting facilities.

This places it as the 10^th most polluting post code in all of Australia.

Alongside Newman, which ranks 2^nd in Australia with 199441803.1 kg of emissions from 15 polluting facilities, the Pilbara area is one of the most heavily emitting regions in the nation.

Mr Chapple said that not only was the Burrup Peninsula under threat, but that WA is disproportionately contributing to climate change.

“The IPCC report recently released says that we have around a decade to act to avoid catastrophic climate change, and meanwhile the McGowan Government is championing further industrialisation in the North West.

“It is environmental vandalism of the highest degree. We are quite literally trashing the climate for future generations.

“Due to fossil fuels, pollution is so bad along the Pilbara coast that weather radars often show rain even on the sunniest of days. This is absolute madness.

“We simply cannot afford to further shirk our responsibilities to combat climate change, and with a truly incompetent federal Government it is even more urgent for the State to up their game. Instead, the McGowan Government are pushing on blindly ahead with climate wrecking projects.

“We need action on climate change and air pollution now. There is simply not enough time, we must rapidly transition to renewable energy or face the consequences of people dealing with not only polluted air but an extremely volatile climate too.”

Media contact: Liam Carter – 0449 151 490

Report: https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/5115779/ACF-Pollution-Report.pdf

Wednesday, 20 June 2018

Greens Mining and Pastoral MP Robin Chapple will challenge the outcome of a Freedom of Information application to the WA Department of Jobs, Tourism, Science and Information after receiving nine all but completely blanked out pages.

“I have seen large redactions in FoI responses before but this is next-level. This was a routine FoI request, yet the Government is going to unprecedented lengths to keep the details of industrialisation in the North a secret,” Mr Chapple said.

“My original request sought all correspondence between the Department and the proponents of Coogee Methanol Plant and Perdaman Karratha Urea Plant, which was a standard FoI request in terms of scope.

“In May, the Department told me the request would result in too many documents, so I agreed at their urging to amend my application to just the ‘record of any discussion’ between the companies and the Department. 

“The result: nine pages of meeting minutes with all the minutes blanked out – just leaving two meeting dates in May and November 2017 and a list of government agencies who attended along with Murujuga Aboriginal Corporation.

“I will appeal this outcome and reinstate the terms of my original FoI request. This experience does make me wonder if the Department has something to hide.”

Mr Chapple made the FoI application after a briefing note by the Department to the Premier dated April 2018 was leaked. The document purported to warn that timing of World Heritage listing for the Burrup was ‘critical’ as there would be a reluctance for new industries to locate to the Peninsula once the listing had gone ahead.

• Photo of Robin Chapple with the blank pages attached.

Media Contact: Liam Carter – 0449 151 490

Monday, 14 November

Both James Price Point and Murujuga (Burrup Peninsula) will have their heritage status reassessed at next month’s Aboriginal Cultural Materials Committee (ACMC) meeting, some 18 months after the Supreme Court decision which found 35 Aboriginal Heritage sites had been unlawfully deregistered.

WA Greens Aboriginal Affairs spokesperson Robin Chapple MLC said it was a disgrace the sites even had to be reassessed, given the incredible significance of both sites and the Supreme Court’s determination.

“As recommended by an Industry Working Group in 2012, the State Solicitor’s Office provided new guidelines on the definition of ‘mythological sites’ under section 5(b) of the Aboriginal Heritage Act leading to the unlawful deregistration of 35 sites. You had a situation where industry effectively told government the easiest possible method for them to circumvent Aboriginal Heritage,” Mr Chapple.

“Many of these sites have now been impacted or destroyed as their approvals were fast tracked and granted in the few short years the illegal guidelines stood, yet the Department of Aboriginal Affairs refuses to admit fault and continues to insist the sites be re-subjected to the painfully slow registration process.

“James Price Point forms part of ancient Aboriginal song line with enormous cultural significance to the more than 30 nations that remain in the area today, with evidence of habitation at the site dating back almost 30,000 years.

“JPP is also home to rare Spinner Dolphins, endangered Hawksbill Turtles and Dugongs, and an incredible collection of fossilised Cretaceous Dinosaur footprints.

“Murujuga has literally millions of beautifully preserved carvings, potentially more than 30,000 years old, and some of the world’s earliest known recordings of human faces. It is a living art gallery unlike no other and has been the subject of World Heritage for decades.

“Despite all the rhetoric from Colin Barnett and others about the importance of these sites, it is actions that speak louder than words and they have done nothing to extend these places the extreme protection they deserve.”

The closing date for written submissions on the reassessment of both DAA 30274 LSC11 (James Price Point) and DAA 23323 Burrup Peninsula, Murujuga is 5pm Friday 25 November, 2016.

Submissions can either be posted to:

Registrar of Aboriginal Sites
PO Box 3153
East Perth WA 6892

Or emailed to: registrar@daa.wa.gov.au

For more information please contact Tim Oliver on 0431 9696 25.