October 1, 2003 - Greens (WA) spokesperson on industrial development Robin Chapple MLC has released photographs of heavy earthmoving equipment causing incalculable damage to the Burrup Peninsula as the State Government begins work on a network of infrastructure corridors.
With the collapse of yet another of the proposed gas plants on the Burrup, the State Government has been given a chance to pause and reconsider the wisdom of forcing industry onto this precious piece of land. The Burrup was recently listed on the World Monument Fund's list of the 100 most threatened monuments on earth.
Mr Chapple has called on the Government to halt the taxpayer-funded destruction of the Burrup Peninsula, which is proceeding despite the collapse of a third project and a fourth in serious doubt.
The photographs hint at the damage being caused to the rock art province by the State's sprawling infrastructure corridors.
'This is a senseless waste of taxpayer's money providing a subsidy for industry which may never arrive, while driving bulldozers through Australia's stonehenge,' Mr Chapple said. 'It is unforgivable and unnecessary vandalism, when the Pilbara has thousands of square kilometres of flat country which could easily have hosted a new generation of heavy industry.'
The Burrup Peninsula, or Murujuga, is the centrepiece of the world's largest rock art province, featuring as many as half a million ancient engravings, as well as networks of standing stones, terraces, stone circles and other enigmatic features. The Government recently announced that while 60% of the Burrup will be conserved and subject to a management plan, the other 40% will be given over to heavy industry.
'It's a bit like letting a mining company quarry one of the Great Pyramids while promising to protect the other two in perpetuity,' Mr Chapple said.
