A judge has concerns in the timeline of Pilbara traditional owner’s legal challenge against newly minted federal Minister Murray Watt, over the controversial North West Shelf extension.
A Federal Court judge has concerns in the timeline of Pilbara traditional owner’s legal challenge against newly minted federal Minister Murray Watt, over the controversial North West Shelf extension.
Mardathoonera woman Raelene Cooper last month launched legal action against the federal Water and Environment Minister in the Federal Court of Australia’s New South Wales registry.
Ms Cooper, who has been a staunch critic of Woodside Energy, sought court orders to compel Senator Watt to make a determination on her Section 10 application, or a cultural heritage assessment over the Murujuga landscape.
It’s the latest in environmental groups’ efforts to protect the Murujuga cultural landscape from the impacts of Woodside’s North West Shelf gas operations in the Burrup peninsula.
Lawyers for the parties appeared before Federal Court Justice Angus Stewart in Sydney, for the matter’s first case management hearing this morning.
Speaking to the court, Ms Cooper’s lawyer Zelie Heger said she was against the opposing counsel’s suggestion of a four-week timeline to prepare the next step.
“We resist any suggestion that they be given four weeks. We think this can be done in a shorter period of time,” she said.
“The very premise of the application is that there’s been an unreasonable delay, and we seek an order that it be determined as soon as practicable.”
Ms Heger said the usefulness of the sought relief would be diminished the longer the proceedings go on.
“Murujuga is the site of a million rock engravings that are of very high significance to Indigenous traditional owners in that area,” she said in court.
However, Justice Angus Stewart told the court there were two competing considerations before him, particularly with Senator Watt only taking over the federal Water and Environment portfolio last month.
“One is from your perspective, the inherent urgency of the matter but from the other to give the new minister time to make a decision,” he said.
“If I push too hard on the urgency, he might not be able to make a decision… That’s what I’m toying with.
“I’m jammed in various ways.”
Barrister Matt Sherman, on behalf of Senator Watt, told the court that there had also been a change to the Western Australian legal framework with the state government’s return to Aboriginal Cultural Heritage laws.
“From the minister’s perspective, there’s a number of considerations,” Mr Sherman said.
The parties will next appear before the Federal Court in mid-July.
North West Shelf
A final decision on an extension for Woodside’s North West Shelf project looms, after the federal government announced its intention to approve the operation to continue until 2070 subject to strict environmental conditions.
The extension had been before federal regulators for more than six years, and if approved, will enable Woodside to progress its long-term plans at the undeveloped Browse field and process gas through Karratha.
Woodside has 10 business days, from the announcement on May 28, to consider the conditions proposed before Senator Watt makes the final call.
The court was told the senator would give Ms Cooper three business days’ notice before the final decision was announced.
Outside court, Ms Cooper told reporters that she was furious that Senator Watt would make a decision before addressing her application.
“The court noted today the Minister’s agreement to give me three business days’ notice before he announces any final approval decision for the North West Shelf,” she said.
“That gives me the opportunity to consider an injunction to prevent the Minister from making a final decision to approve the North West Shelf extension before determining my Section 10 application.
“I originally brought this application in early 2022 when I learned how my cultural heritage would be affected if industry was allowed to continue expanding on Murujuga, including Woodside's North West Shelf extension.
“That was three years ago. For their entire first term, Labor ignored my application while the devastation to my cultural heritage has continued on Murujuga.”
Then-Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek twice deferred the deadline to decide over the North West Shelf extension in the lead up to the federal election in May.
The WA government greenlit the extension in late 2024.
WA Premier Roger Cook has repeatedly called on the federal government to consider and assess the gas project in a timely manner.
