As hereditary chief Na’Moks is driven around Western Australia’s Burrup Peninsula, the starkness of the infrastructure stands out in the Murujuga National Park.
A high chief of the Wet’suwet’en nation, he travelled from British Columbia’s snowy mountain ranges to see what the West Australian government claimed was successful coexistence between industry and ancient Aboriginal heritage.
“All I see is people being ignored,” he said.
Woodside Energy has processed the fossil fuel at two liquefied natural gas (LNG) plants on the peninsula, known by traditional owners as Murujuga, for 40 years, and has permission to do so for another 45.
At Murujuga, the gas plant sits a stone’s throw from World Heritage-listed Aboriginal rock art. (ABC News: Chris Lewis)
Its operations are opposed by environmentalists and some traditional owners, who worry about its proximity to the oldest collection of rock art on Earth, recently inscribed into UNESCO’s World Heritage List.
“[It’s] the same type of path Canada’s putting itself on where the dollar becomes more important than the human,” Chief Na’Moks said.
Woodside and the West Australian government maintain there is no conclusive evidence about what impact industrial emissions are having on the Murujuga rock engravings.
Canadian govt backing LNG
Canada is only now starting to develop an LNG export industry, targeting the large volumes of shale gas contained within British Columbia’s Montney formation.
But like in Australia, gas development has divided the region’s traditional owners.
“Over the last 25 years in our homelands we have fended off upwards of 17 pipeline proposals and projects … until around 2019 and 2020,” Gitxsan nation man Gwii Lok’im Gibuu Jesse Stoeppler said.
Chief Na’Moks was taken to the Karratha Gas Plant by Raelene Cooper. (ABC News: Charlie Mclean)
That project was Shell’s LNG Canada facility, which shipped its first cargo in June.
Now a second LNG facility is being proposed for British Columbia, called Ksi Lisims.
It is being driven by a consortium of gas companies — including Woodside — and the Nisga’a Nation, which owns the coastal lands where the facility would be built.
Its proponents say it will bring social benefits and jobs to Indigenous Nations and other nearby communities.
But a 900-kilometre pipeline would need to be built to bring the gas in, slicing through other Indigenous nations’ lands, including Mr Stoeppler’s, who have not consented to the project.
‘Dangerous’ times
The Canadian government is desperate to boost the economy with more mining and infrastructure projects as the country continues to wrestle with the Trump administration’s unpredictable tariff policies.
Ksi Lisims was recently referred to the Major Projects Office, a new department created to speed up approvals for projects deemed to be of national interest.
The idea mirrors the West Australian Labor government’s State Development Bill, which Premier Roger Cook wants passed through parliament before the end of the year.
The premier has made no secret of his desire to cut red tape for industry, telling a recent audience of business leaders he had “a little bit of industrial FOMO”.
“An obsession with big shiny job-creating projects, an insatiable desire for even faster approvals,” Mr Cook said.
Gwii Lok’im Gibuu Jesse Stoeppler has been fending off gas developments slated for his homelands for years. (ABC News: Charlie Mclean)
Mr Stoeppler said he believed it was a dangerous time for the rights of Indigenous peoples across the western world.
“It is dangerous when elected bodies of government seemingly create interest or appetite where there is none on a local landscape,” he said.
“What I’m seeing here with some of these projects is usually they come at the cost of Indigenous people and I take big issue with that.”
Murujuga traditional custodian Raelene Cooper, who guided chief Na’Moks and Mr Stoeppler around Murujuga, said she was saddened to see other traditional owners go through the same ordeal as her people.
Raelene Cooper has campaigned against industrial development at Murujuga. (ABC News: Charlie Mclean)
“We shared the very same stories, you know, of the concerns, the betrayal from our governments,” she said.
“Those individuals who are supposed to be speaking on behalf of us are basically opening the door and bringing us to the slaughter.”
A final investment decision for the Ksi Lisims project is expected early next year.
Long-term coexistence
A Woodside spokesperson said the company had operated on Murujuga for more than 40 years and took its commitment to managing and protecting cultural heritage in the area seriously.
“Our support for World Heritage listing of the Burrup Peninsula reflects the successful and long-term coexistence of heritage and industry,” the spokesperson said.
“We actively engage with traditional custodians on the management of cultural heritage at our sites, including through heritage surveys, annual audits of heritage places and on-country visits.
“In consultation with traditional custodians, we develop and implement cultural heritage management plans to ensure the heritage values of the area are protected as far as practicable and in line with the requirements of applicable approvals and relevant laws.
“We believe long-term coexistence between cultural heritage and industry is possible when guided by credible science, traditional custodian leadership and genuine collaboration.”