The Kimberley: a green future

• Rely on up to 97 per cent fly-in fly-out (FIFO) workers and employ very few local workers

• Harm the Kimberley’s reputation as a world-class tourism destination
• Place additional demand on already stretched community services such as health and police
• Cause inflation in the Broome area.[1]

This analysis demonstrates that the James Price Point development is not the end goal of the Barnett/Grylls obsession; that goal is the industrialization of the Kimberley.

So, what has the proposed development delivered for Broome so far? Until recently, Broome was a harmonious community. Now, the town is deep in conflict. People have lost jobs for taking a public position on the development; others have lost lifelong friendships. Families have been divided, as has the Indigenous community.  The Barnett/Grylls obsession with this project has wreaked havoc upon Broome, the largest town in the Kimberley. Smaller towns and communities in the region would be less able to withstand such an onslaught.

The Greens want environmental and planning assessment processes that have integrity and are driven by and inclusive of community interests. We champion processes that properly assess the evidence of environmental and social impacts for any development proposal. And when the evidence tells us that the harms outweigh the benefits then the proposed development should not proceed. The Greens say that corporations that propose major projects in the Kimberley must gain a social and environmental licence to operate, in accordance with international standards. Woodside does not have such a licence to operate at JPP.

When the Final Investment Decision is made on the JPP project in the next few months by Woodside and its joint venture partners, commercial factors will be critical, but politics will also play an important part.  A significant vote for the Greens by Kimberley people in this election will be noted by the Browse joint venture partners, who have international brands to protect.  The outgoing member for the Kimberley made a high profile speech in State Parliament a few weeks ago, where she labelled people who oppose the JPP project as ‘mung beans’, comprising a small minority of Kimberley residents. This assessment is wrong. Over recent months I have talked to hundreds of people from all walks of life throughout the Kimberley, and the vast majority tell me that they are opposed to this project and opposed to the major parties’ vision of an industrialized Kimberley. This election is an opportunity for the voices of Kimberley people to be heard.

Let us imagine for a moment the abrupt impact on Broome and surrounding communities if the joint venture’s Final Investment Decision is to go ahead. A Temporary Off-site Workers’ Camp (TOWC) will immediately be built in or close to Broome. The TOWC will house some 800 workers, whose job will be to construct the gas hub workers’ village at JPP, which, in turn, will house between 6000 and 8000 people, who will build the gas factory and port. At the same time, Woodside will build some 240 houses in Broome North for the company’s permanent staff. In the 2010/2011 financial year just 136 new residential dwellings were approved in Broome. Woodside’s needs will overwhelm the capacity of Broome’s building industry, which will be displaced by big contractors from cities. Traffic through Broome airport will multiply. The hundreds of FIFO workers in high-viz clothing will surely challenge the tourist’s expectation of Broome as a laid-back retreat. There is anecdotal evidence that resource workers from the Pilbara who enjoy holidaying and spending money in the Kimberley will stop coming if we industrialize, as they are looking for an escape, not more of the same. Hundreds of vehicles every day will travel up the Cape Leveque Road and along a new, sealed road to JPP. The boom-time impact on house and construction prices will mimic the Pilbara experience, driving residents away. And the protests and police interventions will make previous protests seem like a picnic.

Premier Barnett, supported by the National and Labor Parties, has described the Traditional Owners’ decision to support the gas development as the greatest act of Indigenous self-determination in Australia’s history. Since 1788 Aboriginal people have been systematically dispossessed of their lands throughout Australia. Much of that dispossession was aggressive and bloody. It took more than two centuries for Australia to recognise at law the rights of Indigenous people through Native Title in 1992. The Barnett/Grylls government’s act of Compulsory Acquisition just 19 years later is another episode in the dispossession of Aboriginal people. Compulsory acquisition can never promote nor lead to self-determination. By no measure was the James Price Point Native Title Agreement made with ‘free, prior and informed consent’, consistent with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

The Indigenous benefits package from the James Price Point Native Title Agreement should be carefully scrutinised. One and a half billion dollars may sound a lot, however it is to benefit all Kimberley Aboriginal people, who, as of the 2009 census totalled 13,921.  Over 30 years it amounts to just 50 million a year, or an average of $3,591 per person: less than the Baby Bonus, and paying mainly for citizenship entitlements such as education and health services.

The Greens say that it is morally wrong to use Compulsory Acquisition to pressure native title holders to trade their country for services and benefits to which we are all entitled as citizens.  Funding for Indigenous development and sustainability should be provided from the immense revenue governments collect through resource development, regardless of where Indigenous people live.

Over the past three months I have visited more than 50 Aboriginal communities throughout the Kimberley and have been appalled by the decaying infrastructure and sense of loss of community control. The Commonwealth and State Governments have a defunding agenda, intended to move Aboriginal people from smaller communities into larger ‘hub communities’ and Kimberley towns. Broome is now experiencing this regional population movement, with all its social consequences.