Mining and Petroleum

Thursday, 11 December

Fracking in the Canning Basin is taking place against the wishes of the lands traditional owners, the Yawuru People, according to Greens Member for the Mining and Pastoral Region Robin Chapple MLC.

Yawuru man Micklo Corpus said that Buru Energy had not listened to the Yawuru people and this was a serious breach of their rights, given that 94% of the Yawuru were against the process.

Mr Chapple said Buru Energy had already established a network of more than 3500 kilometres worth of seismic lines and several test fracking wells in the area, all on Yawuru land.

“This strikes right to the heart of our government’s attitude towards indigenous people in Western Australia,” he said.

“Any development the government considers on Yawuru lands, especially one as invasive as fracking, should not be undertaken unless the express permission of the Traditional owners is given first.

“More than anything this is about showing respect to traditional owners and it should be standard practice.”

Mr Chapple said fracking in the Canning Basin was just another inclusion to an expanding list of backwards decisions made by the Barnett government along with the closure of more than 150 remote communities and significant proposed changes to the Aboriginal Heritage Act.

For more information please watch this video or contact Robin Chapple on 0409 379 263 or 9486 8255.

Greens Member of Parliament, Robin Chapple is absolutely appalled at the environmental disaster on Koolan Island with the Mt Gibson iron ore mine flooding yet again.

“How many times does this mine have to flood before the problem is fixed properly?” Mr Chapple asked.

“This is a classic example of the mismanagement of a mine that will now severely impact on our marine life in Kimberley!

“The public have a right to know how the Barnett Government and Mount Gibson Iron Ore will fix the section of the sea wall that keeps on collapsing and how they will manage the water that is being pumped out to sea.

“The biodiversity and scenic beauty of the Kimberley coast is one of Australia’s national treasures that is already under threat by competing industry groups and this is just one example of how the exploitation of our natural resources threatens that ecology and biodiversity of the region.

“I will certainly be raising these questions to the Department of Mines as a matter of urgency,” Mr Chapple added.

For more information please contact Robin Chapple on 0409 379 263 or 9486 8255

Thursday, 13 November

Whilst it is positive to see climate change becoming a more visible issue of late it is alarming to see fossil fuel and nuclear lobbyists leading the rhetoric on how best to tackle it, according to WA Greens Spokesperson on Energy and Climate Change Robin Chapple MLC.

The Business Council of Australia and the Australia Petroleum Production & Exploration Association (APPEA) have been vocal this week about the benefits, and necessity of, energy reform that includes primarily a greater reliance on gas.

Similarly, the World Nuclear Association has used the International Energy Agency’s world energy outlook report to preach the benefits of nuclear energy as a low-carbon, cost-effective means of producing electricity.

Mr Chapple said these big lobbying groups were jumping on the bandwagon to push for reform that benefitted their industry, but was not in any way a solution.

“These big lobbying groups, who exist purely for the benefit of their industries, have suddenly adopted climate change into their rhetoric,” he said.

“It’s frightening because what they are saying is very misleading, but attempts to be convincing.

Mr Chapple said repeated claims about gas as a clean energy alternative were polluting the information around climate change in Australian politics.

“I just fail to see the logic that these are ‘solutions’ to increasing emissions in Australia,” he said.

“These lobbyists have somehow managed to normalise the idea that replacing finite fossil fuel resources with different, but equally finite, fossil fuel resources is a sustainable and beneficial solution.

“The idea that renewable energy investment is not economically viable needs to be trashed; it is absolute rubbish.

“Why are we, as a nation, so determined not to be a world leader when we have so much potential to be so.”

Mr Chapple said he continued to be amazed by the general indifference, and even open resistance, towards renewable energy by both State and Federal Governments.

“I urge politicians to shake off this attitude of ‘ignorance is bliss’ and really make some noise so that those in power have no choice but to change,” he said.

‘Dialogue on the issue is completely under the spell of industry and lobbyists at the moment when the last thing we need in this country is more gas or worse, an uptake of nuclear power especially given the amazing potential we have for renewable energy generation in this country.”

WA Greens Member for the Mining and Pastoral Region and long-time Burrup activist Robin Chapple MLC has welcomed the relocation of more than 1700 pieces of Aboriginal rock art that were dumped to make way for Woodside’s North West Shelf LNG project.

The rock art, which is considered highly significant, had been kept in a Pilbara compound since the early 1980s until the relocation process was initiated in 2009 by the elders from the four groups.

Mr Chapple said the inclusion of local Aboriginal elders in the relocation and restoration process contributed strongly to the successful outcome.

“This was an important step by Woodside in recognising and remediating some of the past wrongs done in the Burrup and I congratulate them for that,” he said.

 “The Burrup Peninsula is home to the world’s largest, and oldest, collection of Aboriginal rock art with some of the paintings and carvings dating back more than 30,000 years.

“The cultural significance of rock art here cannot be overstated and I’m glad it’s finally starting to get the recognition, and respect, it deserves.”

Mr Chapple said he hoped restoration projects such as this didn’t encourage further development on the culturally significant Burrup Peninsula.

“Whilst this is a brilliant outcome for the local Aboriginal people, for the Burrup and for Aboriginal heritage in general there needs to be greater recognition that this place is too special to plunder,” he said.

“Currently, only about 44 per cent of the peninsula is protected by Murujuga National Park which, upon its creation in January last year, felt like somewhat of a token gesture.

“I would appeal again to governments state and federal, as I have many times in the past, to make World Heritage Listing of the Burrup Peninsula and Dampier Archipelago a priority of national and international significance.”

For more information please contact Robin Chapple on 0409 379 263 or 9486 8255.

Friday, October 31

WA Greens Spokesperson for energy and climate change Robin Chapple MLC has expressed disappointment over comments made by the Premier yesterday about the future of renewable energy in Western Australia.

On 720 ABC talkback radio yesterday Premier Colin Barnett claimed Western Australia would be unlikely to ever go 100% renewable and that renewable energy was incompatible with heavy industry and WA’s rail system.

Mr Chapple said whilst he was not surprised by the Premier’s attitude, the dismissive nature of his comments was alarming.

“Western Australia is going backwards under this luddite government,” he said.

“Since when did politicians become so short-sighted? We are talking about a resource that is absolutely finite.

“Climate change is not a phase, or a minor issue that has been over-hyped by alarmists or an issue that will simply pass.

“We, quite simply, are not doing anywhere near enough to reverse the damage we have already done and put in places processes and infrastructure to ensure the future energy needs of Western Australia indefinitely.

“That our own Premier, who rambles so consistently about our future economic security, is failing to see the link between that and ultimately, once the infrastructure is established, an energy network that will pay for itself is simply unfathomable.”

Mr Chapple said Australia, particularly Western Australia, was in danger of being rapidly left behind by the rest of the world.

“At the risk of sounding like a broken record, how many more flashing neon signs do we need?” he said.

“The price of coal is falling worldwide and some of our biggest trading partners, especially China, are slashing imports as well, meanwhile we are seeing a surge in renewable uptake especially in developing nations and throughout Europe.

“I’m not talking about weak, decade-by-decade targets such as the one our federal government is planning to gut – it is crucial that we establish long-term targets that legislate for a significant swing towards renewable energy and away from fossil fuel dependence.

“The Premier’s claims that his government ‘has actually put a lot of money into renewable energy’ are baseless as are his claims that we, as a state, with all of our heavy industry, are not compatible with a totally renewable energy system.”

For more information please contact Robin Chapple on 0409 379 263 or 9486 8255.