‘I am so angry and hurt right now’: opponents of Perdaman’s Burrup Peninsula urea plant speak out

A group of traditional owners have spoken out after Premier Mark McGowan gave the “green light” to the construction of the new Perdaman Urea Project On April 26 Mr McGowan, officiated the beginning of construction of the Perdaman Urea plant which will convert natural gas from Woodside Scarborough project into the commonly used fertiliser with the project set to create $7.7 billion in revenue over its lifetime. Save Our Songlines in addition to several other opponents of the project have expressed their dismay at the removal of three ancient rock artworks from the site. Friends of Australian Rock Art Co-convenor Judith Hugo said the situation was a repeat of the Juukan Caves controversy in 2020. “The world gasped as Rio Tinto, in spite of opposition from local custodians, blew up the Juukan Caves in the Kimberley,“ she said. “But yesterday we reeled again at the news that WA Premier Mark McGowan has turned the first turf on the Perdaman urea plant site on the Burrup Peninsula. “The petroglyphs on Murujuga are unique in the world for their continuous depiction of the culture and spiritual beliefs on humankind over 50,000 years through an ever-changing environment. These petroglyphs are priceless and irreplaceable.” Kuruma Marthudunera traditional custodian Josie Alec said despite assertions from Perdaman, not all traditional owners had been consulted. “I am so angry and hurt right now,” she said. “We as traditional custodians are still in the process of setting up a meeting with Perdaman which they have tried to arrange for next week,” she said. “We still have an outstanding cultural heritage assessment of industry damage to Murujuga under Section 10 of the Heritage Protection Act. “How can they go and remove rocks straight away when they are supposed to be consulting with us first, and they have actually invited us to a meeting next Monday (May 1)?” Former chair of the Murujuga Aboriginal Corporation Raelene Cooper called out Mr McGowan claiming the politician was beholden to industry donors such as Woodside. “Premier Mark McGowan has always stood for industry and pushed for industry to go ahead. . . because he is looked after very well by Woodside,” she said. “In 2016 McGowan sat on Murujuga with a multitude of people beside him signing a document pertaining to the World Heritage nomination because of the Burrup’s unique universal value which is globally noted. “However, today, McGowan stands there quite proudly with a shovel to dig into the ground, giving the green light to go ahead and destroy the very rock art that holds the world heritage values of our country.” Mr McGowan has been criticised for his proximity to resource industry executives in recent years with the Premier coming under fire for hosting executives from Woodside and Chevron at a Labor “business roundtable” in November 2021. In the 2021 to 2022 financial year Woodside donated $24,750 to WA Labor, according to data from the Australian Electoral Commission’s Transparency Register. Alleging Mr McGowan had shown “a lack of empathy” and “no morals”, Ms Cooper said the fight to protect the Burrup from industry was long from over. “This is not over, we are coming,” she said. “There are consequences in our lore, there are consequences when they disrupt and disturb our elders and our history.”