The federal government has given the final green light to the Woodside North West Shelf gas project in Western Australia, subject to a series of conditions.
The decision extends the potential operating life of the country's largest gas project to 2070, following Environment Minister Murray Watt's provisional approval of the expansion in May.
Watt has placed 48 conditions on the approval — in addition to those already set by the WA government — which he said were designed to mitigate significant impacts to ancient Aboriginal rock art located at Murujuga in the Pilbara region.
Local Indigenous groups have argued that expansion of the site could damage the Murujuga petroglyphs — one of the world's largest and most diverse collections of rock engravings, which were given UNESCO World Heritage listing in July.
Murujuga is home to more than a million of the petroglyphs, some of which are estimated to be 50,000 years old.
Environmental advocates and some Pacific leaders have also criticised the extension, warning it could lock in more than four billion tonnes of climate pollution.
Watt insisted that the conditions would mean the project could operate in a way that did not cause "unacceptable" impacts to the Murujuga rock art.
Those include conditions that will require limits on emissions of concern, and a reduction in certain gas emissions below their current levels — in some cases by 60 per cent by 2030 — with ongoing restrictions beyond that.
Other conditions included implementing a robust emissions monitoring system, establishing a Cultural Heritage Management Plan, and reducing the project's emissions annually to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
On Thursday, Mardathoonera woman and Murujuga traditional custodian Raelene Cooper said the government would be at risk of international legal action if it were to approve the project, as it would threaten the heritage status of the rock art.
Cooper said it would also weaken Australia's standing among its Pacific neighbours, at a time when Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is attempting to firm up Australia's influence in the region.
"We are all asking the same question across Australia and the Pacific — what is this government doing?" Cooper said.
Earlier this week, Vanuatu's climate change minister Ralph Regenvanu told reporters at the Pacific Islands Forum in the Solomon Islands capital Honiara that approval of the extension would be "internationally wrongful" and legally contentious.
When asked by SBS News about how the project's likely approval would be received in the Pacific, Regenvanu pointed to an International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruling pursued by Vanuatu — which found countries have legally binding obligations to prevent and combat climate change — and can be held liable for loss and damage.
"The advisory opinion of the ICJ made it clear that going down the fossil fuel production expansion is an internationally wrongful act under international law," Regenvanu said.
— Additional reporting by Naveen Razik and the Australian Associated Press.
