The West Australian government has confirmed it is starting the process of compulsory acquisition, to forcibly acquire Kimberley coast land for a $30 billion natural gas development.
The move will anger the Kimberley Land Council, which wants to continue negotiations for an indigenous land use agreement for the land at James Price Point, north of Broome.
WA Premier Colin Barnett officially announced the government's intention to
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proceed today,after weeks of threatening compulsory acquisition for the Woodside Petroleum-led project.
Kimberley Land Council Chief Wayne Bergmann yesterday accused the premier of bullying Aboriginal people with threats to compulsorily acquire the land.
Mr Barnett said the government's decision was necessary as the KLC and native title claimants had been unable to finalise an Indigenous Land Use Agreement (ILUA) with the government and Woodside within the required timeframe.
The deadline to finalise an agreement was June 30 and Mr Barnett said the government would not extend it for a fourth time.
He said only land required for the gas hub precinct would be affected and the acquisition would follow the requirements of all appropriate legislation.
Mr Barnett says the gas hub was critical for the development of not only WA, but the indigenous community.
"Economic independence and real opportunity is the best way towards self-determination for Aboriginal people and goes a long way towards reconciliation," Mr Barnett said in a statement.
"In developing this resource, the Government will not compromise on environmental standards, good planning, high standards of safety or benefits to the Aboriginal community."
He said the government would still prefer to sign an ILUA and urged native title claimants to resolve the issues within their groups.
"If that is not possible, we will be aiming to achieve a negotiated outcome that is consistent with the Heads of Agreement signed by the Kimberley Land Council on behalf of the Goolarabooloo Jabirr Jabirr claimants in April 2009," Mr Barnett said.
The heads of agreement included recognition of the claimants as traditional owners of the affected land and provide an area of land, equivalent to that required for the precinct, to the owners under freehold title.
It also included stronger environmental and heritage protection such as creating new conservation reserves on the Dampier Peninsula.
West Australian mines
Barnett has also been a staunch critic of a proposed mining tax, in a state which this year delivered a $290 million budget surplus, largely thanks to its natural resources.
"I am not promoting cessation but it is true that WA would rank about 60 of the 200 economies in the world. We are a larger economy then the majority of the world's economies", he said in May.
But a Perth researcher said that building a gas plant on the Kimberley coast will severely damage the region's tourism brand.
Michael Hughes, of Curtin University's Sustainable Tourism Centre, says tourism accounts for more than a third of the Kimberley's economy and the proposed gas plant north of Broome will threaten that.
The centre released a report on Tuesday titled "Kimberley Whale Coast Tourism: A review of opportunities and threats".
It says the proposed liquified natural gas (LNG) plant at James Price Point could damage tourism, including whale watching and Aboriginal heritage and wilderness tours.
