Key Points
- Murujuga is home to the world's largest and most diverse collection of rock art
- Traditional Custodian Raelene Cooper submitted an application to protect the site under federal law in 2022
- Environment Minister Murray Watt must now make a decision on the application by September 12
The Federal Court says the government has 'unreasonably' delayed making a decision on the protection of sacred rock art on the Burrup Peninsula.
Traditional Custodian Raelene Cooper applied to the governmenta in 2022 to protect tens of thousands of sacred rock carvings at Murujuga on Western Australia's Burrup Peninsula from 'injury and desecration'.
The application, made under section 10 of the federal Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Protection Act, sat with former environment minister Tanya Plibersek for three years until Watt took over the portfolio in May.
Following Minister Watt's decision earlier this year to grant conditional approval for the country's largest fossil fuel venture, Woodside Energy's North West Shelf gas project, to run until 2070, Ms Cooper applied to the federal court to force the government to make a determination on her heritage protection application.
In his determination on Monday, Justice Angus Stewart called the delay 'unreasonable'.
“There is a positive duty under the relevant provisions to make a decision in a timely manner," he said in his summary.
"“The point is that 3.5 years for a decision ... is on the face of it unreasonably long. The delay in this case is unreasonable and has not been adequately explained.”
Justice Stewart noted that, as a result of the action brought by Ms Cooper, a decision by the government was now imminent, in light of which he declined to compel a decision by a certain date.
However, he said Ms Cooper had recourse to further action if a decision was not made by September 12.
Ms Cooper was also awarded costs.
Monday's determination is a win for the Traditional Custodian, who has led the sustained national campaign 'Save Our Songlines' for the protection of Murujuga's petroglyphs.
“After three and a half years of waiting for this process, I am relieved that the Federal Court has found the delays have been unreasonable," Ms Cooper said in a statement.
“I originally brought this application in early 2022 when I learned how my cultural heritage would be affected if industry was allowed to continue expanding on Murujuga, including Woodside's North West Shelf extension ...
"“It is deeply regrettable, and breaks my heart to know that many of the sites I tried to protect with the Section 10 application have already been damaged or destroyed while this process has been underway."
