Community members from across the region will descend on Minister Watt's office in Southport to demand he use his powers to reject Woodside's giant gas project

Australian Youth Climate Coalition, Climate Justice Alliance Northern Rivers & Move Beyond Coal

WHEN: Friday 6th June, 10.30am

WHERE: Environment Minister Murray Watt’s office - 35 Scarborough Street, Southport, QLD, 4215

WHAT: Community members from across the region will rally at Environment Minister Watt’s office with banners and signs demanding he use his power to reject Woodside’s North West Shelf Gas project.

Photos and Videos will be available here

Southport, 6th June – community members from across the Gold Coast and Northern Rivers region will join a series of rolling protests that have exploded across the country in response to Labor’s preliminary approval of Woodside’s North West Shelf gas processing plant in WA. If approved, the project would lock in decades of climate-wrecking pollution and make Australians less safe from the cyclones and flooding that have ravaged our region.

While the project was widely reported as being approved the Minister cannot make a final decision until Woodside’s comments are received and he also holds the power to extend the timeframe for the decision or consult the public. The protest comes a week out from Watt’s final deadline of June 13 to make a decision on the project.

Isabella Blak, Australian Youth Climate Coalition said, Woodside’s North West Shelf expansion would be a disaster for our futures at a time when the climate science is clear: we must rapidly phase out coal and gas to avoid catastrophic warming. Instead of accelerating the transition to renewables, the federal government is considering another massive gas project that benefits corporate profits at the expense of young people inheriting the consequences of this decision.

“We are calling on Minister Watt to use his powers to reject Woodside’s North West Shelf gas expansion to protect young people’s futures from climate catastrophe and preserve the rock art at Murujuga.”

Minister Watt’s announcement also came despite a draft decision by UNESCO to send the nomination of rock art at Murujuga back to the Australian government to address risks to World Heritage values, including ‘degrading acidic emissions currently impacting upon the petroglyphs.’

Graham Sharp, Gold Coast Move Beyond Coal, said:
“Approving this project would be a betrayal of communities already suffering from climate disasters: bushfires, floods, droughts and heatwaves. We need real climate leadership, not more handouts to coal and gas giants. If the government is serious about tackling the climate crisis, it must reject Woodside’s expansion and invest in clean energy solutions.

“We are deeply concerned that the first major decision of the reelected Albanese Government could well be approving this climate disaster, just weeks after being elected on a platform of serious action on the climate crisis.”

This is a critical moment to send a message: Australia must stop expanding coal and gas and start prioritising people, climate, and protect our precious cultural heritage.

ENDS

Media contact: Clare Silcox, 0481 055 531

BACKGROUND

The North West Shelf extension is a climate disaster that will harm more Australians:

Over its 45-year life, the project would lead to over 4 billion tonnes (gigatonnes) of climate pollution. This is more than double the 2 billion tonnes of climate pollution associated with the Coalition’s nuclear scheme to 2050.
This is equivalent to 10 years of Australia’s current climate pollution, and would cause more intense and frequent unnatural disasters that endanger our Australian way of life.
With on-site emissions of 7.7 million tonnes per year, the North West Shelf extension would be Australia’s second most polluting fossil fuel facility. It is already the third most polluting, releasing 6.1 million tonnes in the 12 months to July 2024.
Australia is making progress on climate, with new federal policies to cut climate pollution from electricity generation, transport, and industry. Approving new fossil fuel projects completely undermines Australia’s efforts to cut climate pollution.

The North West Shelf extension will cause other significant environmental and First Nations impacts:

Karratha Gas Plant is co-located with the Murujuga Cultural Landscape, a 50,000 year old collection of First Nations petroglyphs, that have been nominated for inscription on the World Heritage List. Onsite pollution of nitrous oxide and other acidic emissions from Karratha Gas Plant is eroding the rock art.
Extending Karratha Gas Plant will enable the exploitation of the Browse Gas Basin, which is co-located with the Scott Reef, a reef ecosystem that supports a range of threatened species including sea snakes and the Pygmy Blue Whale.

Other countries don’t need Australian gas:

The world is heading for a global oversupply of LNG, the liquefied form of gas which would be exported from this project.
Global LNG supply is expected to grow by 47% by 2030, but demand is only expected to increase by 20% under current policies.
As a result, nearly a quarter of global LNG supply will not be needed by 2030.
Some argue that Australian gas is needed by our trading partners, but our key trading partners aren’t reliant on our gas. In fact Japan, our largest trading partner, exports more gas than they import from Australia.

Australia doesn’t need this gas:

This gas will only be used in Western Australia, which already has a huge gas supply far exceeding its own needs.
There is no connection between the east coast gas market, which serves most Australians, and Western Australia.
Only 12% of West Australian gas is used in Western Australia for manufacturing, electricity generation, or in homes and businesses. The remaining 88% is used by corporations exporting LNG.
If Western Australia needed more gas in future, diverting even a small fraction of the gas already being used for export would easily meet this need.

Expanding gas exports would cost us more than we benefit:

The cost of emissions produced by the NWS project would substantially erode its economic benefits over the project life.
The economic cost of emissions produced by the project will exceed $1.2 trillion, more than three times the value of its purported GDP contribution.
The ongoing operation of the project and associated offshore gas projects require many skilled workers in a remote location. As Australia looks to build renewable power and grow new clean industries, these engineering and construction skills will be in high demand. Australian workers should be focused on building the clean industries of the future, not extracting the final polluting gas for a declining industry.