Burrup rock art goes for $6bn urea plant

The removal of three pieces of rock art to make way for a $6bn urea plant on Western Australia’s Burrup peninsula has begun.

Industrial development in WA’s Burrup Peninsula.

The removal of three pieces of rock art to make way for a $6bn urea plant on Western Australia’s Burrup peninsula has begun, with Premier Mark McGowan lauding the start of construction as a “great day” for the state.

Private company Perdaman broke ground for its namesake urea project on Wednesday. Some 2500 people will work on construction of the project, which will use gas to create enough urea fertiliser to replace almost all Australia’s urea imports.

The project has been targeted by activist groups opposed to further industrialisation in an area that is home to the world’s largest collection of rock art.

The Burrup houses an estimated million pieces of rock art, and earlier this year the federal government formally applied to have the area listed as a UNESCO world heritage site.

The federal government has also commissioned a cultural heritage assessment of the impact of industrial activity on the area. That study is yet to be completed.

Mr McGowan said he believed the government had struck an appropriate balance in the area. “The Burrup is a very big place, this is a very small footprint,” he said. “There’s around half a million pieces of rock art on the Burrup, of which this project will impact three pieces. So in overall terms, we think it’s acceptable.”

He said the Murujuga Aboriginal Corporation, which represented the five traditional language groups from the area, had approved the project.

“We have engaged in self-­determination of the Aboriginal people towards this project, and there’ll be benefits that flow to them, both employment training and contractual benefits,” Mr McGowan said.

“There will always be someone who doesn’t support something … At the end of the day, the local processes have been complied with and there’ll be significant benefit for local Aboriginal people.”

Perdaman chair Vikas Rambal said the urea plant would provide a major boost for Australia’s food security by reducing reliance on urea imports from Asia and would be the lowest carbon intensity project of its kind in the world.

He said plans for the rock art removal, which will start immediately, had been developed in consultation with the MAC.

“We have an online camera watching it so we can record everything how it’s done. If tomorrow we have to show to the members and elders, we can show them how the rock is moved,” Mr Rambal said.

“It’s all approved by the state government and federal government, how we can remove that rock art. It is all documented.”

The main Indigenous group opposed to further industrialisation of the Burrup, Save Our Songlines, condemned the latest development in a statement.

Save Our Songlines’s Raelene Cooper, who used to chair the MAC, said Mr McGowan had shown a “lack of respect, a lack of empathy and no morals” to sign off on the Burrup’s world heritage nomination while also giving the green light for Perdaman to destroy some of that rock art.

“It is incredible, remarkable, and absolutely disgraceful – how do these people sleep at night?” she said. “This is not over, we are coming. There are consequences in our lore, there are consequences when they disrupt and disturb our elders and our history.”

The Burrup is home to major industrial projects including Woodside Energy’s North West Shelf and Pluto liquefied natural gas plants.