The Woodside case proves what we’ve long suspected: Australia’s ‘environment protection’ law does no such thing

The environment minister’s statement shows he softened his conditions for approval of the North West Shelf extension after Woodside claimed they were ‘not technically feasible’. Photograph: Greg Wood/AFP/Getty Images

Australia’s law that is supposed to protect the environment and cultural heritage doesn’t work. There are few, if any, people who argue otherwise.

A case study comes via environment minister Murray Watt’s statement of reasons for his approval of a 40-year life extension of the Woodside-operated North West Shelf gas plant in Western Australia.