Former West Australian premier Carmen Lawrence says a World Heritage nomination for the Burrup Peninsula is "entirely inconsistent" with ongoing industrial development near ancient Aboriginal rock art in the area.
Dr Lawrence also firmly opposed industrialisation on the peninsula in her submission to an ongoing federal assessment investigating claims that significant Aboriginal sites were threatened by development.
Yesterday federal Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek travelled to the Pilbara site – called Murujuga in local language – to confirm that the government would nominate the site for a World Heritage listing.
There are millions of petroglyphs in the area, as well as two Woodside export plants and the Yara Pilbara fertiliser plant.
Progress is also being made on a proposed urea facility owned by Perdaman.
A breakaway group of traditional owners claimed the rock art was being slowly destroyed by the companies' emissions, but that was disputed.
The nomination came after days of speculation.
Speaking to the ABC before the official announcement, Dr Lawrence said the government's endorsement of the site's cultural value was incompatible with industrial growth.
"It's entirely inconsistent," she said.
"Successive generations of Western Australians, I think, have seen industry as always pre-eminent over cultural values."
'History of neglect'
Dr Lawrence made a submission to the federally appointed reporter Alison Stone, who is investigating potential risks to the area's Indigenous heritage and whether the federal minister should intervene.
The assessment is conducted under section 10 of the relevant legislation.
"The federal government at least appears through this process to be asking the question, 'What is going on here? What are the risks?'" Dr Lawrence said.
"We shouldn't be cavalier about this … so let's do better."
The former Labor leader said the region's Aboriginal sites had suffered a "history of neglect".
She also conceded previous governments had made mistakes and overlooked the significance of the area.
"I was almost entirely ignorant of it in the 1990s," Dr Lawrence said.
"We are aware of the potential damage to the rock art now in ways that we were not then, and the Indigenous voices have become clearer."
Companies dispute risk
A Woodside spokesperson said the company would not share its submission to Ms Stone as it was bound by "confidentiality conditions".
However, the spokesperson said Woodside had demonstrated its ability to work alongside Aboriginal people and the heritage values of the peninsula.
"Woodside is proud of the coexistence we have established between our operations and Murujuga's heritage, and looks forward to continuing this coexistence in collaboration with traditional custodians," the Woodside spokesperson said.
Yara Pilbara declined to share specifics from its section 10 submissions.
In a statement, Yara Pilbara general manager Laurent Trost said the company was a "willing contributor" to the process.
"Yara has provided a detailed submission to the reporter who will consider all submissions in preparation of a report to the federal minister for the environment," he said.
"We believe in supporting the integrity of the submission process for the reporter to collate all views, evidence, facts and findings for the report, which will be released publicly."
Perdaman has not confirmed whether it made a submission, but a spokesperson said it was committed to preserving the rock art.
"Perdaman's team has worked closely with traditional owners … for years to ensure industry and art can live together," the spokesperson said.
"All the relevant factors have been included in the project's design and approval process to enable the plant's safe operation."
The state government made a submission, but a spokesperson said it would be inappropriate to comment on the section 10 process before it was finalised.
The official traditional owner organisation, Murujuga Aboriginal Corporation said "out of respect for the ongoing inquiry process, it declined to provide its submission or be interviewed".
