Indigenous group says Tanya Plibersek ‘hasn’t done her homework’ on Burrup peninsula fertiliser plant

Half of the Burrup peninsula is industrial and the other half is national park. The area has been described as a testing ground for Australia’s evolving stance on protecting Indigenous cultural heritage. Photograph: Krystle Wright/The Guardian

Traditional custodians opposed to a contentious $4.5bn fertiliser plant on Western Australia’s Burrup peninsula have accused Tanya Plibersek of “faulty reasoning” and drawing “false conclusions” about the views of local Aboriginal communities after she decided not to pause the development.

The environment minister decided work on the plant could go ahead after visiting the peninsula, in the state’s north, earlier this month. She said her decision was based on support for the development from the Murujuga Aboriginal Corporation, which she described as the “legally constituted and democratically elected group that safeguards First Nations culture in the Burrup area”.