Murray Watt ramps up lobbying efforts in last-minute push to get Murujuga rock art on world heritage list

Murray Watt has ramped up the government’s lobbying efforts to have the Murujuga rock art complex given world heritage status despite expert concerns about the degrading effects of nearby emissions. Photograph: Jessica Ellis/AAP

The environment minister, Murray Watt, hosted more than a dozen ambassadors from countries on the world heritage committee on Monday as he ramped up lobbying efforts to get the Murujuga rock art complex inscribed on the world heritage list.

Unesco advisers recommended in May that the nomination be blocked and referred back to Australia until nearby “degrading acidic emissions”, including those from a Woodside gas plant, were stopped.