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North-West Gas Precinct Agreement

Place:James Price Point, the Kimberley
State/Country:Western Australia, Australia
Legal Status: This is an in principle agreement. Negotiations to finalise the agreement are currently underway.
Subject Matter:Access | Agriculture | Aquaculture | Compensation | Consultation | Economic Development | Education | Employment and Training | Environmental Heritage | Exploration | Fishing | Forestry | Future Act | Health and Community Services | Horticulture | | Land Management | Land Use | Marine | Oil and Gas | Recognition Agreement / Acknowledgement | Recognition of Traditional Rights and Interests | Youth
Summary Information:
On 27 April 2009 an in-principle agreement was signed by the State of Western Australia, Woodside Petroleum and the Traditional Owners of the land at James Price Point, the Kimberley, allowing Woodside Petroleum Ltd to build a gas hub at that site. The final agreement is currently being negotiated and is expected to be completed late in 2009 but may be delayed further. The final agreement is subject to environmental assessments and will require that Woodside pay compensation to the Traditional Owners of the land.
Detailed Information:
Purpose

For Woodside Petroleum Ltd to build a gas hub at James Price Point in the Kimberley to provide gas to the area as well as job opportunities and economic growth to the Kimberley region, while providing compensation to the Traditional Owners of the land.

Key Objectives and Principles

In 2007, Woodside proposed that a gas plant be built somewhere along the Kimberley shoreline. 16 months of consultation ensued between the State of Western Australia, Traditional Owners and Woodside, facilitated by the Kimberley Land Council. It was decided that James Price Point would be the most appropriate site for the proposed gas plant (Bergmann & Davey).

After much consideration, on 15 April 2009, over 100 Traditional Owners of the land at that site, the Goolarabooloo Jabirr Jabirr people, voted in favour of the gas development being built at James Price Point.

On 29 April 2009 an in-principle agreement to build the gas plant was signed between the Goolarabooloo Jabirr Jabirr people, the State of Western Australia and Woodside.

This gas project is predicted to last 30 years and be worth 185 billion dollars. It is expected that the development will create lots of training jobs and business opportunities including 6000 fly-in fly-out jobs and hundreds of positions for local indigenous groups (The Australian).

Implementation

The agreement signed is only an agreement-in-principle. The final agreement is subject to the following:

- Heritage assessments regarding the land around James Price Point to be carried out in great detail by the Kimberley Land Council and Traditional Owners
- All the required environmental assessments
- The signing of an ILUA (Indigenous Land Use Agreement) (Kimberley Land Council)

It has been suggested that the agreement will be finalised in December 2009 but there is some expectation that the process will continue into 2011. (Bergmann & Davey)

Related Entries

Organisation
  • State of Western Australia - Signatory
  • Woodside Petroleum Ltd - Signatory
  • Kimberley Land Council Aboriginal Corporation
  • Commonwealth of Australia
  • Legislation
  • Native Title Act 1993 (Cth)
  • Native Title Amendment Act 1998 (Cth)
  • People
  • Goolarabooloo People - Signatory

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