Overview

• Raelene Cooper, a traditional owner, has launched Federal Court proceedings to force a decision on her three-year-old Section 10 application to protect Murujuga rock art.
• The application, lodged in 2022, seeks to halt industrial developments threatening the world’s largest collection of Aboriginal petroglyphs on the Burrup Peninsula.
• A newly released government-commissioned report confirms industrial emissions have damaged the rock art in the past, though pollution levels have since decreased.
• Woodside Energy is seeking approval to extend its North West Shelf gas project by 40 years, a decision Environment Minister Murray Watt has pledged to make by May 31.
• Environmental groups warn the extension could generate six billion tonnes of carbon emissions, while Cooper argues it risks irreversible harm to Murujuga’s cultural heritage.