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April 12th, 2013 
WOODSIDE axing its James Price Point gas hub has left the federal and West Australian governments insisting investment in the nation’s resources isn’t over, and that the Browse fields will eventually be developed.
Those assurances were dismissed by environmentalists, who claimed victory in a long-fought war and poured salt into the energy giant’s wounds by celebrating outside its Broome office.
Newly installed federal resources minister Gary Gray said the government remained “absolutely confident” that the Browse Basin – which also contains oil – would be commercialised, generating jobs and wealth.
Woodside’s decision didn’t mean the investment boom in Australia’s resources had peaked, Mr Gray said.
WA Premier Colin Barnett also talked up the inevitability of the Browse Basin being exploited, saying it had enough gas resources to be as big as the Carnarvon Basin off the Pilbara coast, which contains the massive North West Shelf gas plant.
The Browse Basin also contained oil, and there was additionally the shale gas potential of the Kimberley’s onshore Canning Basin – all of which needed an export facility, Mr Barnett said.
While Mr Barnett latched on to Woodside’s suggestion it could proceed with a smaller onshore plant, Greens leader Christine Milne said the party would not back any alternative development proposals such as an offshore “floating” plant until it heard firm details.
Hinting that some green groups might have claimed victory too soon, Ms Milne said the battle was not won until WA legislation allowing the development was repealed.
Still on the left but with a very different view, Australian Workers’ Union national secretary Paul Howes said the decision was a disaster for jobs.
“They have sacrificed tens of thousands of Australian jobs at the altar of higher profits for Woodside and (partner) Shell executives,” he said.
He called on the federal government not to renew Woodside’s retention leases in the Browse Basin, which expire in December next year.
As extreme reactions continued, Kimberley Land Council (KLC) chief executive Nolan Hunter was more circumspect, stopping short of saying he was disappointed.
The project going ahead was obviously a key requirement for native title claimants to receive $1.5 billion worth of benefits that would flow to the local indigenous community over 30 years, but there was still the chance of “minimal benefits”, he said.
Mr Hunter said the deal, which had been struck with the state government and Woodside, remained commercial-in-confidence, but it was about more than just jobs.
The deal had been structured to include environmental protection measures, ensuring “it wasn’t development at any cost”, he told AAP.
Mr Barnett said he was deeply upset the local indigenous people would now be denied the benefits package.
The same observation was made on the other side of state politics, with Ben Wyatt, WA Labor’s treasury spokesman, saying the Aboriginal people of the Kimberley should be allowed to keep the benefits package irrespective of how the gas was developed.
“The Aboriginal people of the Kimberley must be able to keep this crucial package once the Browse gas deposits are developed,” said Mr Wyatt, the nephew of the first indigenous lower house MP Ken Wyatt.
But with high costs being blamed for Woodside’s decision, that may take many years.
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