The Federal Court has ordered that ‘Raelene Cooper v Minister for Environment and Water’ will be heard in the week of July 14, after today’s first hearing in Murujuga traditional custodian Ms Cooper’s legal action to compel Federal Environment Minister Murray Watt to make a determination of her Murujuga Section 10 cultural heritage assessment.
The Court has noted the Minister Watt’s agreement to give Ms Cooper three business days’ notice prior to making any final approval decision for the North West Shelf.
That affords Ms Cooper an opportunity to consider filing an injunction to prevent the Minister from making a final decision to approve the North West Shelf extension before determining her Section 10 application.
It comes after the Environment Minister announced a proposed decision last Wednesday to approve Woodside’s North West Shelf extension, which bears on Ms Cooper’s Section 10 application for protection of Murujuga’s sacred rock art. The rock art is at risk from the impacts of industrial developments at Woodside’s Burrup Hub, which includes the North West Shelf extension.
Lawyers for Ms Cooper, Johnson Legal, wrote to the Environment Minister on 16 April 2025 to demand a resolution of her Section 10 application before a final decision is made about the North West Shelf extension, and renewed her request to Murray Watt following his appointment as Environment Minister last month.
Ms Cooper’s Section 10 application under the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Protection Act 1984 was first filed with the federal government in February 2022. An independent reporter submitted their findings to the federal government in June 2023. Under the ATSIHPA legislation, the Minister is empowered to make any Declaration he deems appropriate to protect Murujuga’s cultural heritage.
Mardathoonera woman Raelene Cooper, a former Chair of the Murujuga Aboriginal Corporation and Section 10 applicant, said today outside the Federal Court in Sydney:
“The Court noted today the Minister’s agreement to give me three business days’ notice before he announces any final approval decision for the North West Shelf.
“That gives me the opportunity to consider an injunction to prevent the Minister from making a final decision to approve the North West Shelf extension before determining my Section 10 application.
“I have commenced proceedings in the Federal Court in Sydney to force Murray Watt to address my application for protection of the Murujuga rock art under Section 10 of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Protection Act.
“I originally brought this application in early 2022 when I learned how my cultural heritage would be affected if industry was allowed to continue expanding on Murujuga, including Woodside's North West Shelf extension.
“That was three years ago. For their entire first term, Labor ignored my application while the devastation to my cultural heritage has continued on Murujuga.
“I instructed my lawyers at Johnson Legal to commence proceedings to require the Minister to do his Ministerial duty and make a decision. If the Minister waits any longer, there will be nothing left to protect.
“If the Minister approves the North West Shelf extension before addressing my application, he will be locking in the very threat that I have sought to prevent.
“I am furious that the Minister would make a decision to lock in ongoing and irreversible damage to my country before addressing my application.
“I am sickened that the Minster would make such a decision without even paying us the respect of coming here to meet with the Custodians of this place, and without even seeing the incredible Murujuga rock art with his own eyes.
“The Minster does not even have the respect to come and see for himself what he will be allowing Woodside to destroy.
“I have had to travel to Sydney to seek legal relief from the ravages of Woodside, the WA government and now the federal government who are willing to destroy Murujuga for corporate greed. At least the whole of Australia now knows about the dirty deals that have been allowed to take place in Western Australia for many years, the worst of which is the North West Shelf extension.”
ENDS
High quality, high resolution photos and vision of the North West Shelf facility and its impacts on Murujuga rock art is available here (all images credit: Save our Songlines)
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