Australia Extends License for Nation’s Biggest Fossil Fuel Project

Last week, the Australian government announced it had given preliminary approval for the country’s biggest fossil fuel project, the North West Shelf Project, to continue operations until 2070.

The facility, on Western Australia’s Burrup Peninsula, is the country's largest liquefied natural gas plant.

The extension has been opposed by Indigenous activists and climate and human rights organizations, including Human Rights Watch.

The area surrounding the Burrup plant is known as Murujuga and is culturally significant to Indigenous groups for its more than one million ancient rock carvings called petroglyphs. Save Our Songlines, an Indigenous-led campaign group, have described Murujuga as a place of worship, and the petroglyphs as being equivalent to holy scriptures.

There is evidence air pollution from the project is already damaging the petroglyphs, which date back 50,000 years and include the world’s oldest recorded depiction of human faces.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) recently rejected Australia’s bid to add Murujuga’s Cultural Landscape to its World Heritage List, citing concerns over damage to the petroglyphs being caused by industrial emissions. Professor Benjamin Smith, an expert in petroglyphs, has warned that if the pollution continues, the rock art risks being lost altogether. He has accused the state government of misrepresenting evidence that damage to the petroglyphs was caused by pollution from the Burrup gas plant. Extending the project has also raised serious concerns about exacerbating the global climate crisis and its detrimental effects. Australia is already one of the world’s largest fossil fuel exporters.

The scientific community has urgently called for phasing out the use of fossil fuels to achieve the target of limiting the increase in global average temperature to no more than 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

The Australia Institute’s analysis found that the extension of the project will result in the release of 90 million tonnes of emissions annually, equivalent to 12 Australian coal power stations. Indigenous campaigners have said they will keep fighting the project. Raelene Cooper, a Mardudhunera woman and Murujuga traditional custodian, has launched a federal court legal action to compel the Australian government to protect the rock art.

The Australian government should not be putting business interests ahead of Indigenous people’s cultural rights and the rights to a healthy environment. Fulfilling these obligations means revoking the extension of the North West Shelf Project. .

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References:

• https://minister.dcceew.gov.au/watt/media-releases/statement-north-west-shelf-gas-processing-project
• https://www.saveoursonglines.org/
• https://theconversation.com/how-the-north-west-shelf-expansion-risks-further-damage-to-murujugas-50-000-year-old-rock-art-257615
• https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-05-27/murujuga-rock-art-benjamin-smith-government-cover-up/105342280
• https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/may/27/the-spin-has-been-wrong-rock-art-expert-raises-concerns-over-critical-report-ahead-of-woodside-decision
• https://australiainstitute.org.au/post/woodsides-north-west-shelf-gas-export-project-a-disaster-on-five-fronts/
• https://www.sbs.com.au/nitv/article/traditional-owner-challenging-approval-of-north-west-shelf-gas-project/24xt51ad5