The Australian Greens have said the new Environment Minister has spectacularly failed his first test in the job, after approving the climate-wrecking North West Shelf dirty gas extension to 2070.
The Greens say with the decision, Labor has killed the prospect of achieving net zero by 2050.
They add the Minister must be wanting the title of Australia's dodgiest Environment Minister, after rushing out the decision mere hours after a damning UNESCO report was released.
The report to UNESCO by its World Heritage advisory body warned that pollution from the North West Shelf threatened the Murujuga rock art, jeopardising its World Heritage nomination.
It found that Australia's existing environmental laws and regulations were inadequate to protect the ancient site, stating that dirty, polluting gas and the rock art couldn't coexist.
During the last term of parliament, Labor approved more than 30 coal and gas projects, and it now seems they have no intention of slowing down.
With sole balance of power in the Senate this term, the Greens will continue to fight for strong climate action, including pushing for no new coal and gas.
As stated by Leader of the Australian Greens, Senator Larissa Waters:
"In approving Woodside's carbon bomb, the re-elected government and the new Environment Minister have failed their first climate test.
"This North West Shelf extension has been Labor's single most important coal and gas decision to date. It will release more pollution each year than all of Australia's coal stations combined and run for 45 more years.
"Sacrificing the oldest art gallery on the planet for Woodside's private profits while the Hunter has just experienced a 1 in 500 year flood event shows the climate madness this decision is.
"Approving fossil fuels out to 2070 totally undermines the government's commitment to net zero by 2050, which is already too late for a safe climate future.
"Minister Watt approved the extension with 'strict conditions', but with Woodside already under investigation for an oil spill off the WA coast, we have little confidence those conditions will be complied with.
"This is just the first step of Woodside's Burrup Hub expansion. Next they will want to frack the Kimberley and sink the nesting grounds of turtles at Scott Reef. The Greens will fight to stop those gas basins being opened up with every fibre of our being.
"We will be encouraging environment groups to take legal action against this approval, and we support Raelene Cooper in her cultural heritage litigation.
"This approval will mean supercharged floods, fires and species extinctions.
"The Greens will keep fighting for strong climate action, and an end to new coal and gas."
As stated by Greens spokesperson for healthy oceans, Senator Peter Whish-Wilson:
"It is quite simply criminal that at this time of historic climate breakdown one of the nation's biggest and dirtiest fossil fuel projects is extended for another 45 years. What is it that Labor doesn't understand about the climate crisis?
"Look at what our oceans are telling us - just south of where Labor has detonated this climate bomb is World Heritage protected Ningaloo Reef, which has just suffered its worst mass coral bleaching on record due to warming oceans caused by the burning of fossil fuels.
"Labor's North West Shelf extension will make the unfolding tragedy in our oceans worse. The extension enables the exploitation of the Browse gas field which will risk one of the richest marine environments on the planet: Scott Reef.
"It's a complete betrayal that Labor would rather risk endangered marine wildlife, destroy a remote ecological wonderland, and cook our planet than use its electoral success to stare down big fossil fuel companies. Clearly, Labor cares more about supporting big dirty corporations and its own power structures than it does about life on this planet and future generations."
As stated by Greens spokesperson for the environment, Senator Sarah Hanson-Young:
"It is devastating that so soon after the public elected one of the most progressive parliaments in Australia's history, the new Environment Minister's first act in the job has been approving one of the biggest, dirtiest gas projects in Australia out to 2070.
"It beggars belief that right after being exposed for spilling 16,000 litres of toxic oil into our oceans, the Government has rewarded Woodside with a green light to continue unleashing pollution for decades to come at North-West Shelf.
"This will be an environmental disaster - unleashing gas pollution on a huge scale, destroying cultural heritage and threatening pristine ecosystems like Scott Reef, home to threatened endangered species like the green sea turtle and the pygmy blue whale.
"It is clear our environmental laws are broken. The Government has a choice this term - to work with the Greens in the Senate to insert a climate trigger into laws and ensure dirty projects are properly assessed for their impacts, or continue approving toxic coal and gas that sends our climate to collapse."
As stated by Greens spokesperson for Resources, Trade, Tourism, First Nations and North Australia, and Yamatji Noongar woman, Senator Dorinda Cox:
"The UNESCO World Heritage Committee draft decision should have been enough for Murray Watt to reconsider the impacts of this gas project on the WA Burrup Peninsula - but here we are again with some "restrictions". The UNESCO committee has been clear that the protection of the outstanding universal values means the total removal of degrading acidic emissions, currently impacting upon the petroglyphs of the Murujuga [area].
"This draft decision before the committee meets again in July and the controversial Western Australian government long-awaited results from its ongoing Rock Art Monitoring Program. This should have given the Minister a valid reason to delay this decision to investigate further how to prevent any further industrial development adjacent to, and within, the Murujuga Cultural Landscape - this should have been the priority.
"Days after the Juukan Gorge anniversary, the protection of sacred sites and places is a raw and chilling reminder for First Nations people of the lack of protection for our cultural heritage rights. 65,000 years of history, culture and connection is alive and well, especially in places like the Pilbara. In the 48th Parliament I will reintroduce the We All Come Together For Country Bill 2025 to amend the EPBC Act to protect and preserve sites like Murajuga from destructive industrial emissions and keep fighting for stronger cultural heritage protections."
