The Friends of Australian Rock Art have reacted to revelations that the WA state government wrote the contentious executive summary of the highly controversial 2025 Murujuga Rock Art Monitoring Program Report (MRAMP), not the Curtin University scientists who were contracted to produce the report that formed a crucial plank of the approval for Woodside's North West Shelf extension.
The stunning admission was contained in an email from the lead scientist on the Woodside-funded MRAMP report, Benjamin Mullins, in which he stated that the WA Department of Water and Environmental Regulation (DWER) put a "very rosy spin" on the results in the executive summary of the full report, stating they "hoped everyone would only read the summary and not the full report."
Mullins' email, released under FOI, also states that the Curtin University scientific team responsible for the MRAMP research advocated repeatedly to retain a key data point, showing the unsafe levels of industrial emissions threatening Murujuga's rock art, but both DWER and industry-funded Murujuga Aboriginal Corporation (MAC) insisted on removing it.
It comes amid further revelations that confirm previous reports that MRAMP scientists are gagged from speaking publicly about the report, as MRAMP's chief statistician, who previously blew the whistle on what he described as "unacceptable government interference" in the report's release, is revealed to have resigned from the MRAMP program entirely.
Ahead of their legal challenge to the WA government's approval of the North West Shelf extension, listing for hearing in WA's Supreme Court at 9.45am this Friday 22 August, Friends of Australian Rock Art co-convenor Judith Hugo said today:
"This latest revelation further confirms that the Murujuga rock art monitoring results have been doctored by the WA government to paint a rosy picture about the impacts of industrial pollution at the site.
"The government report was very clear that Murujuga's rock art has been damaged by industrial pollution.
"This is not just on Woodside. It implicates the WA government and the industry-funded Murujuga Aboriginal Corporation.
"The rock art monitoring was very clear that there has been damage done to the rock art. Someone needs to be held accountable for this.
"Why do we have these organisations who have failed to do the job involved in the monitoring of Murujuga's ancient rock art? Of course they are going to doctor the results to cover up their failures – they have a clear conflict of interest.
"This whole situation should be investigated by an independent inquiry. This is a site of global significance, and we need a Royal Commission to investigate what has happened here for years and is still happening today.
"You can't have the same corporations that are causing ongoing harm to this world heritage site also funding the management, monitoring and reporting of impacts on the Burrup. There needs to be truly independent management of this globally significant site.
"The WA government has failed to protect the rock art landscape, and now they are covering up the damage they have allowed to occur. The whole thing has to be taken out of their hands if anyone is to have confidence in the process."
