West Australian Premier Colin Barnett has threatened to compulsorily acquire land earmarked for a multi-billion-dollar gas development if a dispute between rival native title claimants continues.
Mr Barnett wants an indigenous land-use agreement to be signed by the end of June for the Woodside Petroleum Ltd-led Browse liquefied natural gas (LNG) processing hub at James Price Point, about 60km north of Broome.
But talks between the Goolarabooloo/Jabirr Jabirr people and the Kimberley Land Council (KLC) have broken down, suggesting Mr Barnett's deadline will not be met.
The KLC said in a statement on Friday it had advised the Traditional Owner Negotiating Committee (TONC) to suspend negotiations with Woodside and the state government while the KLC deals with legal action brought against it by the Goolarabooloo/Jabirr Jabirr people.
"I am both disappointed and sad about today's development," Mr Barnett told AAP in an interview on Friday.
"There have been good negotiations conducted entirely in good faith, but now there seems to be a very severe division in the claimant groups.
"That makes it very difficult for government.
"We can only deal with a single unified representative group of traditional owners.
"I have, through the heads of agreement that was signed back in April last year (between Woodside, the state government and KLC), allowed time for an indigenous land-use agreement to be reached.
"The deadline for that is the 30th of June, so until we get to that deadline, I remain committed to reaching a final agreement through an ILUA (indigenous land use agreement) by consent, though I would acknowledge that looks unlikely it will be achieved given today's development."
If an agreement between the native title groups can't be reached, Mr Barnett said Woodside would either have to return to the drawing board or the land would be compulsorily acquired by the state government - a possibility Australia's only Liberal state leader first flagged last year.
"I've never ruled it out," Mr Barnett said.
"It's not my preferred way.
"But after the Inpex project was lost back in 2008, I have said that I would be prepared to use compulsory acquisition."
Mr Barnett said most of the details of an ILUA had been agreed upon, "so it would be very disappointing to see this negotiation fail at the last hurdle".
"The smaller group seems to be undoing the process, which is really sad."
Mr Barnett said the project was set to bring $1.5 billion worth of economic and social improvement to the Kimberley region.
"There has never been an opportunity for Aboriginal people of that scale in Australia's history ... direct payments, direct jobs, direct health, direct education, direct housing ... not just potential benefits."
Woodside said in an emailed statement to AAP on Friday that the KLC's action was "not unexpected".
"We intend to deliver on our commitments to Kimberley indigenous people as outlined in the heads of agreement struck between Woodside, traditional owners and the state in April 2009," the energy giant said.
Woodside said it would continue to work towards making a final investment decision on the Browse project by mid-2012.
Front page
RSS Feed