Off the coast of the Kimberley region in north-western Australia is the Browse Basin, home to migratory hump-back whales and pristine coral reefs, within close proximity to traditional Aboriginal land and — below the seabed — one of the largest reserves of natural gas in the country.
Two major resource companies — Japan's Inpex and Woodside Energy — want to build multi-million dollar processing plants on the site, designed to pump the natural gas 200km from its source to convert it into Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) for the commercial sale and export of up to 12 million tonnes per year.
The WA government is determined to back the development, looking to gain most from the economic benefits of gas as a chief state export.
Along with the establishment of the plant there are additional costs and impacts. Extensive refinery operations are required to turn natural gas into LNG, and other plants, such as the Woodside LNG plant in the Pilbara region, are among the highest CO2 emitters in Australia.
The proposed "hub", which will contain the plant and the additional production field, will cover 10 square kilometres of land. Additionally, according to activist group Save the Kimberley's website, the dramatic growth of industrial shipping, including LNG tankers, condensate ships, barges, supply boats and tugs, will significantly congest the surrounding seas.
All of this could equal 10 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions each year. Such rapid development has alarmed environmental groups, including Save the Kimberley and the Wilderness Society, with community dissent building to oppose the project that could have dire consequences for the environment.
This includes environmental degradation, reduced air quality, severe impacts on marine life and natural food resources such as fishing and potentially irreparable damage to local ecosystems, including the breeding and migration of humpback whales.
The Kimberley Land Council (KLC), however, supported proposals to industrialise the areas around the gas supplies, saying that it is the only current and viable solution to the severe disadvantage that has long existed in the region.
In a March 5 media release from the KLC, executive director, Wayne Bergmann argued that achieving "secure and long-lasting benefits from their country" was the most important consideration in co-operating with Inpex, the most likely benefactor of the project.
However, the WA government has become increasingly heavy handed in its control of the project, threatening to abolish the Native Title-held veto power of traditional owners.
Premier Colin Barnett has abandoned long-term negotiations and consultation and plans to push ahead whether an agreement is reached with local communities or not.
Despite the government's close watch, the reality is that local Aboriginal communities are being forced to turn to corporations to alleviate poverty, believing the gas development will provide the desperately needed resources, jobs and infrastructure that the government has inevitably failed to deliver.
"I believe we as Aboriginal people have been put in a position to compromise who we are in regards to our connection to the land, solely to cater for industrial development", Albert Wigan, a traditional owner in North Head told Four Corners on August 22. North Head, 125km north of Broome, is the government's favoured site for the first gas hub.
Aboriginal people make up more than 50% of the Kimberley population, yet they are seeing little or no gains come out of government and corporate plans to industrialise the land and reap the profits, as Neil McKenzie, chairman of the Jumbarrngunjul Aboriginal Corporation, told the November 24 SMH.
"The industrialisation of the Kimberley is a continuation of government policy of the past", he said. Jumbarrngunjul land is close to the government's preferred port site at North Head, on the Dampier Peninsula.