HERITAGE CAMPAIGNER SLAMS WOODSIDE'S CONSULTATION WITH TRADITIONAL CUSTODIANS: READ SUBMISSION IN FULL
Raelene Cooper. Credit: Supplied.
High-profile Aboriginal heritage campaigner Raelene Cooper has used her submission into a federal review of offshore oil and gas regulations to allege that “consultation by Woodside is conducted in a fundamental power imbalance.”
Federal Resources Minister Madeleine King launched the regulatory review in January following a number of high-profile court cases challenging approvals for offshore gas projects.
Ms Cooper successfully overturned Woodside’s permits for seismic blasting in court last year, but Woodside was granted a fresh permit weeks later.
In her submission to the review, Ms Cooper wrote regarding Woodside’s consultation: “Information is deliberately withheld by the company and there is no transparency regarding their plans or the impact of their operations. Responses are demanded in impossible timeframes that do not allow the exercise of cultural responsibilities. Information is withheld, so that custodians and community never have a proper understanding of the impacts on our heritage and cannot undertake the appropriate cultural processes to make decisions.
“Woodside targets its consultation towards organisations that have conflicts of interest and are dependent on its funding, and the company has been buying off people and organisations in my community for decades. It suits this company that my community receive such little real benefits from its projects, because it makes it easy for them to buy off members of the community with a few dollars, or a promise of a contract.”
According to Woodside’s First Nations Communities policy, the company “partners and engages with First Nations communities to create positive economic, social and cultural outcomes that leave a lasting legacy.”
The policy says Woodside is guided by the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and builds “respectful relationships and partnerships with First Nations communities where we are active”.
Read Ms Cooper’s full submission into the review of offshore oil and gas regulations:
