Aboriginal land to be taken for gas plant

Colin Barnett, premier of Western Australia state, Thursday said he had started formal proceedings to take the land for Woodside's Browse liquefied natural gas (LNG) precinct at James Price Point.

The pristine Kimberley region site technically belongs to the government but two Aboriginal tribes have lodged competing native title cases for the land, claiming ancestral rights dating back to before white settlement in 1788.

Barnett said talks between the tribes, his government and Woodside had reached an intractable stalemate and he had no choice but to act.

“I can honestly say, in terms of the negotiation, and I can look myself in the mirror with a clear conscience, I could not have tried harder,” Barnett told reporters.

“We have just got to the point where the conclusion has not been reached.”

Aboriginal groups slammed the decision as disrespectful, with one leader describing it as “another invasion.”

“I think compulsory acquisition is, in a sense, another act of colonialism, it's another theft of our land, it's another invasion,” said academic Mick Dodson, an Aboriginal academic from the state's Yawuru tribe.

“It should never ever be contemplated at a political level,” he told state broadcaster ABC.

The Kimberley Land Council represented the Goolarabooloo and Jabirr Jabirr people in the talks, and said Barnett's decision was akin to “sticking a finger in the eye” of Aborigines.

“This is colonization all over again, of taking an interest away from the most disadvantage Aboriginal people for the stronger party,” said council chief Wayne Bergmann.

“This only provides certainty for a rich mining company to make billions of dollars for their shareholders.

There would be a six-month “good faith” negotiating period with Aborigines and another six-months for the Native Title Tribunal to hear the matter before the compulsory land grab went ahead, Barnett said.

Woodside Petroleum wants to build the LNG processing plant at James Price Point, about 60 kilometers (37 miles) north of Broome. The company has said it wants to make a final investment decision on the hub by mid-2012.

Barnett's government believes the project could deliver much needed jobs to the region's remote and disadvantaged Aboriginal settlements.

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