Debbie Guest; 11/5/09
Kimberley Aborigines and five unions will today sign a historic agreement to promote indigenous participation in the workforce when a $185 billion gas project is built near Broome. The agreement between the Kimberley Land Council and the unions will see a push for Aboriginal participation in the gas precinct, promotion of good wages and conditions and support for greater recognition of Aboriginal land rights. The liquefied natural gas plant is set to be developed at James Price Point, 60km north of Broome, after the KLC reached a $1billion-plus deal over 30 years with government and business.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25459108-5013404,00.html
Standing up to save Dreaming from gas pipeline
Stuart Rintoul; 11/5/09
Walking on a stretch of pristine beach north of Broome, as unchanged now as it was in the time of his ancestors, Joseph Roe is talking about Bugarrigarra – the Dreaming – and whether it can survive the arrival of a billion-dollar gas pipeline. The massive project will net Woodside and its joint venture partners $185 billion, provide 6000 fly-in-fly out jobs during construction, and deliver Roe’s people an unprecedented $2 billiion package. However, he does not believe the Dreaming can survive and as a result he has opposed the controversial project and threatened to tie up Woodside and its partners in court battles for years to come. He talks about traditional song cycles along the Kimberley coast, in Australia’s northwest, and says that Woodside’s $20 billion Browse Basin LNG gas hub, which will measure 3km by 3km in plant infrastructure alone, would break the chain of songs, like breaking the back of the snake.
See: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25459109-5013404,00.html
Tags: Aboriginal, Australia, Culture, Trade, Workers