Crossbenchers and environmental advocates are furious at the government’s decision to extend the life of one of the world’s biggest liquified natural gas projects from 2030 to 2070.
The environment minister, Murray Watt, gave the green light to Woodside Energy’s applicationto extend the life of the North West Shelf projectfrom 2030 to 2070.
Independent senator for the ACT David Pocock said it was a “devastating decision”.
“I think there’ll be a lot of people with some buyer’s remorse – I think people voted for Labor to actually do better on climate,” he told Guardian Australia.
“I think it really is a betrayal of Australians and the Pacific. I think it’s really, really sad.”
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Others on the crossbench also spoke out, blasting the decision. Independent MP Zali Steggall said it would be a “mark on Anthony Albanese and the 48th parliament’s legacy”.
“The first official action they have taken is to approvean emissions bombtill 2070, and that puts at risk our net zero commitment,” she said.
Steggall also said that the election was a “clear debate” on climate, and that the public had voted for a “transition to renewable energy”.
“The reality is that the decision to expand and extend the North West Shelf to 2070 makes a mockery of the commitment to [net zero by] 2050 and makes a mockery of the commitment to preserving cultural heritage,” she said.
Watt said he had been required to consider the potential impact of the plant on the national heritage values of nearby ancient rock art, and economic and social matters. Under the current legislation, climate change is not grounds to refuse or limit a development application. Watt has been charged withlegislating a federal environment protection agency, after the last laws, designed under the former environment minister Tanya Plibersek, were dumped near the end of the last parliamentary term.
On Thursday, Anthony Albanese told ABC radio the country was halfway towards delivering achieving its target of 82% renewables by 2030, but that the grid needed to be “backed by gas”.
“[The extension] was approved by the state government. Murray Watt, as the federal minister, had to look at some of the issues which are there. He has made a preliminary determination out there for comment that is based upon very strict conditions,” he said.
Watt said he had toldWoodsidethe extension, on the Burrup Peninsula in northern Western Australia, would come with “strict conditions” relating to local air pollution.
Labor MPs, some who had previously spoken out againstthe government’s 2050 gas strategy, were less agitated than the crossbench by the approval.
One said it was “not ideal” but noted Watt was confined to the current environmental laws. Another MP also said that the environment minister was in a “very difficult” position in making a decision within the “constraints of the law”.
They said the decision “solidified … the need to get action on environmental reforms”.
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A third Labor source said the timing was “tough”, following closely on an election with climate and the energy transition in focus.
The CEO of the Australian Conservation Foundation, Kelly O’Shanassy, said Watt could have used the current environmental laws – the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act – to reject the extension.
“The EPBC Act is a series of processes that the minister can apply, so they can if they want to choose to assess the climate implications of a project right now – and they just choose not to,” she said.
“Global warming, which is right now causing droughts to be worse in South Australia, floods to be worse in NSW, and not so long ago, a cyclone hitting Brisbane – that is driven by coal and gas and the government seems to be OK with that.”
On Wednesday, after the decision, the Greens accused Watt of having “failed at the first hurdle”.
“Rather than protecting the environment, the minister has just approved the trashing of our environment and trashing climate action,” said the party’s environmental spokesperson,Sarah Hanson-Young.
On Thursday, mining company Fortescue Metals, owned by the billionaire Andrew Forrest, sharply criticised the approval.
The company’s chief executive, Dino Otranto, said the suggestion that Australia could lock in fossil fuel projects until 2070 while still claiming progress toward net zero was “concerning”.
“If Australia is serious about tackling climate change we must move beyond net zero and commit to genuine emissions reduction,” he said.
“Extending high-emitting projects like the North West Shelf is not a credible long-term climate solution – it’s a step backward. More than that, it raises serious questions about how we define climate ambition in Australia.”