Protestors dig in for stay

Musician John Butler added his voice to a chorus of dissent last week joining a group of protestors who have been blockading the dirt road to the proposed site of Woodside’s $30 billion gas plant at James Price Point north of Broome.

Butler spent Thursday night at the activists’ camp and gave in an impromptu performance by the light of campfires and a full moon under the Kimberley sky.

On Friday morning more than 60 people braved the biting predawn chill to join Butler at the blockade which has been preventing access to James Price Point for Woodside contractors since Tuesday, June 7.

The group are preventing the clearing of 25ha of land for access tracks and geotechnical surveys on the site.

Last week two men chained themselves to the underside of a bulldozer, one remained there for more than 24 hours until he was cut free, and it was footage of these actions which galvanised Butler to make the trip to Broome just three days before he departs on a European tour.

He said he had seen footage of the protestors’ efforts over the past week on the internet and had decided to make the trip to Broome with his wife and children.

Butler said it was madness and insanity that the State Government and Woodside wanted to build a gas plant in Broome’s backyard”.

In response to comments from former Kimberley Land Council boss Wayne Bergmann who said the protestors were using “hooligan tactics”, Butler said it was a citizen’s responsibility to question their government.

“No matter where you’re from in the world if you came up here and experienced what this land has to offer you’d understand… it’s a magic place,” he said.

Mr Bergmann said the protest action did not represent the views of traditional owners for that country.

He said the Goolarabooloo/Jabbir Jabbir people had struck a balance between protecting their environmental and cultural heritage and providing a better future for their mob in signing the $1.5 billion deal with Woodside last month.

Mr Bergmann called on protestors to respect the decisions made by traditional owners.

Goolarabooloo law boss and traditional owner Joseph Roe, who has been fighting the project in the courts, said sub contractors were damaging sacred sites around James Price Point.

“I made an official complaint to Department of Indigenous Affairs about the registered [heritage] sites being damaged,” he said.

“We’re gonna stand here until someone picks up the complaint and comes out and investigates.”

Mr Roe said contractors were “desecrating” the protected heritage sites by riding four wheeler motorbikes over shell ridden piles.

A spokesman for Woodside said the blockade is denying traditional owners access to their own country where they were assisting the company’s contractors with survey activities.

“We are disappointed with the actions of these protestors who clearly do not represent or respect the views of the traditional owners,” he said.

“Woodside has all the relevant approvals in place to conduct environmental and geotechnical studies and intends to progress this program of works.”

Rumours continue about police being flown from Perth to help deal with the blockade. District Superintendent Mick Sutherland told the Broome Advertiser no police had been brought in.