Sunday, 18 September 2011

MEDIA RELEASE Statement from Joseph Roe

Goolarabooloo Senior Law Boss & Principal Informant for Dept. Indigenous Affairs for site.

Minister Burke must intervene immediately to stop Woodside from destroying culturally significant sites at James Price Point
Woodside has a jack-up rig working dangerously close to our National Heritage listed Dinosaur tracksites nearshore off James Price Point. The growing intensity of the drilling works in recent days, as well as their proximity to important cultural sites is a matter of extreme concern. I applied to Minister Burke for an emergency intervention on 7 July 2011 to stop Woodside from commencing drilling at James Price Point under section 9 of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Protection Act,Joseph Roe said today in Broome. This is emergency legislation, enabling the Minister to take swift action. Three months on, his office hasnt even to made a decision on whether or not to enact this emergency action. Meanwhile, the damage is being done every day. This is nowhere near good enough,Mr Roe continued. A fortnight ago, the Minister announced National Heritage listing for the Kimberley, including the dinosaur trackways off James Price Point. That listing recognised the scientific value of the trackways, but they are also of very high cultural significance to us as Traditional Owners, Mr Roe continued. The EPA has just announced that two international scientists are to be flown out to Australia to further investigate these tracksites in the coming weeks because the EPA found the palaeontological survey the Department of State Development commissioned for the Strategic Assessment Report inadequate. Mr Roe went on to say, wherever Woodside is working, theyre already doing damage. The works onshore to date have already brought considerable damage to a number of culturally significant sites. One of their archaeological consultants (Eureka Archaeological Research and Consulting) operated on site without appropriate permits, and removed culturally significant items from country. We have asked for these to be returned, but have had no reply. These culturally important items have not been returned to us Investigations are now underway by the Department of Indigenous Affairs into several incidents including heavy vehicles driving over burial sites, and damage to middens. Mr Roe issued a formal complaint to DIA about these breaches on 9 June 2011. The Senior Law Bosses (Myself, Phillip Roe and Richard Hunter) are responsible for this country, and I am the sole Principal Informant for the Registrar of the Department of Indigenous Affairs for these sites. No-one has ever sought my permission for any of these works to happen. Ive asked a hundred times, but no-one has ever shown me the Section 18 permit Woodside must have under the Aboriginal Heritage Act to do this work. If they have permission

to do this drilling offshore, and the land clearing onshore, Id like to see their paperwork, Mr Roe said. I have contacted both Minister Burkes office and the EPA directly to say this is unacceptable. Minister Burke must step in to stop these drilling operations immediately, concluded Mr Roe. Contact Louise Middleton 0400 156 467 to arrange further comment from Joseph Roe.