Kimberley Traditional Owners Rally with Hundreds at WA Parliament Demanding the Cook Government Expand Fracking Ban to the Kimberley as EPA Decides

More than 500 West Australians have rallied outside WA Parliament in Perth today with Kimberley Traditional Owners, demanding the Roger Cook Government permanently ban fracking in the state’s Kimberley.

Hundreds rallied to ask the Cook Government to ban fracking in the Kimberley. Photo: Wendy Mitchell.

The community is also calling on the Cook Government to urgently reject Texan company Black Mountain Energy’s twenty-well “Valhalla” fracking project in the West Kimberley near Derby, which is undergoing state and federal environmental assessment. 

“Valhalla” is the most progressed of any fracking proposal in the state and would involve the drilling of 20 test wells in the heart of the Kimberley’s Martuwarra Fitzroy River catchment. Black Mountain Energy has stated they want to send fracked gas from the Kimberley to the Pilbara. This would lead to thousands of oil and gas wells across the globally famed natural landscapes of the region.

A photo at the rally showing Mt Hardman Creek, a Kimberley waterway in the vicinity of proposed fracking. Photo: Nick Doyle.

The WA EPA has decided on its recommendation to the Minister for the Environment, Matthew Swinbourn, and is currently preparing its advice to send to him.

Today’s rally is the most significant show of opposition to fracking since 2018, when the McGowan Government permanently banned fracking in the Perth, Peel, Southwest, and Dampier Peninsula areas of the state, but inexplicably not the rest of the Kimberley. 

Hundreds rallied at WA Parliament. Photo: Martin Pritchard.

Mangala Martu Traditional Owner Nuriah Jadai said:

“We have a responsibility to look after our Country in the Kimberley. When the Country is alive, our culture is alive. The land means so much more to us than money.”

“Fracking for oil and gas threatens everything that’s important to us. We do not want to risk our springs and waterways with toxic chemicals and radioactive wastewater, and we don’t want to see our Country cut up and industrialised.

“The Labor Government keeps saying there’s a veto for Traditional Owners, this is not true. There is no veto for test fracking, and the government hasn’t put any legislation in place for a veto.

“We’re calling on the Premier Roger Cook to ban fracking on our Country in the Kimberley, like his government has done in the southwest of WA. Are we not as important as the people of the southwest?”

Mangala Martu Traditional Owner Nuriah Jadai holds a frack free Kimberley sign at the rally. Photo: Nick Doyle.

Janet Holmes á Court, prominent West Australian and supporter of the arts said:

“The Kimberley is a place like no other, cherished by West Australians and the nation. To allow it to be turned into a fracking gasfield would be sacrilege. The Premier Roger Cook needs to ban fracking in the Kimberley, it’s the most destructive industry I’ve seen proposed for the place.”

Janet Holmes á Court addresses the rally. Photo: Reifanzo Photography.

Environs Kimberley Executive Director Martin Pritchard said:

“There’s never been an opportunity like this for Premier Roger Cook and his Labor Government to ban fracking in the Kimberley. The community doesn’t want it, the vast majority of Traditional Owners don’t want it, and with fracking banned in the southwest of the state, it would be easy to extend the ban to the Kimberley.

“Surely the Labor Government is not going to open the Kimberley to this polluting and highly destructive industry and threaten the $500 million tourism industry, which supports hundreds of jobs in the remote region?

“If the Cook Government doesn’t ban this industry, then we’ll have no choice but to campaign hard in the seat of Fremantle again and extend that to other seats across the metro area at the next election.

“We’re not going to sit idly by and let the Kimberley be industrialised.” 

Voters urge the Cook Labor Government to ban fracking in the Kimberley. Photo: Nick Doyle.

Lock the Gate Alliance WA spokesperson Simone van Hattem said:

“West Australians love the Kimberley: its stunning waterfalls, gorges, beaches, and unique wildlife. People come from all around the world to visit the majestic Kimberley, generating hundreds of millions for a thriving tourism industry. 

“Destructive gas fracking poses a serious threat to the Kimberley. Full-scale gas fracking would mean thousands of gas wells, sucking billions of litres of water and risking catastrophic pollution and contamination.

“We’re calling on the Cook Government to ban fracking in the Kimberley. This is the moment for Premier Roger Cook to protect one of WA’s greatest natural and cultural treasures from being transformed into a frack-well pockmarked wasteland, like the gas and oil fields of the ruined Texan landscapes where Black Mountain is from.”

Photo: Reifanzo Photography.

Background:

Black Mountain Energy's 20-well Valhalla project proposal would be the first fracking operation anywhere in WA since the WA Government lifted the moratorium on fracking in 2018. If approved, it could open the door to thousands of gas wells across the region. Black Mountain Energy is comparing the Kimberley’s Canning Basin to the Permian Gas Basin in the US. The Permian has more than 190,000 oil and gas wells (see BME website here).

Photo: Nick Doyle.

Rally partners: 

The rally was organised by Environs Kimberley and Lock the Gate Alliance, in partnership with Seed Indigenous Youth Climate Network, Australian Youth Climate Coalition, Conservation Council of WA, and the Australian Conservation Foundation.

The Kimberley is renowned for its awe-inspiring landscapes, untarnished by industrialisation and urban sprawl, as well as the ancient living culture that continues to be practised here.

These are the mainstay of the economy, providing more than half a billion dollars in revenue and a significant portion of the region’s jobs. Just as importantly, the intact condition of the Kimberley underpins residents’ wellbeing and supports the natural world, with healthy populations of rare as well as common animals and plants.

“The Kimberley is home to some truly unique and spectacular attractions...Tens of thousands of tourists flock to this area every year to enjoy an unforgettable outback experience amidst a breathtaking landscape,” Minister for the Kimberley and Regional Development, Stephen Dawson said.

While the description sounds idyllic, successive state governments have failed to act to protect the region’s crucially important attributes.

Less than 8% of the land in the Kimberley is in protected areas that prohibit landclearing, oil and gas extraction and mining.

If you’ve been following our work for a while, you’ll have seen that fracking for oil and gas is a huge concern, as well as the push by the Woodside Joint Venture to drill around Scott Reef. These are totally inappropriate industries for a globally significant region. Less well known are the other threats to the Kimberley’s environment – its freshwater, tropical savannah, intact coastline, marine parks, threatened species and national-heritage listed landscapes. We list some of the threats in the map below – excessive irrigation, bauxite mining, sand mining, heavy mineral sands mining, oil and gas extraction and fish farming are at our door.

A new concern is applications by Ms Gina Rinehart for mining exploration leases on her Liveringa Station and Fossil Downs pastoral lease and surrounding leases through her company ‘Central Pilbara North Iron Ore’. We don’t know what Ms Rinehart wants to explore for but we will vigorously oppose any damaging mining proposals.

Former Liberal Premier Colin Barnett said in 2009 that the future of the Kimberley was mining. “Just as the Pilbara was critically important to the development of WA from the'60s, over the next 50 years the Kimberley will play a similar role."

At the March 2025 election, the WA Labor Government under Roger Cook gave no new commitments to protecting the natural environment here. The proposals in front of them now will be a major test of their Kimberley credentials and show us whether they will follow Colin Barnett in his fixation on industrialising the Kimberley, or protect the Kimberley’s breathtaking landscape and environment.

Sign the petition to ask Premier Cook to ban fracking in the Kimberley here.

Broome based conservation group Environs Kimberley says the Federal government’s approval of the Woodside North West Shelf extension to 2070 signals the death knell for Scott Reef, Australia’s most important oceanic reef 270km off the Kimberley coast.

“We need net zero by 2050 not new gas refineries to 2070 if we want to keep coral reefs like Scott Reef alive,” said Environs Kimberley Director Martin Pritchard.

“The Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Environment Minister Murray Watt have taken the gas industry line which is contrary to expert organisations like the International Energy Agency, United Nations and climate scientists who say we can’t open up new gas basins if we want a safe climate,” Mr Pritchard said.

North West Shelf project. Photo: CCWA.

“People, especially young people, voted for a safe climate not the financial interests of oil and gas companies who now effectively have a licence to pollute until 2070,” said Mr Pritchard.

“The Albanese government will regret this decision as more climate catastrophes come our way and must take responsibility for that due to decisions like this.

“We now have no choice but to run the biggest campaign since James Price Point to protect Scott Reef and to make sure fracking doesn’t happen in the Kimberley,” said Mr Pritchard. 

Send your submission to save Scott Reef here. 

Scott Reef. Photo: Alex Westover.

Independent legal advice states there would be no obligation for the Western Australian Government to compensate any company that possesses a petroleum tenement, should the ban on fracking be expanded to the Kimberley.

This raises serious questions about the response from Premier Roger Cook, quoted in the media recently, suggesting there could be “legal consequences for the state”, should the ban be extended to include the Kimberley. 

Environs Kimberley Executive Director Martin Pritchard said, “The Premier’s claims are unfounded — we’re yet to see any evidence that there would be legal ramifications from a fracking ban.

“In fact we have legal advice from a barrister — whose career includes many years at the State Solicitor's Office — that shows exactly the opposite. 

Community protest in Broome. Photo: Alex Westover.

“The legal advice is clear — no compensation would be owed to companies who hold a petroleum license if the WA Labor Government banned fracking in the Kimberley.

“The WA Government banned fracking down south and around Perth and as far as we’re aware there was no compensation, so why won’t MPs do it for the Kimberley? 

“The Premier is aware of our legal advice, and we’ve told him, if he knows something that we don’t, we’re more than happy to have it legally reviewed. 

“West Australians won’t stand by while the Kimberley is sacrificed for no reason. Traditional Owners and Kimberley locals are calling for a ban. Community organisations are calling for a ban. And so are WA Labor’s voters. It’s time to act.”

Fremantle locals know fracking the Kimberley would be disastrous. Photo: John Reed.

Lock the Gate Alliance WA Coordinator Claire McKinnon said, “Voters aren’t about to be hoodwinked by Roger Cook’s claims that fracking isn’t going to expand in the Kimberley. 

“The fact is, US company Black Mountain has plans to frack in the Kimberley going through state and federal approval processes right now. 

“Lock the Gate Alliance and Environs Kimberley have galvanised an army of volunteers and supporters in Perth and Fremantle who are backing Kimberley communities in their call for a ban. 

“If the Cook Government refuses to ban fracking in the Kimberley, then it can expect the voters of Freo and Perth to send them a strong message at the ballot box at the upcoming election.”

Premier Cook on election trail in the Kimberley – community calls for fracking ban commitment

West Australian Premier Roger Cook is on the election trail in Broome and has been greeted with a strong community call to extend the ban on fracking in the southwest of the state and the Dampier Peninsula to cover all the Kimberley.

While the WA Government under Premier Mark McGowan’s leadership promised veto rights for Traditional Owners and farmers over fracking in 2018, the promise has not been fulfilled and the whole process is creating significant division in communities across the region.

“There’s a simple answer to the whole question of the destructive industrialisation of the Kimberley through oil and gas fracking and that’s a ban on the industry like there is in the Southwest of the state,” said Environs Kimberley Executive Director Martin Pritchard.

The community protest at local Kimberley MP Divina D’Anna’s office called for the ban in light of the proposal by Texan fossil fuel company Black Mountain, to drill and frack 20 oil and gas wells in the Martuwarra Fitzroy River catchment.

The WA EPA is currently assessing the proposal and a decision will be required of the WA Government after the election.

The Kimberley community has vehemently opposed fracking for the past 12 years and concerns have been heightened recently with Black Mountain proposing a pipeline to an LNG refinery in the Pilbara.

“A recent report by climate scientists has shown the potential for 8,700 oil and gas wells across the region that would seriously undermine Australia's ability to meet its climate goals, surely the Premier Roger Cook doesn’t want to open the Kimberley to that,” Mr Pritchard said.

“What we have now is a completely different proposition to what the WA government based its lifting of the ban on fracking in the Kimberley in 2018. What we’re facing now is turning the Kimberley into Texas,” Mr Pritchard said.  

“The community wants a commitment from the Premier and the Labor party that the already existing ban on fracking in the Southwest of the state and the Dampier Peninsula be extended to cover the whole Kimberley,” Mr Pritchard said.

Surveying of over 1,000 people in the seat of Fremantle revealed 92% of voters want a ban on fracking and 72% are willing to change their vote for it.

“If its too risky for the Southwest then we shouldn’t be discriminated against in the Kimberley just because it’s been a safe Labor seat,” Mr Pritchard said.

You can send a message asking Premier Cook to ban fracking in the Kimberley here. 

Photo: Damian Kelly.

The Environmental Protection Act Amendment Bill 2024 introduced into WA Parliament today will compromise the independence of the Environment Protection Authority and exacerbate WA’s climate and nature crises.

“The Premier’s assertion that reforms are needed due to ‘green tape strangling development’ is disingenuous in the extreme. Delays have come about due to the lack of resources and staff in the EPA and the WA government should take responsibility for that.”

“This is the darkest day in the 50 year history of environmental laws in WA,” said Environs Kimberley Director of Strategy Martin Pritchard. 

“Increasing the EPA Board from 5 to 9 to stack it with mining, oil and gas and property development interests does not pass the pub test; we need environmentally-focused people whose primary interest is protecting the environment, not facilitating its destruction.”

“We understand that the government will also issue the EPA with what it calls ‘Statements of Expectation’, effectively directing the EPA to follow the government's priorities. This undermines the independence of our most important environment watchdog.” 

“Removing the community’s right to appeal an EPA decision not to assess a project is a retrograde, anti-democratic step to appease industry and only benefits big business.”

The government’s changes will effectively strip the EPA of its independence at a time when we need to strengthen WA’s nature laws to defend nature and the places we love because of the unfolding climate change and extinction crisis.

“The Environmental Protection Act Amendment Bill 2024 is the Cook Labor government caving in to the mining, oil and gas and real estate industries instead of looking after WA’s nature which has a spiralling number of threatened species getting closer to extinction.”

Places like the Kimberley’s National Heritage-listed Martuwarra Fitzroy River and animals like threatened Bilbys, threatened turtles and whales, and the critically endangered Freshwater Sawfish are already at severe risk of extinction and need more protection, not less.

“We need a stronger EPA and environment laws. What is currently being proposed is exactly what Liberal Premier Colin Barnett wanted and we can’t believe the Labor Government is willing to gut our environmental laws to fast track damaging projects which will supercharge the multiple environmental crises we are facing.”