Scott Reef is one of Australia’s largest oceanic reef systems and is located off the Kimberley coast in Western Australia. It has been a thriving coral reef for 15 million years, providing essential habitat for hundreds of marine species. It is a place where green turtles nest, pygmy blue whales feed, and reef species live in harmony.

Scott Reef 

Scott Reef is home to around 900 differant species of fish, a small sandy island provides nesting grounds for 1,000 green sea turtles and the deep waters surrounding the reef are home to 29 known species of whales and dolphins, including the endangered pygmy blue whale, which travels along the West Australian coast. These whales stop at Scott Reef during their annual migration to feed in the upwellings around the reef.

Scott Reef is a haven for marine life.

Corals' Last Stand 

Corals’ Last Stand is a captivating documentary that tells the critically important story of Scott Reef and the campaign to protect it.

It is told by author and marine conservationist Tim Winton, international musician John Butler and Environs Kimberley Executive Director Martin Pritchard. As well as marine scientists and conservationists working to protect Scott Reef from the oil and gas corporation Woodside’s proposed 50 oil and gas wells.

If you would like to host a screening for your community, friends, or family, let us know! Email: [email protected]

Image: Surgeon fish at Scott Reef By: Alex Westover

Scott Reef's under threat

Scott Reef’s abundant marine life has, over millions of years, contributed to creating vast reserves of oil and gas that have formed beneath the reef. Woodside, Australia’s largest oil and gas company, has proposed drilling up to 50 oil and gas wells around Scott Reef and extracting the resources from beneath the reef. They plan to build a 900 km-long pipeline to connect the Scott Reef–Browse deposit with the North West Shelf (NWS), where the gas will be processed and then mostly exported internationally.

Threats from Woodside’s Browse Gas Development

If Woodside were to get approval to drill at Scott Reef, the ecosystem would face a barrage of industrial impacts, including seismic blasting, gas flaring, underwater noise, artificial lighting, pipe-laying, and fast-moving vessels over years of construction and operation.

With gas wells planned within just a few kilometres of the reef, a blowout would be catastrophic, devastating not only the reef system but also potentially impacting the Kimberley coastline and even reaching Indonesia. In 2009, a blowout at the Montara rig in the Timor Sea saw condensate travel as far as Indonesian Timor, impacting local communities, devastating seaweed farms, and harming countless species of wildlife in the area.

Image: Montara oil spill in 2009, Timor Sea By: Martin Pritchard 

We need everyone to get onboard the campaign to stop Woodside from drilling at Scott Reef. You can help by making a donation!

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Concerns are mounting in Broome about the threat to Scott Reef off the Kimberley coast from Woodside’s Browse Basin proposal for 50 oil and gas wells around the iconic marine biodiversity hotspot.

This morning a gathering of locals requested Kimberley Member of Parliament Divina D’Anna convey their concerns about the proposal to the WA Minister for the Environment Matthew Swinbourn and Premier Roger Cook.

“The community clearly doesn’t want Woodside’s damaging, risky, polluting project that would send most of the gas overseas. There’s only a downside to this proposal for West Australians and our globally significant coastlines,” said Martin Pritchard, Executive Director of Broome-based conservation group Environs Kimberley.

Broome residents gathered to voice concerns about Woodside’s Scott Reef plan. Photo: Wendy Mitchell.

The proposal is under assessment by the WA EPA, and the Cook Labor Government is expected to make a decision in early 2026.

“Scott Reef off the Kimberley coast is a marine biodiversity jewel of the Indian Ocean and is one of Australia’s most important offshore oceanic reefs,” said Mr Pritchard. The reef is a haven for 900 species of fish, 300 coral species, 1,500 species of invertebrates and 29 species of marine mammals including the endangered pygmy blue whale. Sandy Islet, a sandy cay at Scott Reef, is the nesting ground of 1,000 genetically distinct green turtles, any damage to the islet could be catastrophic for the species. If oil and gas is extracted from underneath the reef, Sandy Islet is expected to sink and would no longer be suitable for green turtle nesting.

Locals hold handmade signs asking for protection of Scott Reef. Photo: Wendy Mitchell.

“A major oil spill would be catastrophic for marine life at Scott Reef and we have a nearby example of the Montara oil disaster from 2009 which devastated the West Timor economy and seaweed farmers’ livelihoods. An oil spill of this magnitude is too much of a risk for Scott Reef and the Kimberley coast,” Mr Pritchard said.

The emissions from the Browse oil and gas project would be on a global scale at 1.6 billion tonnes of CO₂ according to Woodside’s reports. This would further fuel climate change which is devastating reefs globally, with the latest coral bleaching covering over 1,500km of the West Australian coast and reefs from Ashmore Reef to Ningaloo.

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.

More than 17,500 Australians have made submissions to the WA Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) public comment period on Woodside’s controversial Browse gas project, calling for the rejection of the proposal to drill for gas around Scott Reef off WA’s Kimberley coast and pipe the gas to the North West Shelf export plant.

The remarkable national response from everyday Australians shows the proposal to drill over 50 oil and gas wells around the nation’s most important oceanic coral reef is completely out of touch with community expectations and should be scrapped. The WA EPA and Cook government must now reject Woodside's proposal and protect Scott Reef from industrialisation. The reef is already under severe stress from marine heatwaves caused by fossil fuel induced climate change, to industrialise and create more carbon pollution would see the end of this reef. 

Scott Reef. Photo: Nush Freedman.

The North West Shelf extension is still awaiting final federal approval.

The Conservation Council of WA, the Australian Conservation Foundation, the Australian Marine Conservation Society, Environs Kimberley and Greenpeace Australia together facilitated at least 17,500 community submissions to the WA EPA. 

 Environs Kimberley Martin Pritchard, Executive Director said: 

“The proposal to put 50 oil and gas wells, effectively industrialising one of Australia’s most sensitive oceanic coral reefs, is outrageous and completely out of step with community sentiment as demonstrated by the tens of thousands of public submissions that have been put in over the past 4 weeks on the minor amendments. 

“The community has stood up to Woodside’s industrialisation attempts before to protect the Kimberley coast at James Price Point and won. They don’t seem to have learned that lesson. We are not going to stand idly by and watch the oil and gas industry industrialise precious places like Scott Reef.

“The age of fossil fuels is over and we’re not going to allow Woodside and its joint venture partners BP, Mimi Browse and Petrochina to trash Scott Reef on the way out of the door.”

Sea snakes dancing at Scott Reef. Photo: Wendy Mitchell. 

 Conservation Council of WA Executive Director Matt Roberts said:

“Woodside’s revised Browse to North West Shelf Development proposal is an insult to the intelligence of West Australians.

"It fails to address the very real risks of oil spills, subsidence, and it increases  carbon emissions while exporting gas for private profits. The threats to the pristine ecology and the endangered pygmy blue whale, green sea turtle and dusky sea snake remain.

“The EPA made the preliminary decision to reject the Browse project because of threats to nature which have not and cannot be adequately addressed by Woodside. Alongside marine experts, we are of the firm view that the EPA should reject the revised proposal.”

Australian Conservation Foundation Climate Campaigner Piper Rollins said:

“You can’t put lipstick on a pig. The extraordinary community outrage over Browse demonstrates the total lack of social licence for Woodside’s Burrup Hub, including the controversial and still to be formally approved North West Shelf extension.

“Not only would this proposal harm Scott Reef and the many marine animals that live there, but it’s the same gas that would damage the 50,000-year-old Murujuga rock art if Woodside is allowed to build a 900-kilometre underwater pipeline to export the gas from its North West Shelf plant. 

“Woodside’s Browse proposal is incompatible with a healthy environment, a safe climate and the protection of the Murujuga rock art. Woodside knows it and the WA EPA knows it. This proposal should be unequivocally rejected.”

Scott Reef. Photo: Alex Westover.

Australian Marine Conservation Society (AMCS) Fossil Fuel Campaign Manager, Louise Morris said: 

“More than 5,000 of our supporters added their name to our submission to the WA EPA to reject this proposal as of 5pm on the submission closing date. Adding their name to our concerns about the impacts of seismic blasting on marine life such as krill and the endangered pygmy blue whale that rely on the Scott Reef ecosystem and upwellings. 

“The WA EPA had already found the Browse proposal poses unacceptable risks to endangered pygmy blue whales, the green sea turtle and other threatened marine species; these minor  amendments do nothing to fix that.”

Geoff Bice, WA Campaign Lead at Greenpeace Australia Pacific, said:

“Woodside’s revised plans are merely tinkering at the edges of what is a fundamentally problematic proposal, which fails to address the risk of subsidence at Sandy Islet, and hinges on a yet to be proven technology to mitigate the risk of a major oil spill — it is incompatible with the protection of the fragile Scott Reef.

“It’s unthinkable today that we would allow a multinational fossil fuel company to drill for gas on the Great Barrier Reef — we must not accept this at Scott Reef, home to vibrant coral, threatened species like pygmy blue whales and a critical green sea turtle rookery.

“Time and time again, Woodside has demonstrated it can’t be trusted with our oceans."

 Background on the process: 

The public comment period was in response to Woodside’s s.43A application to revise the Browse to North West Shelf Development, in response to the WA EPA forming a preliminary view in February 2024 that it would reject the project due to “unacceptable” risks to the environment, including threats many listed threatened species such as the Pygmy Blue Whale, Green Turtle and Dusky Sea Snake. 

The EPA will first make a decision on whether to accept the proposed amendments or not. They will then undergo a separate process to develop a report and recommendation to the WA Cook Government on whether Browse should proceed or not. It is expected that the EPA will accept the proposed revisions, but this will not be a decision about approval of the project or not.  

The Browse to North West Shelf Development  proposal traverses both State and Federal waters and will also require approval from the Australian Government under the EPBC Act.

The collaboration of environment groups and high profile Australians, resulting in 20,000 submissions, highlights the unabated risks to the environment and climate and widespread call for the rejection of the Browse to NWS proposal. 

• Scott Reef photos and other media assets are available via this link. 
• Photos and video from the National Day of Snap Action can be found here.
• Photos from the 2025 Woodside AGM protest can be found 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.

Western Australia’s vast treasures of tropical landscapes, coral reefs and abundant marine life, and the forests of the south-west, shape our identity. The emphatic wins of the Australian Labor Party in WA come at a time when the challenges to the very things that are part of our DNA in this great State have never been greater.

West Australians and the nation issued a sweeping rejection of extreme right-wing politics, nuclear power and unrelenting attacks on nature. Instead, they have voted for action on climate change, real protection for nature and a clean energy future.

Scott Reef – coral wonderland at risk from oil and gas industrialisation. Photo: Alex Westover.

Meanwhile, climate change is in full force and sandgropers are paying billions of dollars to tackle the crisis. The lack of rainfall in the south-west is desperate. Another six months of low rainfall will be devastating for already parched rivers, creeks and aquifers. Perth doesn't have enough rainfall to reliably provide water to its 2.3 million people. Billions have been and are about to be spent on making seawater drinkable. Hundreds of millions of dollars have been spent on repairing flood-damaged roads, bridges, homes and infrastructure following the January 2023 floods in the Kimberley's Fitzroy Crossing. Forest collapse began in earnest after last year’s five-month dry spell in the south-west summer.

Fitzroy Crossing bridge collapsing in the biggest flood in WA's recorded history. Photo: Andrea Myers.

The science is unequivocal; emissions from burning fossil fuels are driving us towards an unrecognisable WA devoid of forests, coral reefs and tropical savannah, not to mention the increase in temperatures. More days over 35° and 40° are about to make life much more challenging, even dangerous, especially for the very young and old. According to the CSIRO and Bureau of Meteorology, Fitzroy Crossing is headed for 225 days over 40 degrees by 2090 if we keep burning fossil fuels at the same rate. The conservative International Energy Agency has said that no more new fossil fuel basins can be opened if we are to have a safe climate.

The Albanese government knows this is happening. The choice it faces now is whether to greenlight Woodside and unleash billions of tonnes of carbon emissions by extending the North West Shelf project to 2070, drill and kill Scott Reef, and frack the Kimberley, or have the courage to reject these retrograde industries to protect our climate. The wrong decisions would cause untold damage to our climate-stressed forests, reefs and water.

World’s most intact tropical savannah under threat from climate change. Photo: Damian Kelly.

Younger generations can see and understand what’s happening as they flock to political parties and candidates who vow to fight for the interests of a future climate that will render the world habitable, will Albo heed them?

Will his government keep our climate safe, reject the North West Shelf extension and invest in the biggest rollout ever of clean energy and green industries? With two terms of government ahead for an Albanese government, what will be the fate of future generations resulting from its decisions?

This is the week that will determine the Albanese government’s bequest to future generations.

This will be your legacy, Prime Minister.

Martin Pritchard has been working on conservation in Western Australia for 25 years and is the Executive Director of Broome based conservation group Environs Kimberley.

Hundreds of community members gathered for the premiere screening of Corals’ Last Stand here in Broome this week. Corals’ Last Stand by documentary filmaker Jane Hammond, tells the story of the Kimberley marine treasure, Scott Reef and the challenges it faces as Woodside, BP, MiMi and Petrochina threaten the reef system with a proposal to extract oil and gas from beneath it. The story is narrated by West Australian author Tim Winton, accompanied by musician John Butler and a host of leading conservationists from Western Australia including EK's Martin Pritchard who secured the boat and went out to Scott Reef with them.  

The night also featured a screening of A Crude Injustice, another film by Jane Hammond, which tells the harrowing story of the Montara oil spill that occurred in 2009, off the Kimberley coast. The uncontrolled spill lasted for over 74 days in the Timor and reached as far as the coast of Indonesian Timor, devastating marine life and seaweed farms in its path, damage that has still not fully recovered. The Montara oil spill disaster is a timely reminder that when things go wrong in oil and gas extraction, they can go very wrong.  

Hundreds of Broome residents turn out for screening of Corals’ Last Stand. Photo: Wendy Mitchell.

The campaign to save Scott Reef is gaining momentum, with people from across Australia getting on board to protect the magnificent marine life there from the damaging effects of drilling for fossil gas. Scott Reef is a biodiversity hotspot in the Kimberley and should not be jeopardized for profit, nor should the Kimberley coast line be put at risk of a spill. Keep an eye out for further events in Broome as the fight to Stop Woodside and Save Scott Reef continues.  

To see if there is a screening happening near you check out: https://www.coralslaststand.com.au/screenings 

Or registered to host a screening for friends and family: https://www.coralslaststand.com.au/book-a-screening  

Environs Kimberley (EK) has rejected Woodside’s just-announced changes to its Browse gas project on Scott Reef as ‘tinkering around the edges’.

The WA EPA is now seeking public comment on Woodside’s five proposed ‘Section 43A’ changes which the company claims will reduce the project’s environmental risks and impacts.

Executive Director of EK, Martin Pritchard, said the proposed changes would in no way change the fact that the Scott Reef project should never be approved.

“Scott Reef is a natural jewel off the Kimberley coast. There is no way that drilling, processing and piping gas in this living marine environment could ever be made environmentally acceptable.

“In 2024 it was revealed via an FOI application that the EPA had formed the ‘preliminary view’ that Woodside’s Browse proposal was environmentally unacceptable.  According to the documents, the EPA cited threats to endangered whales and turtles and the risk of an oil spill and concluded that the project posed threats of serious or irreversible damage.

“Woodside’s tinkering has done nothing to change the reality that its project is unacceptable.

Scott Reef. Photo: Wendy Mitchell.

“We are dealing with a global climate and extinction crisis caused in large part by fossil fuels. It makes absolutely no sense to locate a new fossil fuel project, which would result in millions of tonnes of additional GHG emissions, in an environment rich in rare and threatened marine life like Pygmy blue whales, dolphins, marine turtles and sea snakes, as well as countless fish and coral species.

“Instead of tinkering with the project and toying with the assessment process, Woodside should get serious and drop the whole proposal.”

Banner image: Scott Reef. Photo: Alex Westover.

Woodside’s Browse oil and gas drilling plan for Scott Reef rejected by EPA

Oil and gas multinational Woodside’s Browse Basin project at Scott Reef with joint venture partners BP, Japan Australia LNG and PetroChina has suffered a huge blow after being rejected by the WA Environmental Protection Authority (EPA).

Congratulations to the EPA for a sensible first step in rejecting a terrible proposal.

Scott Reef. Pic: Alex Westover

The EPA have said the company’s plans to drill 50 oil and gas wells around the globally significant Scott Reef off the Kimberley coast has unacceptable impacts on endangered Blue Whales, be a threat to endangered Green Turtles, and risk pollution and oil spills at the highly biodiverse and fragile reef, according to reports made public today. The EPA considers these risks too high.

Scott Reef is a marine biodiversity hotspot that supports 29 marine mammal species including endangered Blue Whales. Nine hundred species of fish have been found at the reef and 1,500 species of invertebrates, including soft and hard corals, sponges and crustaceans. It is also a hotspot for sea snakes, including the elusive Dusky Sea Snake, which hasn’t been seen since 2002.

Save Scott Reef protest in Broome. Pic: Alex Westover.

“This proposal to drill 50 oil and gas wells around Scott Reef off the Kimberley coast, one of the most important marine hotspots in Australian waters, would be rejected out of hand at the Great Barrier Reef and Ningaloo, so it’s not surprising the WA EPA has rejected it,” said Martin Pritchard, Director of Strategy at Broome-based conservation group Environs Kimberley.  

The WA EPA has been assessing this proposal for 5 years and, in a letter to Woodside, it has been reported that there could be unacceptable impacts on endangered Blue Whales, Green Turtles and the reef itself,” said Mr Pritchard.  

Woodside withdrew its controversial plans for $80 billion LNG refineries on the Kimberley coast at James Price Point in 2013 after fierce opposition from locals and protests across the nation.

“The risks of destroying one of the world’s great coral reefs with oil and gas drilling are clearly too great, and we’re calling on Premier Roger Cook and Environment Minister Reece Whitby to also reject the threat to Scott Reef,” said Mr Pritchard.

It is understood that Woodside now has an opportunity to respond to the EPA, which will make its recommendation to the State Government. Both the State and Federal Governments will then make final decisions on whether or not the Browse project and drilling at Scott Reef can go ahead.

One of Australia’s most prestigious climate scientists has warned a packed town hall meeting in Broome that their town is on track to become “unliveable” if carbon emissions are not dramatically reduced soon.

IPCC report author and CEO of Climate Analytics Bill Hare told the sold out event that the world is currently on track for 2.7°C degrees of warming based on current government policies.

“The number of days over 40°C degrees across the northern land surface of Australia will increase quite rapidly. In a town like Broome, it could become too hot to work outside in parts of the year within a few decades,” warned Hare.

“Cattle also would not be able to survive once temperature and humidity reaches dangerous levels. It could become quite unlivable in several decades if we don’t dramatically reduce emissions soon and act to limit warming to 1.5°C.”

Climate scientist and IPCC report author Bill Hare briefs Broome locals.

Broome locals were briefed by Greenpeace, Conservation Council of WA and Environs Kimberley on Woodside’s new plans to drill at Scott Reef to develop the Browse field off the Kimberley coast, Australia’s largest untapped gas field.

Ten years after Woodside’s failed attempt to build an onshore gas processing plant at James Price Point, the fossil fuel giant is planning to build a 900-kilometre-long pipeline to pipe gas from the Browse field to the Karratha gas plant, as part of its wider Burrup Hub project.

Woodside’s proposal, which has been submitted for federal and state approval, would see the company drill up to 50 wells at the stunning Scott Reef, turning pristine waters into an industrial gas zone.

Broome locals packed a town hall meeting on Thursday 16 May to hear about Woodside’s plans to build a massive new fossil fuel project off the Kimberley coast.

Sitting 270 kilometres off the Kimberley coast, Scott Reef is one of Australia’s most vibrant and biodiverse standalone coral reefs, home to many threatened species including endangered green sea turtles and the endangered pygmy blue whale.

Woodside wants to drill just two kilometres from Scott Reef’s edge, risking a catastrophic oil spill. Meanwhile, the pipeline Woodside wants to build will also sit within 2 to 3 kilometres of the stunning Rowley Shoals, a diving paradise regularly visited by Broome marine tourism operators.

Broome locals had not previously been informed of the dangerous risks Woodside’s plans pose for the Kimberley coast.

“Woodside’s plans haven’t been made clear and transparent to Broome residents. People are just not aware of the risks. If something goes wrong, a well blowout could spread for hundreds of kilometres,” said Martin Pritchard, Director of Strategy at Environs Kimberley.

“Woodside’s safety record has been described by unions as ‘diabolical.’ They have had two pipeline accidents already this year off Karratha. We must place the protection of the Kimberley coast and everyone's jobs in tourism over Woodside profits.”

With the project facing possible approval within the next few months, Environs Kimberley called on Federal Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek to visit Broome and Scott Reef to see first-hand what is at stake.

“This is a massive new fossil fuel development in a critically important area for endangered pygmy blue whales and green turtles - it’s completely unacceptable. Minister Plibersek can protect our oceans and wildlife for future generations by stopping Woodside’s destructive plans. We invite Minister Plibersek to come to the Kimberley and see for herself what's at stake.”

“Scott Reef is the unknown jewel in the crown of Australia’s offshore reefs. There would be a national outcry if Woodside was drilling for oil and gas on the Great Barrier Reef, we need the same kind of response here,” said Mr Pritchard.

“Broome banded together and successfully defeated Woodside in 2013. We need the community’s support again here to protect Scott Reef and the Kimberley coast from Woodside for good.”