Indigenous custodian brings Murujuga rock-art concerns to UN Human Rights Council
Traditional owner Raelene Cooper will address the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, warning that the Woodside-run North West Shelf expansion threatens the world-heritage rock art at Murujuga.
Raelene Cooper, the recognized custodian of the Murujuga cultural landscape, will appear before the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva to raise alarm over the North West Shelf gas hub extension approved by Environment Minister Murray Watt. The project, operated by Woodside on the Burrup Peninsula, is slated to run until 2070 and is feared to exacerbate climate change and erode rock art that dates back tens of thousands of years.
Cooper’s lawyers have already written to UNESCO, expressing gratitude for the World Heritage listing but urging stronger legal safeguards. Woodside maintains that its long-term heritage program and recent air-quality monitoring show no increased damage. Meanwhile, the Australian Conservation Foundation and Friends of Australian Rock Art have filed Federal Court actions in Melbourne to contest the minister’s decision. The case highlights a clash between industrial development and the protection of Indigenous cultural sites.
Why it matters
The case pits a major energy project against the preservation of irreplaceable Indigenous heritage and international human-rights standards.
In this story
