Battle for the Kimberley

 

Police chaperone equipment taken to the gas hub site at James Price Point, the development of which is opposed by locals. Photo: Angela Wylie

On the face of it, a $35 billion gas plant, ancient rock art and pristine coastal waters that attract wildlife and tourists don't go well together. No wonder sparks are flying in Broome.

ONCE it was paradise, an enchanted land of wild beauty, with endless beaches of dazzling white sand beneath magnificent red cliffs along the Kimberley coast. For more than a century people from all over the world were drawn there by the pearl-rich sea. In the old port of Broome, they settled and intermarried, creating a place of racial harmony unique in Australia, with its own language, cuisine and music. In more recent times tourists have flocked there to enjoy its idyllic charm.

But everything is changing. The West Australian government wants to turn Broome into another Dubai, with a $35 billion liquefied natural gas plant 60 kilometres north of the town at pristine James Price Point. If it wins federal government approval it will be the world's biggest, producing 12 million tonnes of liquefied gas a year.

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