Woodside North West Shelf project extended after heavy political lobbying of Albanese government minister Murray Watt department

smh.com.au · Feb 22, 2026 · Collected from GDELT

Full Article

February 23, 2026 — 5:00amWoodside engaged in a concerted lobbying campaign to convince Environment Minister Murray Watt’s department to water down conditions designed to reduce emissions emanating from its North West Shelf project – one of the largest gas projects in the country.Emails released under freedom-of-information laws show the conditions attached to Watt’s approval of Woodside extending the plant’s operation to 2070 were changed several times after the gas giant’s lobbying.The future of Woodside Energy’s operations in Karratha has been assured.Save Our SonglinesIn May last year, Watt said he had imposed “strict” conditions on his provisional approval of Woodside’s bid to extend its North West Shelf operation in Karratha to 2070. At the time, he refused to reveal the conditions, he said, so Woodside had the opportunity to respond to the terms.The documents show his department was negotiating the terms of those conditions with Woodside until September 6, 2025, before Watt announced on September 12 the 48 conditions upon which his approval of the North West Shelf extension rested.The released emails show Woodside was particularly opposed to two conditions: that it monitor levels of various emissions in real time, and that it reduce emissions on five-yearly intervals.On August 26, a Woodside official, whose name was redacted from the documents released by the Environment Department, wrote to department deputy secretary Rachel Parry to complain about several conditions the department was seeking to impose.The scattered rock art of Murujuga, with Woodside’s Karratha plant in the background.Save Our Songlines“As discussed in our meeting with the minister yesterday we received your revised document with highlighted mark-ups on Sunday and note some of the conditions that we had previously advised as needing change have not been addressed,” the Woodside official wrote.One of those proposed conditions would have compelled Woodside to demonstrate at five-year intervals that it had reduced carbon monoxide, methane and particulate matter emissions to lower levels than had been emitted over the previous 12 months.According to Woodside: “Condition 8 does not recognise that emissions intensity will, in fact, increase year-on-year as NWS production declines. Our projections indicate we will be unable to meet this requirement from 2026 onwards.”The five-yearly component of that condition was later dropped, with Watt’s final condition requiring Woodside to maintain carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, methane and particulate matter emissions at levels no greater than during the 12 months before Watt’s approval.Environment Minister Murray Watt.Alex EllinghausenThe government gave Woodside a partial win on its bid to have the department’s preference for continuous emissions monitoring dropped and replaced with “predictive monitoring” systems for existing fuel processing.The department argued in emails with Woodside that predictive models offered a “high potential for inaccurate emissions data, not allowing for the detection of emissions spikes or deviations from normal operations”.Watt’s approved condition allows Woodside to implement continuous emission monitoring or predictive emission monitoring of air emissions by June 30, 2030, though Woodside will be required to implement continuous monitoring of air emissions before starting third-party gas processing.The emails offer a rare glimpse into the relationship between the energy giant and the government.On June 12, 2025, a Woodside official wrote to departmental executives to request a 10-business-day extension to respond to Watt’s conditions.The company asked the government department to “align” its public messaging with Woodside’s media statement.“Can you please confirm your agreement to the extension via return email as in our media statement tomorrow, we are looking to state that an extension was agreed, not specifying that it has been requested,” an official wrote.“We’d appreciate [it] if your media statement was aligned.”Woodside’s Karratha gas-processing plant is less than 1 kilometre from Murujuga, an ancient rock art site that holds more than 1 million petroglyphs documenting some 47,000 years of human history.More than 1 million petroglyphs are scattered around Murujuga National Park.Bianca HallMurujuga was placed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in July 2025, after successful lobbying efforts by Watt.Watt’s intervention came after the World Heritage Committee published a recommendation last May to knock back the site’s inclusion on the list over fears that industry – including the gas-processing plant – was damaging the petroglyphs.Watt’s approval of the North West Shelf project extension is being challenged in the Federal Court of Australia and the WA Supreme Court by community group Save Australian Rock Art.Mardathoonera woman Raelene Cooper, a Murujuga traditional custodian and spokesperson for Save our Songlines, said she was surprised that “anyone still believes a word this government says”.“The government have basically given Woodside everything they’ve asked and rolled out the doormat for them to keep trashing Murujuga.”A spokeswoman for Watt said: “The minister accepted the advice and recommendations of his department and imposed 48 strict conditions on Woodside. As this matter is currently before the courts, it would be inappropriate to comment further.”A Woodside spokesperson said the Australian government’s approval of the North West Shelf Extension followed a comprehensive and extended assessment by both Commonwealth and West Australian state regulators in accordance with statutory processes.“There are three separate legal proceedings in the Federal Court of Australia challenging the federal government’s environmental approval of the North West Shelf Extension.“Woodside will vigorously defend its position in these proceedings, but as these matters are before the court we will not comment further.”Cut through the noise of federal politics with news, views and expert analysis. Subscribers can sign up to our weekly Inside Politics newsletter.From our partners