Owners offer sites for gas hub

The Kimberley Land Council's executive director Wayne Bergmann told the Herald the move showed traditional landowners were willing to negotiate with the industry and the State Government to allow multibillion-dollar offshore natural gas projects to go ahead.

Mr Bergmann said political uncertainty in Western Australia after the election last weekend should not be allowed to derail the process of settling on a site for a common processing hub for the developments.

Woodside Petroleum and Japan's Inpex Holdings are among several companies proposing to develop gasfields in the Browse Basin.

The state and federal governments had been carrying out an environmental assessment of the Kimberley region aimed at identifying a site for a single processing hub for all gas produced in the region.

Mr Bergmann said a consultation process with 14 native title groups had produced four areas traditional owners willing to consider as the site for the gas processing facility. They were Gourdon Bay, James Price Point, North Head and Anjo Peninsula.

"This process is well under way and, if let run, will deliver a timely, commercially viable and equitable outcome for resource companies and the community," he said.

Mr Bergmann said the landowners would be looking to negotiate a land-use agreement that went beyond the welfare-style payments common in deals between resources companies and native title holders in the past and included measures designed to tackle indigenous disadvantage in the region.

"Kimberley traditional owners are determined this development brings benefits for the entire region," he said. "They are considering how they can change the lives for people not only today but in a generation's time."

He said an agreement should include equity stakes for local communities and commitments by governments and companies to improve education, training and health services for Aboriginal people.