The decision by Federal Environmental Minister Tony Burke to award the Kimberley region National Heritage Listing has not surprisingly received a mixed response.
Environmental groups, aboriginal groups and many in the travel industry say it will help to protect the ‘unique’ landscape of the region, which attracts more than 300,000 visitors annually. However, mining companies, pastoralists and developers are less impressed.
The heritage listed area covers more than 19 million hectares of land and includes the West Kimberley coast from Cape Leveque to Cambridge Gulf, the Kimberley plateau, the Fitzroy River and land south of the Oscar and Napier ranges.
The proposed site of a controversial gas hub 60 kilometres north of Broome is however a notable omission from the heritage listing. The dinosaur footprints on tidal flats south of James Price Point where it is understood the gas hub proponents plan to carry out dredging and build a 6 km jetty are protected however.
In a statement, Woodside says it believes the proposed development can successfully co-exist with the heritage values of the area. But environmentalists and protesters against the gas plant going ahead, disagree and say they are upset by the decision.
Environs Kimberley spokeswoman Emma Belfield, who has joined protesters blockading the site, told the ABC she was bitterly disappointed.
“This community campaign will keep going, the resolve is just growing by the day, and I have no doubt that we will ultimately prevail,” she said.
As well as being home to over 300 species of birds, the Kimberley offers some of the oldest rock formations on earth and the largest and most significant stretches of dinosaur footprints in the world.
Tourism in the region has been struggling a little in recent times and some in the industry say the decision is recognition that the economic value of the region doesn’t just lie underground … and that tourism is a viable future for the Kimberley.
With National Heritage listing for the region confirmed, some are now setting their sights even higher and believe a World Heritage listing would be the next logical step.
With a World Heritage listing, the Kimberley would stand alongside renowned sites like the Great Wall of China, Angkor Wat, the Acropolis, the Pyramids … and the Great Barrier Reef and Kakadu.
