Doctors challenge Woodside Gas Project approval in Court
The most polluting project ever to be developed in Australia, with estimated total emissions of over 6 billion tonnes, according to Conservation Council Australia
The federal government waited until after the election to approve a massive gas project, Woodside’s Burrup Hub Project, in a betrayal of their responsibility to protect the health and economic interests of Australians.
The Doctors for Environment Australia have challenged the approval process (NOPSEMA) in Federal Court.
Western Australia is sacrificing public health and billions in revenue to help foreign corporations export gas that's driving climate disasters - while Australians feel the fallout and foot the bill.
The health emergency
Climate-driven health impacts doctors are already treating:
Heat-related illness from extreme temperatures, including peaks in deaths on the day of or next day of heat exposure
Healthcare system strain from extreme weather events
The scale of harm:
Planned expansion: up to 250 million tonnes annually
Woodside's Burrup Hub alone: 132 million tonnes - more than all Australian coal plants
The economic betrayal
What Australians are giving away:
Based on The Australia Institute estimates, the extension could see up to $215 billion worth of royalty-free gas given away over the project’s 46-year life ($14 million each day)
Why are such little royalties paid?
In Australia, offshore gas projects pay a Petroleum Resource Rent Tax (PRRT)
The PRRT is a tax paid off profits and deductions such as expenses can mean companies pay minimal or zero tax, or tax much later.
Qatar receives six times more government revenue despite producing only 50% more oil and gas than Australia due to stricter taxes and royalties
The four biggest LNG producers operating in WA, Chevron, ExxonMobil, Woodside and Shell received combined income of $55.2 billion in 2021-22 and paid just $1.7 billion in corporate income tax and petroleum resource rent tax. ExxonMobil paid nothing at all.
What Australians are paying:
Disaster recovery and infrastructure repair costs
Increased healthcare spending for climate-related illness
Rising energy prices as export projects drain domestic supply
The legal pushback
Multiple court challenges emerging:
Doctors for the Environment won Federal Court cost protection to challenge Woodside’s Scarborough project approval (part of the Burrup Hub) to argue that the NOPSEMA's approval process was legally flawed
Mardathoonera woman Raelene Cooper filed in Federal Court to halt Woodside’s North West Shelf gas project (part of the Burrup Hub) to address her Section 10 cultural heritage protection application for Murujuga rock art
Environment groups such as Conservation Council of WA condemn lack of consultation and climate impact assessment
The double standard
While Australia commits to net-zero emissions by 2050, these projects lock in massive pollution until 2070. The government considers domestic emissions but ignores the global climate impact of exported gas - a legal loophole that enables continued fossil fuel expansion.
What's at stake
For health: The WHO calls climate change "the single biggest health threat facing humanity." Each new gas project worsens the health crisis doctors are already treating daily.
For the economy: Foreign corporations extract Australia's resources for free while Australians and the world bear the costs - from climate disasters to healthcare spending to rising energy prices.
The bottom line
WA's gas expansion represents the worst of both worlds: massive corporate welfare that endangers public health while ordinary Australians pay twice - once through lost revenue, again through climate consequences.
