Murujuga rock art—Monitoring program
607. Hon Sophie McNeill to the Minister for the Environment:
I refer to recent media reports regarding the department's involvement in the executive summary of the Murujuga Rock Art Monitoring Program: Monitoring Studies Report 2024.
(1) Why did the government wait until a year after receiving the report to make it public, just prior to the federal approval of the North West Shelf project?
(2) How many reviews of the executive summary took place and when?
(3) Following the release of freedom of information material, does the minister concede that the answer to question without notice 286 on 28 May this year was incorrect since the department insisted on changes against the scientists' advice?
Hon Matthew Swinbourn replied:
I thank the member for some notice of the question.
(1) I reject the premise of the member's question. The draft year 2 report and interim environmental quality criteria (EQC) were subject to independent peer review following their receipt. The peer review was only finalised in March 2025.
(2) Finalisation of the research summary was a collaborative process. The Department of Water and Environmental Regulation, Murujuga Aboriginal Corporation and Curtin University discussed the content of the summary document through multiple drafts. Drafts of the research summary were developed from mid-2024 to early-2025.
(3) No. The final version of the research summary was agreed by the lead scientist on the monitoring program, Professor Ben Mullins from Curtin University.
