Traditional owners are upset with a Pluto contract given to the business run by the chair of the Murujuga Aboriginal Corporation. GETTY. DIGITALLY ALTERED IMAGE
WA Today – By Hamish Hastie
December 6, 2023
Last week Woodside revealed Bechtel had awarded Hicks’ company the contract for haulage work on the Pluto gas plant expansion, part of the $16.5 billion Scarborough LNG project.
The Aboriginal corporation’s former chair and the Friends of Australian Rock Art want Hicks to stand down from leading the corporation, to avoid any potential conflicts.
“Realistically, it is a conflict of interest. This man is the Murujuga chairperson,” said Mardudhunera woman Raelene Cooper, once the chair, now convenor of Save Our Songlines, set up to protect the Murujuga rock art.
“These are queries and questions that members need to be asking, and I am a member of Murujuga.”
Traditional custodians continue to collide with each other and industry on the Burrup, particularly over whether commercial operations including Woodside’s are eroding tens of thousands of pieces of ancient rock art – the largest, densest and most diverse Aboriginal rock art gallery in the nation.
The Aboriginal Corporation is tasked with implementing the Murujuga rock art strategy, which includes scientific monitoring of the rock art alongside the Department for Water and Environment to determine these impacts.
Friends of Australian Rock Art co-convener Judith Hugo was shocked at the contract.
“We still feel he has a conflict of interest accepting it as he is also meant to be helping preserve his people’s cultural heritage from destruction,” she said.
This masthead is not suggesting that Mr Hicks has any conflict, only that the questions have been raised by some traditional owners.
Lawyers for Hicks said conflicts of interest must be “real and sensible” and there was no basis to suggest the contract would influence him in his role at Murujuga Aboriginal Corporation given the different nature of his positions at both organisations.
“Mr Hicks (in his role as chairman of MAC) cannot and has not influenced the review being undertaken by MAC (in regard to any effect of emissions on the heritage rock art) at all,” he said.
The lawyers said Hicks would not stand down from MAC.
They said he would notify the board of the contract and other matters he thought they should be aware of and “scrupulously advise [it] of any potential or perceived conflicts of interest going forward.”
“It is therefore unnecessary for Mr Hicks to stand down from MAC (on this issue) as Mr Hicks is not able to control the board or materially influence it at all,” they said.
“The board will be informed of any relevant circumstance (if any) and is able to make an informed judgment on any matter, moving forward.”
In a statement released last week, Hicks said the contract enabled the development of a successful new haulage arm for their business.
“It is truly rewarding when businesses can come together and work harmoniously to bring about mutually beneficial outcomes. We celebrated this award with our teams, knowing this is just the beginning of something great,” he said.
Murujuga Aboriginal Corporation has business aspirations through its subsidiary Murujuga Commercial Limited, which is financially supported by Woodside and other Burrup Hub businesses.
According to its annual reports this commercial subsidiary was established to set up businesses that can work in the Pilbara region with seed funding from the Aboriginal corporation, Woodside and Pilbara fertiliser producer Perdaman.
Murujuga is a 27-kilometre-long island off the coast of Karratha connected to the mainland in the 1960s when Rio Tinto began exporting iron ore.
Woodside’s LNG plant followed in the 1980s, and now it is home to several major industrial sites including Woodside’s Pluto LNG plant and Norwegian fertiliser giant Yara.
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