Happy New Year! Update for 2025!
2025 is the year to take action to Save the Nullarbor!
On 23rd January, just before the long weekend, the colossal hydrogen-ammonia energy export hub proposed for the Nullarbor Plain was referred to the Commonwealth Department of Environment and Water for assessment under the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act (EPBC Act) as to whether the project is a 'controlled action' that needs to be assessed by the Minister.
This opportunity for public comment under the Commonwealth EPBC Act is the first step in a multi-step assessment process.
This Public Comment opportunity closes Friday 7th February.
Please make the time to submit a Comment, however brief. Your Comment will count in efforts to save the Nullarbor.
1. To submit a Comment go to the EPBC Act public portal link at end of this email and follow the steps. You can type your Comment directly into the portal window or you can upload a maximum of 1 file, up to 9MB. Either way we recommend you keep a separate copy on file. You also have the option of registering your interest in receiving future updates about this project.
2. The EPBC Act portal invites you to comment on whether the proposed action within the referral is a ‘controlled action’. Tick ‘YES’ because it is a controlled action. The referral is a ‘controlled action’ because the proposed energy hub interacts with Matters of National Environmental Significance (MNES).
3. The Australian Government Department of the Environment’s list of matters of national environmental significance (MNES);
World heritage properties
National heritage places
Wetlands of international importance (often called ‘Ramsar’ wetlands after the international treaty under which such wetlands are listed)
Nationally threatened species and ecological communities
Migratory species
Commonwealth marine areas
The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park
Nuclear actions (including uranium mining)
A water resource, in relation to coal seam gas development and large coal mining development
Facts to know:
The Nullarbor Plain was identified as meeting four of the ‘Outstanding Universal Values’ World Heritage criteria in a report commissioned by the Commonwealth in 1992.
The South Australian side of the Nullarbor Plain and Great Australian Bight has been assessed as meeting seven out of ten outstanding universal values World Heritage Criteria for a report in 2022.
The South Australian side of the Nullarbor Plain and Great Australian Bight is currently being promoted for World Heritage nomination.
Very Disturbing…
The WGEH referral to the EPBC is not required to reference anything about possible impacts to World Heritage karst or natural and cultural values because the Nullarbor is not a listed World Heritage property yet!
The WGEH referral to the EPBC only references the MNES of two threatened bird species (Mallee Fowl and Southern Whiteface) and five migratory shorebird species, as identified by the proponent (WGEH) (p. 22 in 2024-10049 Referral).
In addition, the proponent has identified possible indirect impacts to listed threatened species of marine animals including the Southern Right Whale (Endangered), Australian Sea Lion (Endangered), and White Shark.
The WGEH proposal, if it were allowed to go ahead, would have serious or irreversible impacts which triggers the precautionary principle.
There are legal precedents in Australia that Governments can make a World Heritage declaration to stop a proposed development, for example the Franklin River and the Queensland Wet Tropics.
To allow the energy hub proposal to proceed on the Western Australian side of the Nullarbor while the South Australian side is nominated for World Heritage may contradict Australia’s legal obligations under the World Heritage Convention.
There is a prima facie case that the Western Australian side of the Nullarbor has multiple World Heritage criteria, and allowing damage, alteration or modification of the Nullarbor’s natural and cultural values before this has been verified may be a breach of Australia’s legal responsibilities and obligations under the UNESCO World Heritage Convention.
4. Consider including the following points in your submission, as a clear call to action for The Australian Government:
Australia as a signatory to the UNESCO Convention Concerning the Protection of Cultural and Natural Heritage (the World Heritage Convention), has a legal obligation to identify and protect areas of outstanding universal value (OUV). The Federal Government has an obligation, responsibility and duty to protect the Nullarbor Plain and that obligation does not hinge on waiting until it is listed as World Heritage!
Article 3 of the World Heritage convention requires Australia to identify and delineate a site with universal values like the Nullarbor, for its cultural and natural values, and to protect it. Article 4 of the World Heritage Convention requires that each State Party to the Convention (Australia is a state party as a signatory to the Convention), “will do all it can to this end, to the utmost of its own resources”. The WGEH proposal should not proceed any further until the entire Nullarbor is independently and thoroughly assessed for all its World Heritage outstanding universal values.
In 1992, a Report commissioned by the Commonwealth of Australia determined that the Nullarbor karst meets four (4) World Heritage integrity criteria based solely on natural heritage values; even before considering cultural heritage or marine ecosystem values. The EPBC should be assessing any proposed development for impact to World Heritage outstanding universal values already determined in the Commonwealth Report in 1992.
We are calling on the Australian Government to immediately declare the entire Nullarbor, as a ‘declared World Heritage property’ under Section 14 of the EPBC Act 1999, which will trigger protective functions under the Act, including the necessity for the Federal Minister for the Environment and Water to assess the Western Green Energy Hub proposal for significant impact on world heritage values; (not just MNES of threatened bird species and marine species).
The enormous scale of the proposal inevitably means that there would be significant impacts on MNES, including landscapes and landforms of recognised World Heritage and National Heritage significance, as well as rare, endemic and unique cave invertebrates such as the Nullarbor Blind Cave Spider Troglodiplura lowryi.
Link to EPBC Act Public Portal to view the documents and submit a Comment:
Your voice is important. Your clear call to action to the Federal Government on their responsibilities and obligations as a signatory to the World Heritage Convention is significant and critical to the Nullarbor being saved and protected!
With many thanks,
Bronwen and Stefan