Woodside's environmental plan for $12b project ‘corporate puffery', court told
They also say Woodside's submissions to court misinterpret the Australian offshore regulator NOPSEMA's reasons for granting the approval.
The Federal Court of Australia in Melbourne on Monday began hearings into Doctors for the Environment Australia's legal challenge to the $12 billion project, part of the company's Burrup Hub plan.
It involves tapping the field off Western Australia's north-west coast and running the gas through a 430-kilometre pipeline to its onshore Pluto plant.
The Environmental Defenders Office's Chris Young, KC, argued on behalf of the doctors' group that Woodside's court submission misinterpreted NOPSEMA's reasons for approval in suggesting the regulator considered Scarborough's projected emissions negligible to its assessment.
Woodside's environmental plan estimates Scarborough's total emissions across its life would be 878 million tonnes, equalling 0.37 per cent of the world's remaining carbon budget for a 1.5-degree warming scenario, and that its emissions within Australia would make up 0.9 per cent of Australia's remaining emissions budget to 2030.
Young told Judge Shaun McElwaine Woodside's environmental plan contained statements to the effect that emissions associated with Scarborough could not be linked to climate change impacts to the environment.
'NOPSEMA has not accepted this claim previously,' he said, citing a letter from the regulator to Woodside stating such a view was 'unsupported', especially given Woodside's ability to calculate Scarborough's expected emissions as a 'clear and measurable contribution' to Australia's total.
'The environmental plan should establish the context of Scarborough emissions, established emissions budgets, and clearly acknowledge the linear relationship between emissions and global warming,' the letter had said.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles

AU Financial Review
a few seconds ago
- AU Financial Review
Welfare recipients owe government $3b, Plibersek warned
Welfare recipients owe the Australian government $3 billion, according to a departmental warning to Tanya Plibersek about the financial and reputational risk of the growing backlog of debt. The Department of Social Services issued the warning in its incoming ministerial brief, blaming the complexity of welfare law and the difficulty collecting debts of more than three decades without significant reform.


West Australian
a few seconds ago
- West Australian
'Worst fear': PM decries Israel's denial of Gaza aid
The prime minister has decried Israel's denial of aid to starving civilians but stopped short of following France's lead in recognising a Palestinian state. In a strongly worded statement, Anthony Albanese said the situation in Gaza, where vision of emaciated children has become the norm, had "gone beyond the world's worst fears". "Israel's denial of aid and the killing of civilians, including children, seeking access to water and food cannot be defended or ignored," he said on Friday. "Every innocent life matters. Every Israeli. Every Palestinian." But the Australian government will not immediately join France in recognising Palestinian statehood after the European nation became the largest Western power to signal it would make the announcement. Mr Albanese instead said recognising the "legitimate aspirations of Palestinian people for a state of their own" was a bipartisan position. "Australia is committed to a future where both the Israeli and Palestinian peoples can live in peace and safety, within internationally-recognised borders," he said. "Until that day, every effort must be made here and now to safeguard innocent life and end the suffering and starvation of the people of Gaza." Ceasefire negotiations between Israel and Hamas, a designated terrorist organisation, have collapsed after the former nation and the US withdrew from talks. Mr Albanese also urged Israel to comply with its obligations under international law. With aid being throttled at the border and all entry points to Gaza controlled by Israel, former USAID official Jeremy Konyndyk said Australia and the other nations must do more as the situation in Gaza was "purely a political famine". "Nothing about this is natural or organic - it's 100 per cent man-made," the Refugees International president told ABC Radio. "We are at - if not past - a tipping point. "All coping mechanisms that the population use have been exhausted, people are beginning to just drop dead of hunger." The Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which began operations in May, has been accused of obstructing operations by the United Nations and other aid groups, and putting starving Palestinians in danger. According to Mr Konyndyk, its aid packages were small and insufficient and the foundation's facilities were located far from population centres. "By design, the people seeking aid from these facilities have to go through areas that are extraordinarily dangerous, that bring them into direct proximity to (Israeli army) forces who have fired on them almost every single day that the GHF has been in operation," he said. "The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation is a farce." Israel, which began letting in only a trickle of supplies to Gaza in recent months, has previously blamed Hamas for disrupting food distribution and accused it of using stolen aid to fund its war effort. While the coalition said it had "strong concerns" about the worsening humanitarian situation, opposition foreign affairs spokeswoman Michaelia Cash said it was disappointing the prime minister's statement did not place any blame on Hamas. "Any moral outrage about the situation in Gaza should be directed at Hamas," she said. Israel has enforced a complete embargo on humanitarian aid and medical supplies for almost three months after a ceasefire deal broke down earlier in 2025. In recent months, more than 800 Palestinians have been killed while seeking aid, many of whom were shot by the Israeli military, UN sources have found. Israel's military offensive has killed more than 58,000 Palestinians, according to health authorities in Gaza. Its military campaign was launched after Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, killing 1200 people and taking 251 hostages. The prime minister also condemned the "terror and brutality" of Hamas and repeated calls for the release of the remaining hostages.


Perth Now
a few seconds ago
- Perth Now
'Worst fear': PM decries Israel's denial of Gaza aid
The prime minister has decried Israel's denial of aid to starving civilians but stopped short of following France's lead in recognising a Palestinian state. In a strongly worded statement, Anthony Albanese said the situation in Gaza, where vision of emaciated children has become the norm, had "gone beyond the world's worst fears". "Israel's denial of aid and the killing of civilians, including children, seeking access to water and food cannot be defended or ignored," he said on Friday. "Every innocent life matters. Every Israeli. Every Palestinian." But the Australian government will not immediately join France in recognising Palestinian statehood after the European nation became the largest Western power to signal it would make the announcement. Mr Albanese instead said recognising the "legitimate aspirations of Palestinian people for a state of their own" was a bipartisan position. "Australia is committed to a future where both the Israeli and Palestinian peoples can live in peace and safety, within internationally-recognised borders," he said. "Until that day, every effort must be made here and now to safeguard innocent life and end the suffering and starvation of the people of Gaza." Ceasefire negotiations between Israel and Hamas, a designated terrorist organisation, have collapsed after the former nation and the US withdrew from talks. Mr Albanese also urged Israel to comply with its obligations under international law. With aid being throttled at the border and all entry points to Gaza controlled by Israel, former USAID official Jeremy Konyndyk said Australia and the other nations must do more as the situation in Gaza was "purely a political famine". "Nothing about this is natural or organic - it's 100 per cent man-made," the Refugees International president told ABC Radio. "We are at - if not past - a tipping point. "All coping mechanisms that the population use have been exhausted, people are beginning to just drop dead of hunger." The Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which began operations in May, has been accused of obstructing operations by the United Nations and other aid groups, and putting starving Palestinians in danger. According to Mr Konyndyk, its aid packages were small and insufficient and the foundation's facilities were located far from population centres. "By design, the people seeking aid from these facilities have to go through areas that are extraordinarily dangerous, that bring them into direct proximity to (Israeli army) forces who have fired on them almost every single day that the GHF has been in operation," he said. "The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation is a farce." Israel, which began letting in only a trickle of supplies to Gaza in recent months, has previously blamed Hamas for disrupting food distribution and accused it of using stolen aid to fund its war effort. While the coalition said it had "strong concerns" about the worsening humanitarian situation, opposition foreign affairs spokeswoman Michaelia Cash said it was disappointing the prime minister's statement did not place any blame on Hamas. "Any moral outrage about the situation in Gaza should be directed at Hamas," she said. Israel has enforced a complete embargo on humanitarian aid and medical supplies for almost three months after a ceasefire deal broke down earlier in 2025. In recent months, more than 800 Palestinians have been killed while seeking aid, many of whom were shot by the Israeli military, UN sources have found. Israel's military offensive has killed more than 58,000 Palestinians, according to health authorities in Gaza. Its military campaign was launched after Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, killing 1200 people and taking 251 hostages. The prime minister also condemned the "terror and brutality" of Hamas and repeated calls for the release of the remaining hostages.