The Albanese government faces two court challenges seeking to overturn the 40-year extension of Woodside's North West Shelf gas hub in Western Australia in a bid to protect nearby ancient Aboriginal rock art.
The Australian Conservation Foundation has commenced proceedings in the Federal Court in Melbourne to challenge Environment Minister Murray Watt's approval of the extension to 2070 last month.
Friends of Australian Rock Art has also commenced a Federal Court challenge against Senator Watt's decision to prevent ongoing damage to the Murujuga rock art and other cultural heritage values in the area.
The risks posed by industrial emissions from the resources giant's gas plant to the 40,000-year-old World Heritage-listed rock art in WA's Pilbara region have been a source of debate.
The Australian Conservation Foundation and its legal team argue the minister wrongly considered the economic benefits of an unapproved Browse gas project - a separate Woodside proposal to develop a gas field off the Kimberley coast - in his statement of reasons for approving the North West Shelf extension.
They argue the approval left out critical details and the minister gave the green light without knowing the details of the gas the project will process and what pollution it will cause.
Mr Watt also failed to consider the physical effects of climate change as an "impact", the foundation said.
"We're challenging the lawfulness of Minister Watt's approval of this gas hub extension, which is the centrepiece of the most polluting gas project in the Southern Hemisphere," the foundation's General Counsel Adam Beeson said.
Research released by the foundation in 2024 showed lifetime emissions from the North West Shelf gas hub would be more than 13 times Australia's annual emissions from all sources, he said.
Friends of Australian Rock Art (FARA) said its Federal Court challenge was launched on top of its ongoing WA Supreme Court challenge to the North West Shelf's state approval.
Its lawyers argue the hub extension approval was invalid because the minister failed to properly take into consideration the economic and social harms that would result from ongoing damage to Murujuga heritage.
They said the minister acknowledged the proposal will impact heritage values but considered these impacts were acceptable when the economic benefits claimed by Woodside were taken into consideration.
FARA co-convenor Susan Swain said the Murujuga rock art was a UNESCO World Heritage site containing the oldest and most extensive rock art on the planet, including the earliest recorded depiction of the human face.
"It is pretty disappointing that again, this time at the federal level, we have a decision that looks like it hasn't complied with requirements under the law," she said in a statement on Monday.
Woodside has been approached for comment.
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