James Price Point 60km N of Broome - Sat 18th August 2012

Yesterday Judy and your northwest Australia correspondent visited James Price Point to see what all the fuss is about. What a wonderful, spiritual bit of country. I walked along the beach marvelling at the striking pindan red/orange cliffs and the isolation.

The cliffs at James Price Point

Meanwhile the West Australian government, led with rapacious zeal by their unscrupulous premier - Colin Barnett, is hell bent on assisting Woodside Petroleum to trash a large area of this beautiful coast to build a gas hub to process LNG and a 7km loading jetty to disrupt the humpback whales annual migration.

Sadly the Premier sees this as the "thin end of the wedge". Once this project is given the green light the Kimberley will be ripe for development; for example, bauxite mining on the Mitchell Plateau and coal mining in the Fitzroy River Valley.

I feel very topical because there was an item on tonight's SBS news about the issue. In particular how there is a dispute between the Jabirr Jabirr and Goolarabooloo aboriginal people.

Walking on the beach was an exhilarating experience. I only hope others will be able to do so for years to come.

Footprints in the sand at James Price Point

There are numerous articles on the Web relating to James Price Point. Here's an ABC article that I found particularly relevant.

Your northwest Australian correspondent looking into the future at James Price Point