Breve descripción de las ONGDs seleccionadas

The proposed promotion of Onslow to a ‘major town’ is a vivid demonstration of the potential impact of the Pilbara Cities plan and of its ongoing integral relation with resource development, despite efforts to unlink the two for the longer term. While Chevron has been producing oil on islands off the coast from Onslow – Barrow Island and Thevenard Island – for more than 45 years, the development of the Gorgon and Wheatstone liquefied natural gas (LNG) and domestic gas projects is about to transform the town.

Like the town of Roebourne, Onslow used to be the administrative centre of the shire – in this instance, the Shire of Ashburton – but this was moved to Tom Price in 1990, taking the associated jobs and residents with it. Census figures for 1996 and 2006 suggest that the removal of the shire’s administrative centre had little effect on resident numbers. The 1996 population was 588; that of 2006, 573. Of this 573, 192, or 33.5% of the town population, were Aboriginal people. Many of these live in the Bindi Bindi Aboriginal community on the outskirts of the town.

Old Onslow was established in 1883, some twenty years later than Roebourne, to serve as a port at the mouth of the Ashburton River for the export of wool from the

129

surrounding stations. In 1925, after a number of destructive cyclones, the town was relocated to its current site. Although much of the surrounding country is still covered by pastoral leases, the pastoral industry is now only one of a number of other activities, mainly fishing and tourism which, despite being off the North-West Highway route, attracts visitors in particular to the Mackeral and Thevenard

Islands. Solar salt is produced and shipped by Onslow Salt.

Onslow is in Thalanyji country. In 2008, the Federal Court found that native title continues to exist over much of the area claimed, including pastoral leases and some land in and around the town. There are five Indigenous Land Use Agreements

dealing with the practical matters of co-existence between the Thalanyji native title holders and five of the station owners. Eight industry bodies with interests in the area were parties to the determination but, even a few years ago, their interests were relatively low profile, apart from Onslow Salt and Chevron’s projects off the coast. Buffered from its nearest regional centre, Karratha, by some 200 km of indifferent roads, Onslow remained a bucolic coastal village, with a primary school, a small public hospital dealing mainly with emergencies and acute care

(www.myhospitals.gov.au/hospital/onslow-hospital/), a police station and lockup; one supermarket in the old Elders Smith building,49 _{a pub, a small motel with donga}

accommodation fronting the beach, and Nikki’s deservedly much-praised (and enjoyed) beach-side restaurant. There are periods of increased activity, mainly during the tourist season, and an irregular influx of people for meetings with or for resource companies, for native title negotiations, or for other matters of regional concern.

This will all change with the development of Onslow into a ‘major town’. The Western Australian Planning Commission’s draft plan does not suggest a likely or projected figure for Onslow’s growth, although it places it below the ‘sub-regional centre’ of Newman with its target population of 15,000. Instead, its ‘population and footprint...will be largely determined by mining and oil and gas related industry in the locality’ (2011: 11, 27):

The town is on the threshold of a significant expansion as the locality is

considered a favourable area to establish gas processing industries to monetise gas resources from the North West Shelf by production of LNG for exportation to overseas markets and domestic gas for the local market.

In 2008, Chevron selected a preferred site at Ashburton North, 12 kilometres west of Onslow, as the location for its Wheatstone LNG and domestic gas plant. The company expects that the project will create about 6,500 direct and indirect jobs at

49 _{The original Elders Smith building burnt down in December 1978 and was rebuilt and}

130

the construction peak (Chevron Australia web site). At present, there is no major fly-in fly-out program, but there is already ‘a significant number of transient workers’ who occupy ‘rooms and units in the town’s [limited] commercial visitor accommodation and private dwellings’ (Western Australian Planning Commission 2011: 27). The scenario – taking into account the scale of the comparable Pluto development on the Burrup – will bring in large numbers of construction workers and require further transport and other infrastructure. It is beginning to be

uncomfortably reminiscent of the impact on Pilbara Aboriginal people, especially in Roebourne, of the lifting of the iron ore embargo and the mining development of the 1960s.

There are, however, significant differences. All levels of government –

Commonwealth, State, and local – as well as industry bodies are taking an active role in planning for the Pilbara and the management of current, proposed, and expansion projects. This has resulted in activity levels of some complexity. In addition to normal departmental responsibilities for their various portfolios –

health, housing, education, land management, and so on – the State government has established or redefined a number of specialist bodies to oversee Pilbara matters.