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American-Australian musician John Butler has slammed an "out of touch and ludicrous" proposal he claimed could set Australia's net zero targets back by up to two decades. Woodside has planned to drill up to 50 gas wells around Scott Reef in Western Australia — the country's largest offshore coral reef — as part of a Browse gas proposal. More than 1500 species — including the endangered pygmy blue whale — are found in the reef, with Butler condemning the proposal.
Camera Icon Woodside has planned to drill up to 50 gas wells near Scott Reef in Western Australia. Supplied/Nush Freedman Photography. Credit: Supplied Camera Icon John Butler has slammed the proposal.
Supplied/Nush Freedman Photography. Credit: Supplied He claimed more gas wells are the "exact opposite direction that we need to be going in". "It's a little bit out of touch with where we are on the planet, and a bit out of touch with the federal government on the mandate of being climate active," Butler told NewsWire.
The singer-songwriter, who was born in the US but moved to WA when he was young, said the irony of the situation struck him while looking at postcards at the Perth museum recently. "There's all these ads for 'WA gem', 'WA heart place', and it's all about the Kimberley, yet it seems like our state government is hell bent on approving 50 gas and oil rigs around Scott Reef ..
. it's just absolutely out of touch and ludicrous," he said. Camera Icon Butler claimed the plan would set Australia's net zero targets back by up to two decades.
Supplied/Nush Freedman Photography. Credit: Supplied Having spent his formative years camping along southwest WA and Pilbara, Butler said "beautiful, pristine environments" are "the stamp of what it means to be Australian in a lot of ways". "If you open your passport, those will be the pictures .
.. Kimberley, Uluru, Great Barrier Reef," he said.
"We don't put in gas precincts and gas hubs in a passport and send postcards, because we're not really proud of...
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