Broome knows a change is coming to town

It takes only an hour to get from the heart of Broome to James Price Point, half of that on a dusty red road that turns the car into a Hadron Collider.

What is taking far longer — two years and counting — is for the Kimberley town to recover from the bruising battle over that piece of coastline and decide where its economic future lies.

The answer, depending on whom you ask, is in cultural and environmental tourism, tight gas, Aboriginal pastoral co-operatives, direct international flights, boosting agriculture through the State Government’s water-for-food plan or making Broome an industrial hub for the Kimberley.

Increasingly, the only thing not on the table is maintaining the status quo.

Two years after Woodside Petroleum walked away from plans for a gas plant at James Price Point, [|The West Australian ] '''' visited Broome to coincide with a Committee for Economic Development of Australia forum on the Kimberley’s future.

As experts wrangled with the scale of the challenge facing Broome and the wider Kimberley region, Roebuck Hotel general manager Mike Windle put it most simply.

“The last three years have been very hard years,” he said. “It’s not just a lack of visitors but a lot of locals have left town, too. There is just no work. I don’t want to be a pessimist. I’m trying to really boost the town. But I can’t tell a whole lot of bulls..t either.”

KRED Director Wayne Bergmann. Picture: Michael Wilson/The West Australian May 2015.

Environmentalists who opposed James Price Point say the lesson is that any attempt to industrialise the Kimberley will meet the same fate.

“The Kimberley is world-class, it’s got the largest most intact tropical savannah and least spoilt coastline in the world,” Environs Kimberley executive director Martin Pritchard said.

“It’s also got the world’s oldest living culture [|and the Aboriginal custodians have the world’s best ranger programs to look after a magnificent landscape] . We need to base the future on industries that don’t threaten these irreplaceable assets.”

Goolarabooloo law boss Phillip Roe said any companies looking to “retry Woodside’s proposal” should know “we will always look after our law, culture and country and we will stand strong in country to stop them”.

Terry Redman speaks at the construction site of the new KLC office in Broome. Picture: Michael Wilson/The West Australian

On Friday the group Frack Free Kimberley rallied against Buru Energy’s plans to use hydraulic fracturing to extract tight gas, which is natural gas found in compacted sandstone or limestone.

But not everyone is opposed to more oil and gas development.

The Shire of Broome rejected a symbolic proposal to make the area “frack-free” and Buru recently struck indigenous land-use agreements to develop the Ungani oil field east of Broome.

Kirsty Forshaw of the Kimberley Cattlemen’s Association is one farmer who sees the opportunity for “great co-existence” between agriculture and resources. She credited Buru with seeing her station “through a few bad seasons”.

There is still talk James Price Point could house a supply base and not-for-profit Broome Future believes the town could leverage the petroleum industry to become a Kimberley logistics hub.

Anecdotally, some opponents of James Price Point now wonder if it was a missed opportunity.

“They’ve finally realised there’s no bloody jobs for their kids,” is how one local put it.

Regional Development Minister and WA Nationals leader Terry Redman was more circumspect.

“A lot of people who were against that project have gone home,” he said. “I suspect that some people have changed their minds.”

Don Bacon, on Cable Beach, is starting a new tour company, Amazing Kimberley Tours and Charter. Picture: Michael Wilson/The West Australian

Mr Redman said failing to increase Aboriginal participation in the workforce would be “a foot on the hose” of development in the region.

He did not expect to see “transformational change” for a generation but there were opportunities, particularly in agriculture, resources and tourism, which were “underdone”.

The cost of getting to Broome remains a challenge.

As one CEDA attendee put it, he could have flown to Paris for the same price.

Don Bacon knows Broome is not a cheap destination but believes people will pay for a unique experience.

He will test that theory with a new tour business, Amazing Kimberley.

“The whole region, I think, deserves protecting and one of the ways involves showing people how wonderful it is,” he said.

One rare point of agreement in a divided town is that Aboriginal people must help drive economic development and not just be beneficiaries of it.

The Kimberley Development Commission’s blueprint for a best-case scenario Kimberley in 2036 forecasts an extra 34,000 jobs — half filled by Aboriginal people.

KRED Enterprises chief executive Wayne Bergmann negotiated a $1.5 billion deal with Woodside through his former role with the Kimberley Land Council.

Mr Bergmann’s new passion is a co-operative to get more Aboriginal-run cattle stations up and running.

“I believe wholeheartedly that social improvement will come through Aboriginal people grabbing with both hands economic participation,” he said.