2025-11-18
The Prime Minister’s message of support for Alcoa’s gallium project is an attack on WA’s EPA and should be withdrawn.
The EPA is currently assessing the profound water, forest, wildlife and community impacts on Alcoa’s massive expansion plans.
A record 59,000 people and seven local government authorities made submissions to the EPA on Alcoa’s proposed expansion.
The Water Corporation has warned that Alcoa’s strip mining is the most significant threat to Perth and the South West’s drinking water and that a contamination event is considered certain.
The Department of Water and Environment Regulation rejected Alcoa’s Mining Management Plan in its entirety.
The Greens (WA) Environment spokesperson Jess Beckerling MLC said the Prime Minister’s pre-emptive and brazen support for Alcoa was a signal to the EPA that the project would go ahead regardless of their findings and recommendations, and regardless of the unprecedented community opposition to the proposal.
"This is an extraordinarily dangerous and contested proposal that the WA community and regulators clearly do not want to go ahead; it is an abuse of process for the Prime Minister to preempt any formal decision by the EPA.
"Alcoa’s documents show that it would destroy over 150,000 potential nesting trees for black cockatoos and release over 1.3 billion tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions.
"The Prime Minister has shown that he has zero regard for WA environment agencies and laws, zero regard for seven local government authorities and the public who are profoundly opposed to this plan, and zero regard for WA’s forests, wildlife and safe drinking water supplies.
"His support for Alcoa’s plan is support the extinction of Black Cockatoos, support for contamination of our drinking water and support for destruction of thousands more hectares of WA’s precious jarrah forests.
"And with just a five per cent share, it is a plan Alcoa has only bought into to provide cover for their ongoing destruction of WA's unique Jarrah forests that are found nowhere else on earth.
"It is a slap in the face to WA’s EPA and the whole community, and a major abuse of process, for the PM to pre-emptively support an extremely damaging and dangerous project that is currently under assessment. His support should be publicly withdrawn."