On February 15, Justice John Gilmour ruled that Joseph Roe and Cyril Shaw be replaced with three other members of the native title claimant group - Anthony Watson, Ignatius Paddy and Rita Augustine. The three will now represent the Goolarabooloo-Jabirr Jabirr peoples in any discussions regarding James Price Point.
The claimant group is still working through some issues regarding the James Price Point LNG plan but there are hopes these can be resolved fairly soon. That would pave the way for a consent agreement to be reached over turning the land, 60 kilometres north of Broome, into a hub for liquefied natural gas.
Woodside and its Browse joint venture partners BHP Billiton, Shell, Chevron and BP, chose James Price Point as the preferred location for their gas hub.
Roe has been a vigorous opponent of the LNG precinct and had also been in conflict with other members of the Kimberley Aboriginal community.
He has been given until February 22 to appeal the ruling.
Kimberley Land Council director Wayne Bergmann said he was not concerned about Roe launching an appeal.
"There is no automatic right of appeal," he told PetroleumNews.net.
"He has to have grounds to appeal."
Bergmann said the Federal Court decision also showed that the KLC's processes had been fair and just.
That does not mean the traditional owners will give the LNG plan an automatic green light but Bergmann said it cleared the way for more meaningful negotiation.
"The traditional owners wouldn't have started negotiations if they didn't want to look this opportunity in the face," he said.
"We're still in negotiations with them but there are only a handful of outstanding issues to be worked through."
WA Premier Colin Barnett has not ruled out proceeding with the compulsory acquisition but said he would prefer to have a consent agreement reached between all the relevant parties.
Barnett said Roe had been a "spoiler element" standing in the way of a consensus decision and that he was optimistic such an agreement could now be reached.
"Joseph Roe was in dispute with other members of the Aboriginal community of the peninsular land area and that just made any negotiation very, very difficult," he said.
"However, when the government took the decision to pursue compulsory acquisition, in accordance with the Native Title Act, I made it very clear at that time that we would continue negotiations and our objective remained to reach agreement by mutual consent.
"Those negotiations have continued, they've continued today, and they are very close to a successful conclusion."
A Woodside statement said the company was pleased with the outcome.
"We are making good progress in our land-access discussions with traditional owners," the statement says.
"We are very confident that we can achieve our goal of a negotiated settlement that will provide us with access to the land we need for Browse, and at the same time assist traditional owners to realise their aspirations."
In his decision Gilmour said both Shaw and Roe could not agree on how to handle the GJJ claim.
This decision should help remove that impasse.
