Perth Voice Interactive

“IT’S literally like an aquarium; the water is so clear.”

Filmmaker Jane Hammond recently returned from a trip to Scott Reef, about 300 kilometres off WA’s North West Coast, capturing Fremantle icons Tim Winton and John Butler along with a dozen marine scientists hoping to raise awareness about its pristine waters and put a spanner in the works for a fossil fuel company.

Woodside plans to extract gas from the Brecknock, Calliance and Torosa reservoirs located beneath Scott Reef, and having secured approval from the WA government needs only the federal environment minister’s signature to go ahead. 

The project turned into a political football this week when Opposition leader Peter Dutton promised to give approval within 30 days if he wins office. 

Current minister Tanya Plibersek’s delay of a decision will probably push it out until the government heads into caretaker mode, avoiding a tricky election for Labor.

But Hammond says there’s too much at risk if 50 wells surround the reef (which is in protected waters) and she hopes the documentary will give environmental groups’ campaigns a push.

Corals’ Last Stand will make its world debut at Luna Leederville this coming Thursday March 27, with Winton taking part in a Q&A panel after the screening.

He says it’s one of the last wild places left in the country.

“The world’s coral reefs are in desperate trouble, and Scott Reef is like a sentinel,” Winton said.

“If we lost Scott Reef, it’ll signal the end for all coral reefs.

“And when they cook and die, we’ll be left with a poorer, harsher world.

“The idea that your kids, and their kids and their kids’ kids, might never have the chance to see a place like Scott Reef – it disturbs me, it makes me angry.”

Hammond says Mr Dutton’s pledge has left the team heartbroken, but they’re still optimistic that if they can show people the reef’s diversity and importance, it could create the momentum that saw wins in campaigns such as James Price Point, Ningaloo and native forests.

She said the environment-focused campaign in the Fremantle electorate which saw independent candidate Kate Hulett come within a whisker of toppling Labor incumbent Simone McGurk should serve as a warning to the major political parties.

“Fremantle has seen what can happen when you ignore the environment; Josh Wilson can also take note.

React

“People are going to react to this because Aussies love their coral reefs.

The ringed reef has a low-lying sandy cay where Hammond shot some scenes, but she said they avoided its centre because of the obvious presence of turtle nests and now she has fears for their future.

“There were turtles in the water, and we saw lots of tracks from the night before, but we weren’t there at the right time to see them nesting,” she says.

“But the thing is, it could completely disappear through subsidence when they take the gas out, or from emissions and rising water levels.

“We also stopped at this tiny island within the reef area and I did an interview with John Butler and he played Ocean, which didn’t make the cut, but its was at sunset and quite beautiful.”

She says the barren speck of rock and sand was akin to ones used in cartoons – sans a palm tree – and it provided the perfect setting for another promo shot featuring the whole crew standing as though the rising seas were about to swamp them.

Hammond says there are other threats to the reef, including bleaching and fishing.

There have been reports of bleaching in the Kimberley and Ningaloo, but she says no one’s been back to the reef since the filming, and she noted the waters were so warm none of the scientists were diving with full wetsuits.

However she’s confident its remoteness from the mainland and the turbidity run-off can create gives it the resilience to bounce back, as it did after a “catastrophic” bleaching in the ‘90s.

“Traditional Indonesian fisherman have the right to fish there, and while they’re supposed to be using traditional fishing methods, there weren’t a lot of sharks there,” she said.

by STEVE GRANT