Tell the Albanese Government to assess the Browse gas proposal’s project’s climate pollution impacts on the Great Barrier Reef.
What is going on with the Browse gas proposal?
For the first time in eight years, Australians have an opportunity to have their say on Woodside’s proposed Browse gas proposal.
Scott Reef, off the coast of Western Australia, is one of Australia’s most extraordinary marine ecosystems. Its vibrant coral reefs provide habitat for pygmy blue whales, green sea turtles, dolphins, sharks and unique species found nowhere else on Earth.
But Scott Reef and its marine life could be pushed to the brink by fossil fuel polluter Woodside’s Browse gas proposal. The proposal would involve drilling for fossil gas just 3 km from Scott Reef, posing serious risks to this extraordinary marine ecosystem and the species that depend on it.
Now, new peer-reviewed research has provided a way to assess Browse’s climate impacts on the Great Barrier Reef, creating a new opportunity for those impacts to be considered in the government’s assessment of the proposal.
The Australian Government is now accepting public submissions before deciding whether to include Browse’s climate impacts on the Great Barrier Reef in its assessment of the project. What happens next could influence how one of Australia’s largest fossil fuel proposals is assessed. Public submissions must be made before 21 July 2026.
What can I do?
Participating in the public consultation process is essential to show the Australian Government there is strong community support for proper consideration of Browse’s climate impacts on the environment.
To be included in the public consultation process, you can:
- Sign on to AMCS’s submission – your name will be considered as an individual submission by the Department
- Write your own submission via the Australian Government’s Public Portal (see instructions below)
How to make a submission
To have your say, address your submission to Minister for the Environment Murray Watt and upload it by 21 July 2026 via the Australian Government’s EPBC Public Portal.
- Go to the EPBC Act Public Portal.
- Click the ‘Make Comment’ button at the bottom of the page.
- Provide a title for your comment, such as “The government should assess the Browse gas proposal’s climate impacts on the Great Barrier Reef”
- Provide your name and email address.
- Answer YES to “Do you consider there is substantial new information available about the impacts the action has, will have or is likely to have on a matter protected under Part 3* of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (Cth) (EPBC Act)?”
- Under “Provide reasons for your answer and/or any comments below”, make sure to include the below information. A sample response has been provided further down in this guide to assist you.
- Why you believe this new information is substantial;
- Why you believe the Minister should make a new decision about the Browse gas proposal that enables assessment of climate impacts; and
- Why you are concerned about the climate and nature impacts of the Browse gas proposal
- Skip the other questions about the reconsideration request and scroll down to answer the remaining questions on confidentiality, privacy, and declaration.
- Press “Submit your comment”
Sample response
My name is [your name], and I am from [state you live in].
The analysis provided in the Australian Conservation Foundation’s (ACF) reconsideration request represents substantial new information available about the impacts of the Browse gas proposal on the Great Barrier Reef, a protected matter under the EPBC Act.
Given this, the original referral decision for the Browse gas proposal should be revised to account for these climate impacts.
The evidence provided by ACF is new and substantial because:
- It uses a novel methodology to quantify the climate harms from the Browse gas proposal, which was previously not possible
- The methodology is from an authoritative, peer-reviewed source
- It demonstrates that the approximately 1.6 billion tonnes of climate pollution from the Browse gas proposal will have a causal effect on future mass bleaching events and coral deaths, further compromising the health and survival of the Great Barrier Reef
The Browse gas proposal already poses an existential threat to Scott Reef and the threatened species that use it and the surrounding waters for migration, feeding, and breeding. Together, the effects from industrial activity and climate pollution from the Browse gas proposal could:
- Risk extinction of the Scott-Browse population of green turtle, who use Sandy Islet at Scott Reef as a nesting site that is critical to their survival
- Threaten a potentially critical habitat for the dusky sea snake, who has not been observed anywhere outside of the Scott Reef complex since 2002
- Potentially disrupt migration and essential foraging for pygmy blue whales
- Risk the survival of Scott Reef itself from subsidence, sea level rise, and severe bleaching events
I support the ACF’s request that you reconsider how the Browse gas proposal is being assessed, and include the consequences for the Great Barrier Reef in that assessment.
Header image: Nush Freedman Photography