❓ Dr. Pettitt questions the WA government's assessment of World Heritage values on the Nullarbor Plain concerning the proposed Western Green Energy Hub, referencing past studies and SA's support for World Heritage listing of the Great Australian Bight. The government states it will assess values after National Heritage listing and nomination, and there's been no formal communication from the Commonwealth.

In 1992 the Commonwealth commissioned two independent expert studies which assessed the natural and cultural heritage values of the Nullarbor Plain, and these studies identified the Nullarbor as meeting all four of UNESCO’s criteria of Outstanding Universal Value for natural heritage, principally on account of its extraordinary caves and karst landforms, subterranean fauna and fossils and as a cultural landscape of World Heritage significance. In 2022, the South Australian Government communicated to the Commonwealth Government its support for the World Heritage listing for the Great Australian Bight. Regarding the proposed Western Green Energy Hub on the Nullarbor Plain, covering 2.2 million hectares of pastoral leases and crown land, I ask:(a) what assessment will the WA government make of the World Heritage values - both natural and cultural values - of this area;(b) when will the assessment be completed; and(c) what communication, if any, has the Minister for Environment had with the Commonwealth on the proposed energy hub and its potential impact on World Heritage values?

(a)    - (b)     The WA Government will assess World Heritage values once a site has been inscribed      on the National Heritage list and  a nomination is referred by the National Heritage        Council. (c)        There has been no formal communication from the Commonwealth to the WA                             Minister for the Environment on this matter.