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DANIEL EMERSONThe West Australian The increasingly powerful Federal Greens have signalled they will make life difficult for Colin Barnett as he tries to get Commonwealth approvals for his

acquisition of James Price Point. Although the compulsory acquisition of the Kimberley land for Woodside's $30 billion liquefied natural gas processing hub is a State matter,

environmental impact and heritage assessments need to be lodged for Commonwealth approval. A returned Labor Federal Government would be unlikely to stand in the way, given Federal Resources

Minister Martin Ferguson's warning last year to Browse Basin LNG field joint venture partners to "use or lose" their licences over the reserves, which ultimately sped up the

selection of James Price Point. But WA Greens Senator Rachel Siewert said the party, which last week signed a formal agreement to join forces with Labor in Federal Parliament, would not let

the ALP simply rubber-stamp the approvals. Senator Siewert's summation of Mr Barnett's land grab was blunt. "We don't like it," she said. "They have still got

to go through the environmental impact assessment. There's still the heritage assessment and we will be raising it federally in terms of . . . whether the Government is giving it tacit

support." Senator Siewert conceded the Labor-Greens alliance - although providing weekly meetings between leaders Bob Brown and Julia Gillard - did not give her party the right to

dictate terms to the Labor Party. "But I will certainly be taking it to the party room around how we will be handling it and what actions we will be taking," she said. Senator

Siewert's declaration drew a nervous response from WA Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive James Pearson, who backed Mr Barnett's action. "The stakes are very high

here," he said. "The last six months have been a difficult time for Australia's reputation overseas as an investment destination." Mr Pearson said the Greens should

remember that James Price Point was about developing natural gas resources. "This is actually an Australian contribution to addressing environmental issues," he said. GET THE

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