West Australians are being presented with a choice that is as misleading as it is dangerous. Premier Roger Cook recently used the pages of The Australian Financial Review to warn that unless Woodside’s massive Browse offshore gas project was approved, the state would be “forced to frack” the Kimberley to meet a supposed energy shortfall. Let’s speak plainly – this is environmental blackmail.The premier’s rhetoric represents a failure of the duty of care owed to every West Australian. By framing our energy future as a binary choice between plundering the pristine Scott Reef or puncturing the Canning Basin with gas wells – threatening the heart of the Kimberley and the vital Fitzroy River system – he is ignoring physical and economic realities to engineer a gas-heavy future West Australians simply cannot afford. This is a blatant attempt to bully independent regulators by threatening a future that his own party members have already rejected.Subscribe to gift this articleGift 5 articles to anyone you choose each month when you subscribe.Subscribe nowAlready a subscriber? Fetching latest articles