Claims Indigenous owners are being sidelined in the process to World Heritage List the oldest and largest collection of rock art in the world

An ex-employee of an Aboriginal corporation has claimed the process to World Heritage List an ancient rock art site in Outback Australia is being mishandled.

The former employee at Murujuga Aboriginal Corporation in WA said a program to monitor emissions from nearby mine and industrial sites, which is key to the bid to have the location get a UNESCO listing, was not being done with proper 'diligence'.

Murujuga in WA's Pilbara is home to more than 1million rock art petroglyphs over 37hectares, with giant miners such as Woodside and Rio Tinto operating in the same area, sometimes just metres from artworks.

A whistleblower leaked the letter from the ex-employee, which was written last July, and Senator David Pocock tabled it during an estimates committee session in the federal parliament this week. 

The employee said the project was not being carried out with 'sufficient integrity, diligence or governance' and that traditional owners had no input into audits or heritage surveys, WAToday reported. 

The WA government has been monitoring emissions from local industrial plants, and their potential impact on the rock art, since 2022. 

The ex-employee also criticised the monitoring program, saying the principle of caution in decision making when science is unclear, was not followed.

'Presently, Murujuga Aboriginal Corporation is not in a position to verify the quality of raw sample data due to lack of access, questionable sampling practices and inadequate skills transfer to (its) rangers,' the letter read.

'Due to these defects and disconnects, there is a loss of traction on the (rock art strategy) objectives to achieve world's best (or any reliable) standard of monitoring and management of the severity of the threat posed by ... airborne emissions.'

The lack of due diligence, information being withheld and a lack of cooperation from contractors raised the issue of 'potential contract failure', the letter said, undermining the purpose of the rock art strategy and monitoring program.

The monitoring is a key part of the federal government's application to UNESCO to turn the site into a World Heritage Listed area.

WA's Department of Water and Environmental Regulation control the monitoring program, but contracted it out to mining and environmental services firm Calibre. 

Calibre then subcontracted it to Curtin University, with Murujuga Aboriginal Corporation set to take over in 2026.

But the former corporation employee said the university sent a 'contractor to Murujuga who demonstrated low capability and committed a major error in relation to the sample collection and sample processing protocol'.

But the department, the Aboriginal corporation and the university disagreed with the ex-employee's claims.

'The claims made in the tabled documents do not stand up to scrutiny,' Murujuga Aboriginal Corporation chief executive Kim Wood told WAToday.

'The Murujuga rock art monitoring program is a strong, best-practice program that has been designed with international experts to examine the impact of industrial emissions on Murujuga's petroglyphs.'

A department spokesman said the whistleblower's claims were incorrect.

'Every aspect of the monitoring program is respectfully co-designed and informed by the cultural law, knowledge and practices of the Traditional Owners and Custodians of Murujuga, guided by the Circle of Elders,' the spokesman said.

'The state government has committed to making the results of the monitoring program publicly available, following independent peer review and data validation.'

Members of the International Council on Monuments and Sites Council will visit Murujuga as part of the World Heritage process and a decision is expected next year.