Three protesters who targeted a Woodside annual general meeting with stench gas and flares will be sentenced on downgraded charges as protests continue over the extension of a mammoth gas project.
Woodside’s North West Shelf project – which hosts Australia’s biggest gas export plant – has been given the green light by the federal government to keep operating until 2070.
The Australian energy giant still has to accept conditions around heritage and air quality at the project on Western Australia’s Burrup Peninsula, home to ancient rock art, before the approval is made official.
The decision has been met with anger by environmental and Indigenous groups who argue it will trash efforts to curb greenhouse gas emissions and have a ruinous effect on ancient petroglyphs.
Campaign group Disrupt Burrup Hub on Friday gathered outside the WA District Court, arguing the decision to extend the project’s life showed the government “cannot be trusted with protecting First Nations culture or our climate”.
The protest doubled as a support rally for three of the group’s activists who targeted Woodside’s 2023 annual general meeting with stench gas and flares, in what the group previously said was an attempt to get the building evacuated.
Gerard Mazza, Jesse Noakes and Tahlia Stolarski have pleaded guilty to charges laid over their protest at the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre in April 2023, saying they had pulled off “a successful hoax”.
They were set to face sentencing in the District Court on Friday but an amended indictment and statement of facts means sentencing has been adjourned for a week.
Disrupt Burrup Hub said on Friday the trio had pleaded guilty to a downgraded charge of attempting to do an act to create false belief, instead of a previous charge of do an act to create false belief.
Dozens of banner-waving and drumming protesters gathered outside the court on Friday as a strong police contingent watched on.
Footage circulating on social media showed one protester being detained by police.
The gas hub extension approval came just hours after the United Nations said industrial emissions at Karratha threatened the nearby rock art, likely sinking Australia’s attempts to secure heritage listing for the carvings.
The Murujuga Aboriginal Corporation, which partners with the WA government in monitoring the preservation of the rock art, said a recent evaluation report found the site was in a good state of conservation and supported its World Heritage listing.
Meanwhile, federal Environment Minister Murray Watt needs to sit down with traditional owners who oppose the extension, an ex-Labor senator and Indigenous rights activist says.
“He needs to go and talk to those traditional owners from that area and hear their side of the story … so they understand and he understands the the depth of their concern and why they are so upset,” Pat Dodson told ABC Radio on Friday.
The WA government said on Friday it would undertake a four-month review into native title and cultural heritage processes in the state’s mining sector with a focus on improving outcomes for both traditional owners and industry.
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