Further charges for Disrupt Burrup Hub artist Joana Partyka for refusal to comply with Data Access Order for devices seized in counter-terror police raid
Disrupt Burrup Hub campaigner and ceramic artist Joana Partyka has been hit with further charges by WA Police and summonsed to appear in court on one count of Fail to Obey a Data Access Order.
Disrupt Burrup Hub is demanding no more industry on the Burrup.
It followed a raid on Ms Partyka’s home on February 24 by six counter-terrorism police officers from the State Security Investigation Unit.
The warrant served to Ms Partyka listed the suspected offences as Criminal damage under Section 444 of the WA Criminal Code and Conspiracy to commit an indictable offence under Section 558(1) of the WA Criminal Code.
Police officers from the State Security Investigation Unit seized a mobile phone, a laptop and a notebook used for work purposes from Ms Partyka and took photographs of other personal items at her property.
On March 2, Ms Partyka was served with a Data Access Order by WA police ordering her to provide access to data stored on her laptop and phone within 7 days. Ms Partyka declined to comply with that request. (Photos, videos and copies of the Data Access Order served on Ms Partyka at her home by WA Police are attached.)
On January 19, Ms Partyka sprayed the Woodside logo in yellow paint on the colonial masterpiece ‘Down on His Luck’ at the Art Gallery of WA. The protest was subsequently endorsed by the descendants of ‘Down on His Luck’ painter Frederick McCubbin.
On February 10, Partyka pled guilty to criminal damage at court in Perth and was sentenced to pay $7500 in fines and costs, labelled “absurdly excessive” by Human Rights Watch. Ms Partyka has already paid her fine and costs in full after the funds were raised by crowdfunding within 24 hours of her sentencing.
On February 28 police arrested punk musician Trent Rojahn at his Fremantle home, seized evidence, and detained and charged him with Criminal Damage for spraying Woodside’s corporate headquarters in yellow paint from a fire extinguisher on February 13.
Rojahn has been bailed to appear in court on March 27 on one count of Criminal Damage and police have seized his mobile phone as evidence.
Ms Partyka’s lawyer, Zarah Burgess of Burgess Criminal Lawyers, said:
“Local artist, Joana Partyka, has been charged with one count of disobeying a data access order. On March 2, officers from the WA Police State Security Investigation Group (SSIG) served Ms Partyka with data access orders relating to her laptop and mobile phone – these orders required her to hand over her passwords and allow Police access to all data on those devices.”
“It is concerning that officers from the SSIG, which is a police unit primarily concerned with counter-terrorism and racially-motivated crimes, have been tasked with pursuing a campaigner for climate justice who has already been dealt with by the Courts and who has no outstanding charges. These kinds of heavy-handed tactics have been used before by the WA Police against members of other environmental activist groups. It is nothing short of State-sanctioned intimidation designed to silence campaigners and protect the interests of the McGowan government and their fossil fuel donors, particularly Woodside.”
Joana Partyka, a ceramic artist and illustrator from Perth, said:
“"This is a massive over-reach from authorities designed to intimidate us and further illustrates the complete control that Woodside and big fossil fuel polluters have over our government and police force. I have already pleaded guilty and been convicted for the action I took in January at the Art Gallery of WA and have already paid in full the fine and excessive costs I was charged for that action. I have not been charged with any additional offences beyond the action that has already been dealt with fully by the judicial system last month. This continuing escalation by state security counter-terror police is baffling and unjustified and just demonstrates how desperate the government is to cover up their dependence on Woodside.”
The Burrup Peninsula in Western Australia is known as Murujuga to traditional custodians, a deeply sacred place that contains the largest, oldest collection of Aboriginal rock art in the world. This priceless cultural treasure is currently nominated for UNESCO world heritage listing, but the sacred songlines and stories contained in these carvings are being damaged by emissions from the Burrup Hub and face total destruction within decades.
Woodside's Burrup Hub is the biggest new fossil fuel project in Australia. It consists of the Scarborough and Browse Basin gas fields, the Pluto Project processing plant, and other linked liquified natural gas (LNG) and fertiliser plants on the Burrup Peninsula in WA’s remote north-west Pilbara region. The Burrup Hub is projected to produce more than 6 billion tons of CO2 by 2070, making it four times larger than the Adani coal mine and one of the biggest carbon bombs in the world.
On January 19, Joana Partyka, a ceramic artist and illustrator from Perth, sprayed the Woodside logo in yellow paint on the colonial masterpiece ‘Down on His Luck’ at the Art Gallery of WA. On Monday February 13, punk musician Trent Rojahn coated the Woodside building with a fire extinguisher full of high-pressure yellow paint and sprayed the slogan ‘Disrupt Burrup Hub’ across the glass at the entrance to Woodside’s corporate headquarters. On Tuesday February 21, graphic designer and mum of two Tahlia Stolarski sprayed the Woodside logo six times in yellow paint on the front doors of WA Parliament.
The Disrupt Burrup Hub campaign continues…
