Media Alert: Climate hecklers disrupt Woodside AGM by yelling the names of the children of Woodside’s CEO and Chair in call to block Browse Gas expansion
Three Disrupt Burrup Hub campaigners have interrupted the Woodside AGM at Crown Casino in Perth this morning to heckle Woodside Chair Richard Goyder and Meg O’Neill about their plans for Woodside’s Browse Gas expansion and the impact Woodside’s Burrup Hub on their children, invoking them by name to the executives.
The Disrupt Burrup Hub protest followed an early shareholder revolt about the future of Chairman Richard Goyder and Woodside’s climate plan, an attack from Murujuga traditional custodians on Woodside’s cultural sensitivity and an impromptu choir protest.
At that point, three campaigners who had entered the AGM as proxy shareholders stood up one by one and yelled the names of Richard Goyder’s four children and Meg O’Neill’s child as part of their protest opposing the Browse Gas expansion.
Police were called and the Woodside AGM was halted for several minutes while the campaigners were escorted from the AGM chamber by security and police while chanting "Block Browse" and "Disrupt Burrup Hub."
Nell Repacholi, a parent, educator and Disrupt Burrup Hub campaigner, yelled earlier: Woodside plans to pump the gas from Browse to the Burrup Hub, which research shows will emit 6 billion tonnes of CO2 emissions. Woodside's Browse Gas expansion threatens precious marine sanctuaries such as the Kimberley's Scott Reef. In my lifetime, Woodside's Burrup Hub and Browse Gas expansion threatens the future of our planet and I call on Chairperson Richard Goyder and CEO Meg O'Neill to resign immediately. Their actions are killing future generations."
Tom Power, a 17 year old student and Disrupt Burrup Hub campaigner, shouted this morning: “Richard Goyder has four children. Their names are Matthew, William, Tim and Sophie. He is sentencing them and all future generations to Ecological collapse thanks to Woodside's Burrup Hub. The Browse gas expansion Goyder is proposing will throw fuel on the bushfires consuming my future. What about your kids Richard? Did you think about Matthew, William, Tim and Sophie when you decided to END their futures for them and END the futures of all generations to come? BLOCK BROWSE - do it for Matthew, William, Tim and Sophie.”
Emma Heyink, a 17 year old school student and Disrupt Burrup Hub campaigner, heckled inside the AGM: “Meg O'Neill is killing kids. Meg's child Chase is 21 years old now, just a bit older than me. By the time Chase and I are over 70 Woodside's Burrup Hub will still be pumping out 6 billion of carbon into our atmosphere. Global boiling is already here - Browse and the Burrup Hub are a death sentence for Chase and my future. You need to end Burrup Hub Meg. What about our future? What about Chase's future? Think about Chase Meg. Stop Burrup Hub and Block Browse.”
Background:
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 has previously been responsible for the destruction of around 5,000 sacred rock art sites in the construction of earlier parts of its Burrup Hub mega-project, including the Karratha Gas Plant and Pluto LNG processing facility.
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 northwest 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 2023, 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. The protest was subsequently endorsed by most descendants of ‘Down on His Luck’ painter Frederick McCubbin. On 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.
On April 28, Gerard Mazza and Tahlia Stolarski were charged with Aggravated Burglary attempting to evacuate the Woodside AGM in Perth using harmless stench gas and smoke flares. On May 3, environmental activist Violet CoCo, the first person jailed under repressive new police powers legislation in New South Wales, sprayed the Woodside logo in yellow paint on the front of the Perth Police Centre in protest at the escalating police crackdown on climate protest in Western Australia. On May 20, musician and student Emil Davey invaded the pitch of an AFL game during Indigenous Round, sponsored by Woodside, disrupting play for several minutes with a large flag reading Disrupt Burrup Hub.
On June 1, Disrupt Burrup Hub campaigner Kristen Morrissey safely evacuated Woodside’s corporate headquarters in Perth using harmless, non-toxic ‘stench gas’ to simulate a hoax gas leak, successfully evacuating several thousand Woodside workers and stopping work for the day. On August 1, 19-year-old campaigner Matilda Lane-Rose was ambushed by more than a dozen counter-terror police lying in wait outside the house of the Woodside CEO. On September 20, Ballardong Noongar man and Deputy Chair of the Deaths in Custody Watch Committee Desmond Blurton conducted a smoking ceremony and demanded answers outside the home of Woodside director and former WA Treasurer Ben Wyatt.
On December 11 2023, Disrupt Burrup Hub campaigner and veterinarian Marek ‘Maz’ Misiewicz parked a four-wheel drive in the Perth CBD and locked himself to a concrete barrel in the boot directly outside the office of federal offshore oil and gas regulator NOPSEMA to protest their pending approvals for the Browse and Scarborough gas fields at Woodside’s Burrup Hub.
