Media Statement: "Crossing the line was the point" - Woodside CEO protesters sentenced

10 Feb

Three Disrupt Burrup Hub protesters have been sentenced for their Attempted Unlawful Damage and Attempted Trespass for a protest outside the home of the Woodside CEO in 2023 that was foiled by WA counter-terror police as ABC's Four Corners program filmed.

Matilda Lane-Rose (20) and Emil Davey (23) were fined $2000 and received spent convictions for their role in the planned protest, while Jesse Noakes received a $2,500 fine.

Speaking outside court today, Disrupt Burrup Hub campaigner Matilda Lane-Rose said:

"We have been fined $2000 each today in court for taking a total of four litres of paint to the Woodside CEO’s house. That’s $2000 per litre of paint, not a drop of which was ever spilled after counter-terror police stopped me before I even set foot on the property. Whilst I stress that this is proportionate, and I accept the fine as reflecting the protest, we’ve recently seen another fine which hasn’t been quite as proportionate

"Last month, oil and gas multinational Santos were fined $10,000 for spilling 25,000 litres of oil into the Indian Ocean off WA. That’s 40 cents per litre for an oil spilled that killed dolphins.

"It is completely crazy. I was 19 years old when a ring of counter terror cops stopped me sending a message to the CEO of the biggest oil and gas company in Australia. I am being fined 5000 times more than the second largest oil and gas company in Australia. Who is more of a threat to people’s homes and lives - me, or Woodside?

"The law is broken. Our government is broken. Our whole system is broken when we punish peaceful young protestors far more heavily than we punish the companies that our killing my future and fucking our planet.

"Woodside’s Burrup Hub is pouring acid emissions over 50,000 year old rock art at Murujuga. When are they going to be made to pay?"

Speaking outside court today, Disrupt Burrup Hub campaigner Emil Davey said:

"I was threatened by an undercover counter terror cop, dressed all in black at 11 o’clock at night, who pointed a gun at my head.

"Who’s really crossing the line here? Me, who never attended a protest that never happened?

"The police, who drew a gun on me and raided and invaded the homes of peaceful young campaigners dozens of times to defend Woodside’s Burrup Hub, the biggest fossil fuel project in the Southern Hemisphere."

"Or Woodside, who are pumping out 6 billion tonnes of CO2 from the Burrup Hub for the next 50 years, destroying the sacred songlines of Murujuga traditional custodians, and threatening the homes of every single one of us with floods, fires and more and more extreme weather events and natural disasters?"

Speaking outside court today, Disrupt Burrup Hub media advisor Jesse Noakes said:

"Of course we crossed a line. That was the whole point. This was never about Meg O’Neill or her house - this was about Woodside’s Burrup Hub, and getting as much public attention on it as possible, which meant crossing a boundary. There was no need to cross the actual property boundary, because by triggering the police response with Four Corners cameras rolling, we got everything we came for. We leave here with our heads held high, with no question of remorse or regret, because we achieved everything we set out to.

"We knew there was every chance the police would be there before us - they’d pulled a gun on Emil there the night before. We didn’t need to trespass or damage the property, though - the attempt was enough. By getting national media to the scene of the crime, we’d already won. As soon as the counter-terror cops poured out of the Woodside CEO’s front garden and onto Australian screens, we had achieved this campaign’s core objective, and escalated Woodside’s Burrup Hub to front page news, which is what their crime deserves."