“Nothing to hide” - Woodside AGM ‘stench gas’ activists provide police with passwords for seized devices after Data Access Orders after Aggravated Burglary charges
Gerard Mazza receives his data access order from Karratha detectives.
Two campaigners charged with Aggravated Burglary with Intent to Commit Assault following the alleged attempted evacuation of the Woodside AGM with harmless flares and stench gas have today provided police with full access to their electronic devices in compliance with Data Access Orders for phones and laptop seized in raids on April 28.
Gerard Mazza, a producer for Aboriginal community media and former school teacher, was allegedly found in possession of stench gas, a harmless, non-toxic substance typically used on mine sites to sound the alarm about an emergency.
Tahlia Stolarski, a graphic designer and mother of two young children, was allegedly found in possession of yellow smoke flares, legally available to purchase and deploy, that represent the toxic emissions from Woodside's Burrup Hub.
Both were allegedly apprehended inside legally accessible areas of the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre.
Both will face court again on Monday charged with Aggravated Burglary with Intent to Commit Assault after police opposed bail at their last hearing, detaining them overnight and raiding both their homes. On Monday this week, both were served with Data Access Orders requiring them to provide access to data stored on their phones and a laptop belonging to Ms Stolarski by today.
Electronic devices belonging to two journalists who were not charged in relation to any offence were also seized by WA police on April 28, leading to censure from the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance and the International Federation of Journalists.
It comes after Disrupt Burrup Hub campaigner Joana Partyka was served with a Data Access Order by WA police on March 2 ordering her to provide access to data stored on her laptop and phone within 7 days. Ms Partyka will face trial in September for failure to comply with that order.
Tahlia Stolarski, a graphic designer and mother of two young children, said today:
“I will be handing my data over to police because I have nothing to hide.”
“My question is: What do Woodside and the state government have to hide that warrants this level of scrutiny on protesters? Why are they so sensitive to criticism?”
“WA’s State Security detectives locked me up and are holding me under a microscope in order to please their masters in parliament house and the Woodside boardroom.”
“I hope the WA police find the late-night climate science research in my browser history a riveting read. It might make them realise how dangerous and irresponsible Woodside really is.”
Gerard Mazza, a producer for Aboriginal community media and a former school teacher, said today:
“I intend to provide police with access to my device, because I’ve always been transparent and open about my desire to cause disruption to the operations of Woodside Energy.”
“The gas that was found on my person at the Perth Convention Centre is safe and non-toxic, and used on mine sites as a safety device in an emergency.”
“I’m not ashamed of my attempt to sound the alarm on the cultural and climate emergencies that create profit for Woodside directors and shareholders.”
"Great civil resistance practitioners of the past, like Martin Luther King Jnr., have been transparent about their principles and willing to take responsibility for their actions."
“What Woodside does every day is unsafe, irresponsible and, frankly, evil. What’s more, Woodside covers up the evidence of its crimes. Just as I’m revealing my data, I hope Woodside reveals the independent research it commissioned and never released regarding the impacts of its industrial emissions on the Murujuga rock art.”
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 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. 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 with Intent to Commit Assault for allegedly 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.
Tahlia Storlaski has her home searched by police on the day of the Woodside AGM.
