Three face court amid protests over gas hub expansion
Alex Mitchell and Lloyd Jones |
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.
After the hearing Mr Noakes told AAP he and his co-accused had waited two years for a resolution to their court case but federal Environment Minister Murray Watt had taken just two weeks to decide to approve the gas hub expansion.
He accused the federal and WA governments of a “vast cover-up” of evidence of the impacts of industrial emissions on Murujuga’s rock art and rushing through approval in the face of legal challenges from traditional custodians.
Eminent international rock art experts had “blown the whistle repeatedly” on discrepancies between the scientific findings of a report and its executive summary the WA government released last week, Mr Noakes said.
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.
The WA government on Friday said it would undertake a four-month review into native title and cultural heritage processes in the state’s mining sector.
It will focus on improving outcomes for both traditional owners and industry but will not amend existing legislation.
AAP
