Disrupt Burrup Hub convenes silent protest outside Woodside HQ to call out VRO’s and police repression
More than 20 Disrupt Burrup Hub campaigners have held a silent protest outside Woodside corporate headquarters in Perth on Monday morning to call out the use of police repression, gag orders and civil litigation threats to silence attention on Woodside’s Burrup Hub.
At 8am on Monday morning, protestors wearing Disrupt Burrup Hub shirts gathered on the footpath outside Woodside HQ with tape covering all their mouths and holding large signs all reading “While protesters are silence, Woodside…” followed by a series of messages about Woodside’s Burrup Hub.
Campaigners held the space outside Woodside for over an hour to protest the escalating attempts to silence criticism of Woodside’s Burrup Hub including misuse of violence restraining orders to gag criticism and punitive Supreme Court legal threats.
It comes as Woodside threaten to sue more Disrupt Burrup Hub campaigners in the Supreme Court of Western Australia for loss of earnings and brand damage after the safe, successful evacuation of Woodside’s corporate headquarters in a hoax gas leak on June 1 this year.
Woodside’s Burrup Hub consists of the Pluto and Karratha gas plants, the Perdaman and Yara fertiliser plants, and the Scarborough and Browse gas fields off WA’s north-west coast.
Woodside’s Burrup Hub threatens UNESCO-nominated sacred Murujuga rock art with toxic emissions and the future of our planet as it’s set to emit 6 billion tonnes of CO2 by 2070 if approved.
Woodside are seeking Final Investment Decision on the massive Browse Basin gas field, the largest in Australia, by the end of 2023 to complete the Burrup Hub.
Disrupt Burrup Hub campaigner and Ballardong Noongar man Desmond Blurton said:
“This morning we are standing here as a voice for young people who have had their voice taken from them. One is only 19 years old and she had to face a serious District Court charge on her own because she is already banned from associating with her friends and fellow campaigners. One is 21 years old and was pulled over at gunpoint by police and didn’t even attend the protest outside Meg O’Neill’s house.”
“These Disrupt Burrup Hub campaigners were ambushed by counter-terror police outside the house of Woodside’s CEO while trying to send a message about our future. Now they have been hit with VROs that stop them speaking about Woodside’s Burrup Hub, the Woodside CEO or about what happened outside her house. What happened outside her house was that WA Police were acting as private security for the Woodside CEO and ambushed one nineteen year old woman with a message about her future.”
“They are now trying to silence the truth about Woodside’s Burrup Hub from coming out. The truth about Woodside’s Burrup Hub is it is a climate, cultural and natural disaster, and we all need to speak up to protect our sacred Country and tribal lands.”
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