Media release: Disrupt Burrup hub campaigner arrested and taken to hospital after Perth CBD vehicle barrel blockade to protest Woodside regulatory approvals
9.00 am AWST Monday 11 December - Perth
A Disrupt Burrup Hub campaigner has been arrested and taken away by ambulance after chaining himself to a concrete barrel in a four wheel drive vehicle blocking all traffic on Mounts Bay Rd throughout rush hour in the Perth CBD, directly outside the office that the federal offshore oil and gas regulator NOPSEMA shares with two companies developing major components of Woodside’s Burrup Hub mega-project - the Perdaman fertiliser company and Woodside’s North West Shelf holding company.
At approximately 6.30am AWST this morning, Disrupt Burrup Hub campaigner and veterinarian Marek ‘Maz’ Misiewicz, parked a four wheel drive outside 58 Mounts Bay Road in the Perth CBD and locked himself to a concrete barrel in the boot, prompting a major emergency services response with firefighters cutting Mr Misiewicz off the barrel about 8am and an ambulance taking him to hospital for precautionary checks before he was conducted to the Perth Police Centre.
The protest comes after the federal offshore oil and gas regulator NOPSEMA approved Woodside’s Environment Plans for offshore underwater installations late on Friday December 8, one week after NOPSEMA approved Woodside’s Environment Plans to start drilling and seismic blasting at the Scarborough gas field (part of Woodside’s Burrup Hub) with Woodside confirming they immediately commenced marine blasting from December 2.
The close relationship between the federal regulator and Woodside’s Burrup Hub was described as a “breathtaking regulatory scandal” by Murujuga traditional custodian Raelene Cooper last week.
NOPSEMA, the independent federal offshore oil and gas regulator, share a Perth CBD office with Perdaman, whose Burrup Hub fertiliser plant has destroyed multiple Murujuga sacred sites during ongoing construction, and the North West Shelf holding company, who have overarching direction of the Karratha Gas Plant and the Browse gas field.
Woodside are currently seeking government approvals for Browse, the largest untapped gas field in Australia, which would complete the final and largest component of Woodside’s Burrup Hub mega-project, the most polluting fossil fuel project in Australia emitting more than 6 billion tonnes of CO2 by 2070.
Disrupt Burrup Hub campaigner and veterinarian Maz Misiewicz said this morning:
“I am blockading access to the office of federal oil and gas regulator NOPSEMA in the Perth CBD after they waved through seismic blasting, drilling and installation approvals for Woodside’s Burrup Hub late on Friday. I have locked on to a concrete barrel in a vehicle outside the Perth CBD office NOPSEMA share with Perdaman Fertilisers, who have recently destroyed sacred Murujuga rock art sites, and Woodside’s North West Shelf holding company that controls the largest gas fields and plants at Woodside’s Burrup Hub. The toxic proximity of the federal government regulator to the fossil fuel companies destroying culture and climate at Woodside’s Burrup Hub is a clear sign of how embedded the fossil fuel industry is with the government offices that are supposed to regulate them.
“I am a veterinarian, and as such it is my work and duty to safeguard animal welfare where I can. Woodside’s activities actively threaten the precious marine wildlife off our North West coast through seismic blasting in whale migration routes and threatening the entire ecosystem of the Scott Reef if Browse is approved. Further, the over 6 billion tonnes of carbon emitted as result of Woodside’s Burrup Hub being completed would be a drastic escalation of green house gas emissions produced by Australia, exacerbating climate change and the human, animal and ecological health impacts. Before the summer is out, while bushfires rage around us, the biggest and final piece of Woodside’s Burrup Hub, the massive Browse gas field, is likely to be approved by the government if we don’t stand in their way. I have locked myself onto a concrete barrel on a busy Perth road this morning to demand the government block Browse this summer - or we’ll be back with more blockades.”
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 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 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 July 25, Woodside threatened to sue 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. 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.
