Disrupt Burrup Hub activist Matilda Lane-Rose believes that the federal environment minister faces “biggest climate decision” she will ever make.
This is whether or not to approve the enormous Woodside’s North West Shelf Extension, part of the Burrup Hub gas project.
Lane-Rose told the Green Left Show on February 21 that Woodside wants Burrup Hub to operate until 2070.
She said if it was to go ahead, it would release about 6 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide over 35 years.
The gas processing would also generate nitrous dioxide, which is already destroying the nearby Murujuga rock art, one of the largest and most diverse collections of rock art engravings in the world.
“Not only is this project already destroying the climate, it’s also destroying culture,” Lane-Rose said.
“There are over 1 million pieces of individual rock art that the Burrup Hub is literally built over the top of.
“These 50,000 year old carvings are probably going to fade entirely in a matter of decades due to Woodside’s gas production.
“Unfortunately, with Labor’s track record, Plibersek looks set to approve [the extension project]”.
Lane-Rose was one of four DBH activists to face court over their involvement in a protest outside Woodside CEO Meg O’Neill’s house in August 2023.
She said it was one of a series of actions, including outside Parliament House and invading the pitch at Fremantle Dockers games, as Woodside sponsor the team.
Western Australian Labor and corporate media responded to the activists’ campaign by escalating attacks on the right to protest. They claimed DBH had crossed a line by going to O’Neil’s home. The CEO claimed the protest has made her feel “unsafe”.
After 17 months of legal proceedings, Lane-Rose had her charges downgraded from “conspiracy to commit an indictable offence” to “attempted unlawful damage and attempted trespass”, for which she plead guilty.
Lane-Rose received a $2000 fine, as did fellow DBH activist Emil Davey. Gerard Mazza and Jesse Noakes received between $2600–$2800 each.
Lane-Rose said the fossil fuel corporations are being let off lightly. She pointed to gas giant Santos only being charged $10,000 for spilling 25,000 litres of oil into the Indian Ocean in 2022.
“That’s 44c per litre of oil. We were charged about $2000 per litre of paint — that’s about 5000 times the cost…”
She said the escalating state repression of climate protesters, among others, showed that “these movements have gained amazing traction, with so many people keen to get involved.
“It means that we are threatening the status quo.
“Shutting down protesters means big business is happy and governments can continue cashing their cheques.”
Meanwhile, Woodside reported that its profits more than doubled in 2024, rising by 115% to $5.62 billion.
Lane-Rose described Labor’s support for the fossil fuel industry as “nefarious”. She said while the Coalition “don’t try to hide” its opposition to climate action, Labor “loves to greenwash”.
“Last year Tanya Plibersek claimed Labor had not approved any new coal mines. But she failed to mention several dozen coal mine extensions, which means that, cumulatively, they will be operating hundreds of years into the future.”
Lane-Rose said fossil fuel industry’s influence on WA Labor was particularly bad.
WA Labor Premier Roger Cook’s pressure on Plibersek and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to drop the Nature Positive bill because of its impact on fossil fuel companies shows he is acting for the fossil fuel corporations “rather than the people he is supposed to represent”.
Lane-Rose said it was up to grassroots movements to continue the fight for urgent action on climate.
“The next step is mass action … trying to build a mass movement is what everyone should be doing.
“Historically, mass movements have enacted change. When it comes to combating police repression [of climate activists] it is much harder to arrest tens or hundreds of thousands of protesters.”
[Find out about Disrupt Burrup Hub here and donate here to help the activists pay their fines.]