Activist calls for ABC to resist after meagre fine

Jesse Noakes was fined a total of $1,000 over the incident, prompting him to call for the ABC to resist complying with the police orders

Anti-Woodside campaigner Jesse Noakes. Picture: Paul Garvey

A climate activist involved in an attempted protest outside the home of Woodside Energy’s chief executive says the light penalty for his failure to give police access to his phone and laptop should ­inspire the ABC to ­resist handing over footage from the incident.

Jesse Noakes was on Tuesday fined $250 for each of four charges relating to his failure to comply with a data access order.

Mr Noakes was among a group of activists from the Disrupt Burrup Hub group charged over the ­attempted protest at the City Beach home of Woodside chief Meg O’Neill in August. The activists, who were apprehended by a group of more than a dozen police who were lying in wait at the home, were accompanied by a crew from the ABC’s Four Corners program.

He had testified on Monday that he had an ethical and at times legal obligation not to allow police to access the contents of his phone and laptop, arguing hundreds, if not thousands, of people had provided him with confidential information for his campaigning and his freelance journalism.

Magistrate Gavin MacLean on Tuesday ruled that Mr Noakes had failed to properly establish he had a reasonable excuse not to comply with the order. However, Mr MacLean said his conduct was “a million miles away” from warranting a custodial sentence, issuing him a fine of $1000.

There is debate over whether the ABC should hand over footage it compiled as part of the Four Corners report on the work of Disrupt Burrup Hub.

While the ABC has said it will not give over anything that compromises the identity of those who co-operated with the program on condition of anonymity, Mr Noakes and the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance have urged the public broadcaster to resist the order completely.

Mr Noakes said the fine was an acceptable price to pay to protect his sources.

“The decision to protect that material and maintain the confidentiality that people provided to me is one that I would take in a heartbeat and intend to take again, if necessary,” he said.

“I don’t think the sanction ­applied today is enough to stop me protecting my sources. And I certainly don’t think it’s enough to stop the ABC from protecting the confidentiality of people have shared their stories with them.”

Earlier, Mr MacLean noted Mr Noakes had failed to explain what consequences, if any, could flow from police having access to his confidential information.

He also said accepting Mr ­Noakes’ argument could make it far easier for individuals to sidestep such data access orders.

“It would follow as a matter of course that anyone involved as a journalist … could simply say, ‘I’m a journalist’, or ‘people I’m ­associated with have invested trust in me’ … and that would then sidestep the obligation for a great chunk of people the subject of potential investigation to work their way around it,” he said.

But he said the nature of Mr Noakes’ offending was different to the more serious offending, such as drug dealing, that are typically linked to charges of failing to comply with data access orders.

Beyond his involvement in groups such as Disrupt Burrup Hub and, formerly, Extinction Rebellion, Mr Noakes is involved in a number of campaigns around homelessness and social housing.

He told the court his devices included sensitive information provided in confidence by women who were escaping family and domestic violence, as well as non-disclosure agreements, confidential cultural heritage plans, legal documents, and culturally sensitive photographs and information about Indigenous heritage sites on WA’s Burrup Peninsula.

Each of the charges against Mr Noakes carried maximum penalties of five years’ imprisonment.