Woodside Energy calls out ABC over climate activists
Woodside Energy contacted the ABC Four Corners program demanding an explanation after climate activists boasted a crew would be filming an event targeting the company.
Woodside Energy demanded the ABC explain why Four Corners was attending an event organised by climate activists Disrupt Burrup Hub last month after the group boasted on social media that a TV crew from the flagship investigative show would be filming for a “report on climate activism in Australia”.
These new developments, revealed by The Australian, come as the ABC remains under intense pressure after a Four Corners TV crew happened to be outside the Perth home of Woodside CEO Meg O’Neill at the same time a climate protest was being held on Tuesday.
Four Corners executive producer Matthew Carney was among those contacted by Woodside Energy last month after Disrupt Burrup Hub published a Facebook post urging people to attend a July 25 meeting.
The activist group, which says it targets Woodside and “other dirty polluters”, told its followers the climate meeting was to be “filmed by ABC’s 4 Corners for a report on climate activism in Australia”.
Shortly after the ABC was made aware of the July post, the activist group removed any mention of the public broadcaster and instead said “this meeting will be filmed by media reporting on climate activism in Australia”.
A Woodside spokeswoman told The Australian the company “first contacted ABC Four Corners on 17 July, after being made aware that the activist group calling itself Disrupt Burrup Hub had advertised on Facebook that a meeting being planned by the group for 25 July would be filmed by Four Corners for a report on climate activism in Australia”.
A Woodside spokeswoman on July 21 was told by a Four Corners representative that the company would be contacted “if they pursued a story”.
Woodside did not receive any correspondence from the ABC until nearly two weeks later when the activists held a protest outside the CEO’s home.
“The next contact we had from Four Corners was on 1 August, when their reporter asked for reaction to what they described as a ‘police raid’ earlier that morning at the home of Woodside’s CEO,” the Woodside spokeswoman said.
An ABC spokeswoman would not comment on the matter and referred to a previous statement about Four Corners’ attendance at Ms O’Neill’s house.
“As we have said, the Four Corners team attended the protest action to gather material for a potential report later this year and had no knowledge what was at the address or that it was someone’s house,” she said.
“We have no other comment at this time.”
Communications Minister Michelle Rowland this week requested further information from the ABC about the protest outside Ms O’Neill’s home and the public broadcaster’s involvement.
“The minister sought additional information about whether a formal complaint had been received and appreciates the ABC’s constructive engagement,” a government spokesman said on Thursday.
“Further questions about this matter should be directed to the ABC”.
Senator Penny Wong also said she would look to obtain information on the matter.
The activist group is fighting to stop projects at the Burrup Peninsula in WA’s Pilbara region and has gloated online that it had made “headlines with a series of high-profile actions that have turbocharged the public debate around Woodside’s destruction of climate and culture at Murujuga”.
The group also published a list of locations it had successfully targeted in WA including the “art gallery, Woodside HQ, Parliament House, Perth police station, and the footy, and caused a full evacuation of more than 2500 workers from Woodside HQ in Perth”.
“Now, it’s time for everyone to get involved so we can scale up our efforts to shut down industrial expansion on the Burrup Peninsula,” the group said on social media.
The Disrupt Burrup Hub activist group was contacted about the amended Facebook post and event but did not respond.
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