Forthright and outspoken O’Neill rewarded after turbulent year

Meg O’Neill’s willingness to get on the front foot has seen her nominated for The Australian’s Australian of the Year award.

Woodside Energy CEO Meg O'Neill. Picture: Colin Murty

Thrown into the middle of multiple political, social and environmental firestorms over the past year, Woodside Energy CEO Meg O’Neill has proved to be gutsy, forthright and outspoken.

The Colorado-raised executive has tangled with activists, regulators, policymakers, and even the national broadcaster during an eventful and at times turbulent year at the helm of one of Australia’s biggest companies.

Ms O’Neill has shown herself to be prepared to get on the front foot when faced with pressures on several fronts, and that quality has now seen her nominated for The Australian’s Australian of the Year.

Woodside has become a prime target for activists as it pursues its plans for expansion of its West Australian liquefied natural gas projects, which environmental groups argue will add significantly to Australia’s emissions.

Anti-Woodside protests have grown increasingly aggressive, culminating in August in a planned event at the City Beach home Ms O’Neill shares with her wife and their daughter. The attempted protest was foiled by WA police, but the plan – and the fact activists were accompanied by a crew from ABC’s Four Corners – drew widespread condemnation.

Woodside filed a formal complaint with the ABC, while the saga also led to the extraordinary sight of Ms O’Neill in Perth’s Central Law Courts applying for a restraining order against the activists.

Ms O’Neill has also been a prominent voice in the ongoing arguments around the role of gas in a world increasingly determined to reduce emissions. She doubled down on future of oil and gas when she engineered Woodside’s merger with BHP’s petroleum assets in 2022, and is betting big again through Woodside’s plans for its Burrup Hub project.

The Burrup plans saw Woodside dragged through the courts by Aboriginal activists objecting to the potential impact of seismic blasting on whale migrations and ancient Indigenous songlines. While the Federal Court found in the activists’ favour, by the end of the year Woodside had succeeded in winning fresh approvals for its plans.

Despite Woodside’s status as a punching bag for the left, it was an active supporter of an Indigenous voice to parliament. Ms O’Neill also publicly acknowledged its failures during its early LNG days, when it was responsible for relocating, damaging and destroying multiple pieces of rock art on the Burrup Peninsula

We encourage our readers to put in a nomination for The Australian’s Australian of the Year, which was first won in 1971 by economist HC “Nugget” Coombs. Prominent Australians can be nominated by filling out the form above, or sending an email to [e-mail]. Nominations close on Friday, January 20.