Four activists have been hit with violence restraining orders that their lawyer says prevents them from making any public reference to Woodside’s CEO and effectively stops them from speaking out about the company.
The interim court orders were issued to activists charged in relation to an incident at the home of Meg O’Neill and “were sought to protect Ms O’Neill’s family’s safety”, a Woodside spokesperson confirmed.
The orders were granted in the Perth magistrates court and started being issued by police on Saturday.
Disrupt Burrup Hub, a group campaigning against fossil fuel expansion in Western Australia’s Pilbara region, said the orders largely replicated bail conditions that had already been imposed on the four people charged in relation to the protest at O’Neill’s home.
Those conditions already prevented them from going within a specified distance of O’Neill’s home or Woodside’s headquarters, and prevented them from attempting to contact her, among other things.
But the restraining orders further prevent them from “harass[ing] or mak[ing] any reference to the Person Protected [O’Neill] by any electronic means, including by using the internet and any social network application (such as “facebook”) to depict or refer in any offensive manner to the Person Protected”.
The orders also say they cannot cause or allow any other person to engage in such conduct on their behalf.
The group’s lawyer, Zarah Burgess, said such orders were usually used to protect women and children from family violence offenders.
None of the four charged in relation to the protest at O’Neill’s house are accused of violent conduct, and Disrupt Burrup Hub have only been linked to non-violent protests.
A spokesperson for the group claimed the orders would prevent activists from appearing in an upcoming Four Corners episode and speaking to other media outlets.
Two of the activists hit with court orders had been interviewed by Four Corners and were expected to feature heavily in the program, the spokesperson said.
Another of the activists hit with an order, Emil Davey, was pulled over at gunpoint by WA police the night before the protest at O’Neill’s home.
The ABC declined to comment and Woodside did not address questions about whether it had participated in any upcoming Four Corners program.
Woodside denied the orders were intended to prevent the activists from making any public reference to O’Neill and said the company interpreted them to only prevent the activists from harassing O’Neill or referring to her in an offensive manner. A spokesperson said they had not seen the orders.
Burgess is seeking an immediate court hearing to challenge the interim VROs, and says the challenge may require O’Neill to appear in court under cross-examination.
“This [will] gag climate campaigners from speaking out about Woodside’s fossil fuel expansion,” Burgess said in a statement.
“These activists already have protective bail conditions in place preventing them from approaching the Woodside CEO or any Woodside property.
“The impact of the clause prohibiting … ‘any reference’ to Ms O’Neill precludes them from even having non-offensive, critical discourse around the role of the Woodside CEO. The fact that this includes ‘by any electronic means’ (including Internet and social media) means that any videos, posts or news articles that are produced by electronic means – which is most media these days – are strictly prohibited.”
Burgess said a breach of the order could mean activists are taken into custody.
“I have never before seen a VRO used in this way.”
