An environmental activist who says he was pulled over by police at gunpoint and is subject to a restraining order issued on behalf of Woodside’s CEO has now been threatened with legal action by the energy giant.
Emil Davey was sent a letter by lawyers acting for Woodside Energy on 18 August requesting he hand over documents and communications relating to a protest at the company’s Perth headquarters in June.
Woodside is considering suing Davey and others for damages it says it incurred because of the protest. About 2,000 employees were reportedly evacuated during the protest after activists were suspected of releasing a foul-smelling gas and flares near the building.
The letter, seen by Guardian Australia, says that lawyers for Woodside believe people other than Davey and two others – Joana Partyka and Kristen Morrissey – may have been involved in the protest. Partyka and Morrissey have been sent similar letters.
The trio – who have all been charged over the protest – are involved with Disrupt Burrup Hub, a group campaigning against fossil fuel expansion in Western Australia’s Pilbara region.
According to the letter sent to Davey, Woodside claims it “has suffered loss and damage”, including costs associated with cleaning and lost productive time to Woodside’s businesses because workers had to be evacuated for several hours while the incident was investigated.
“Woodside considers that it may have a cause of action against persons (in addition to you, Ms Morrissey and Ms Partyka) for unlawful means conspiracy in connection with the incident, and wishes to commence proceedings against those persons.
“However, Woodside has not been able to ascertain the identity of those other persons.”
The company asks Davey to hand over documents it believes may help identify others involved in the protest, including “anything on which there is writing”, “anything on which there are marks, figures, symbols, or perforations having a meaning for persons qualified to interpret them”, and “anything from which sounds, images or writings can be reproduced with or without the aid of anything else”.
He is also asked for emails, text messages and instant messages from more than a dozen different social media or communications platforms.
The letter states that if Davey does not comply with the request Woodside had instructed its lawyers to apply to the supreme court for orders that would require him to attend, and said that he could not destroy any documents that may be relevant to the protest.
The Environmental Defenders Office is acting for Davey and Partyka. Lawyers for the pair say they will not comply with Woodside’s requests, according to correspondence seen by the Guardian.
But the parties appear set to enter conferral in relation to both activists, a process designed to find a resolution to a dispute without needing to attend court.
The prospect of civil court action against activists follows revelations that some protesters were now subject to violence restraining orders taken out on behalf of Woodside’s CEO, Meg O’Neill.
A Woodside spokesperson said the orders “were sought to protect Ms O’Neill’s family’s safety” after a protest outside her home earlier this month.
The four people hit with the orders have been charged in relation to the protest and they include Davey, who says he was pulled over at gunpoint by WA police the night prior to the protest at O’Neill’s house.
The use of the restraining orders against the activists has been heavily criticised by their lawyers and by the Human Rights Law Centre, whose acting legal director, Alice Drury, called for them to be cancelled immediately.
