
Petrina Harley, a Disrupt Burrup Hub and Socialist Alliance activist who blocked access to Woodside鈥檚 industrial plant in Western Australia鈥檚 Burrup Hub peninsula on July 12 last year faced court on June 16.
Harley asked the court to consider her actions under the 鈥渟udden or extraordinary鈥 climate emergency defence, telling 一品探花 that her action was a reasonable response to 鈥淲oodside putting lives at risk鈥.
鈥淲oodside鈥檚 emissions from Burrup Hub in the north west of Western Australia directly adds to the rise in global temperature that is causing catastrophic climate events and mass deaths.鈥 She said WA Labor is not only 鈥渄oing nothing鈥 to stop it, 鈥渨orse, it is subsidising Woodside鈥檚 pollution鈥.
Many judges dismiss the climate emergency defence as a political stunt. They can decide a person undertook a reasonable response to an emergency, but in Harley鈥檚 case, the court did not.
鈥淚 did not deny the charges. The burden of proof was on the prosecution to prove, beyond a reasonable doubt, that a climate emergency did not exist and that my action was therefore reasonable,鈥 Harley said.
This was the second time Harley had used this defence. 鈥淚 blocked the same road [into the Burrup] in 2021, but no lawyer was willing to argue this way. I represented myself and the judge dismissed the argument.
鈥淲hen the opportunity to block the road came again, I agreed if the lawyer representing me believed that non-violent direct action is a legitimate form of protest.鈥
Zarah Burgess represented Harley.
鈥淲hen the police prosecutor complained that this was a political stunt and a waste of court time, Burgess tore him to shreds.鈥
Harley spoke about the climate emergency and why her actions were a reasonable response on the first day of the trial. She said only after having had children and realising that corporate greed driving the climate emergency did she become an activist.
鈥淚 learnt about Woodside鈥檚 Burrup Hub project in 2018 after attending a 350.org Australia lecture. The extent of Woodside鈥檚 industrialisation in the Burrup was horrifying. I joined regular information stalls to let people know what Woodside and the WA government were planning.
鈥淭his part of the testimony showed I had a reasonable belief in the climate emergency.鈥
In response to Burgess鈥 questions about why her actions were the 鈥渙nly reasonable response鈥 to the climate emergency, Harley replied that history showed civil disobedience is a most effective way to achieve change.
鈥淢y testimony tried to underscore that activists include teachers, students, doctors, scientists, lawyers, parents and grandparents,鈥 Harley said.
The police prosecutor focussed on the protest planning, implying that because we had time to do that, it could not be deemed a 鈥渟udden emergency鈥. They also argued that blocking the road was not a 鈥渞easonable response鈥 because we didn鈥檛 achieve our goal.
However, Woodside鈥檚 operations last July were stopped for more than half a day.
Peter Newman, Professor of Sustainability at Curtin University, talked up the science between fossil fuel emissions and global warming on the second day the trial.
Newman, a lead author for the United Nation鈥檚 on transport, said 30,000 IPCC scientists are convinced that the only way to reduce emissions is to stop the mining of fossil fuels.
He said Woodside鈥檚 expansion of the North West Shelf would release 4.3 billion tonnes of toxic emissions over the next 50 years, and calculated one of the costs would be 120 lives lost each day.
The prosecutor did not attempt to refute the science, instead questioned Newman鈥檚 credibility as a scientist because he had met Harley at a Disrupt Burrup Hub meeting.
The judge found Harley guilty of three obstruction charges and fined $3000 on July 10. They said although the defence had proved Harley鈥檚 belief in the emergency to be genuine, it was not convinced that the emergency could be considered 鈥渟udden鈥 or 鈥渆xtraordinary鈥.
The judge pointed to Newman鈥檚 statement that Woodside still had time to turn things around 鈥渋f they did so by 2030鈥, saying it gave weight to the prosecution argument that this was not an emergency.
She said the prosecution was correct to argue that the blockade was 鈥渘ot a reasonable response鈥 because it did not achieve its stated goal of stopping operations.
She cited three similar cases that had failed to win acquittals. 鈥淚t sounded like she was apologetically trying to say, 鈥楲ook, I鈥檇 acquit you if I could, but how can I find you not guilty when other magistrates have said this鈥,鈥 Harley said.
Harley received a smaller fine compared to other DBH activists. Some have been fined $10,000 each for being caught with stink bombs ahead of a Woodside annual general meeting.
鈥淥nly a very brave magistrate would have agreed with my defence, as it would set a precedent for similar cases,鈥 Harley said. 鈥淏ut I see my action, and subsequent trial, as one more incremental step in the overall struggle. Woodside is currently facing two separate court cases over its destruction of Murujuga petroglyphs. The struggle is far from over!鈥