Penny Wong heckled by environmental activists in Perth as backlash against North West Shelf gas extension escalates
The Prime Minister spent the day in Perth alongside his cabinet colleagues, after securing a shock defection from Western Australian Greens-turned-Labor Senator Dorinda Cox.
However, the PM's trip was overshadowed by a number of issues including a renewed push from NSW and Victoria for the government to reduce WA's GST share in addition to demonstrations from climate activists protesting Environment Minister Murray Watt's polarising decision to greenlight the North West Shelf gas extension.
A Perth-based environmentalist group called 'Disrupt Burrup Hub', which aims to oppose Woodside's Burrup Hub gas processing facilities scorned the Foreign Minister for abandoning climate action in a tense confrontation.
Ms Wong whilst strolling the streets of Perth was pursued by a male protester who questioned her as to why the Albanese government "was destroying our future'.
'Penny your government is destroying our future, how dare you, we relied on you,' the man shouted, with members of Ms Wong's staff and security team restraining the protester from advancing towards the Minister.
The man continued and stated that the Albanese government would 'destroy the world's oldest rock air,' referencing the fact that the Karratha Gas Plant was located close to a 50,000-year-old Indigenous rock art gallery.
The demonstrator said Ms Wong was a member of a government that 'pretends to take climate action,' and exclaimed, 'how could you do this to us?'
The group, which has previously protested against the Albanese government's position on the conflict in Gaza opposes the entirety of Woodside's operations in the Burrup Hub in addition to new industrial expansions in the Scarborough and Browse gas fields.
The group states it stands up for Woodside's 'crimes against humanity'.
The Burrup Hub is a larger proposed expansion of gas infrastructure, and aims to link the existing Pluto LNG facility and the North West Shelf to create a regional LNP production centre on the Burrup Peninsula.
The decision to extend the life of the project until 2070 enraged numerous environmental and Indigenous groups, with the Climate Council stating the move would release an additional four billion tonnes of fossil fuel emissions, of which is equivalent to a decade of Australia's annual emissions.
Senator Cox also strongly condemned the decision last week and voiced her firm disapproval, despite stating that her values best align with the Labor Party and that being a member of the Labor government was the best way to enact change.
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