The exclusive Australian Energy Producers (AEP) cocktail party at the WA Museum Boola Bardip was targeted last night by over 100 protesters gathered outside calling for an end to gas industry expansion in Western Australia.
AEP (formerly APPEA), the biggest fossil fuel lobby group in Australia, is holding a conference in Perth this week, where attendees will hear keynote speeches from AEP Chair and Woodside CEO Meg O’Neill; WA Minister for Environment, Energy, and Climate Action Reece Whitby; and Federal Resources Minister Madeleine King, who are all pushing for more gas projects in WA despite the growing climate and biodiversity emergency.
More than 100 climate activists from organisations including the Conservation Council of WA, Drummers for Climate Action and Extinction Rebellion Grandparents gathered outside the conference’s ‘Welcome’ cocktail reception in central Perth on Monday night.
Lobbyists from some of the world’s largest fossil fuel companies including Shell, Chevron, Santos, Exxon and Woodside could only enter by walking past the noisy demonstrators who surrounded the entrance to the museum, chanting for climate action and an end to new fossil fuel projects.
The protest comes after a leaked government report revealed that WA emissions are set to hit record levels and that WA cannot reach a 2050 net zero commitment if it continues on our current trajectory and follows the hottest, driest summer on record in Perth, causing forest collapse across south-west WA and the deaths of vulnerable species.
Jess Beckerling, Executive Director at the Conservation Council of WA, said:
“We came here to tell the fossil fuel lobbyists to stop gaslighting Western Australia. We can’t have new gas and a safe climate. We have to choose. We are still in the midst of the longest, hottest, driest summer we’ve ever seen in WA. The forests are dying across the south of our state. We have had less rain this whole year than we normally get just this month.
“At the same time a recent WA Government leaked report shows that WA’s emissions are set to increase to record levels and we will not reach net zero by 2050 on this path. The gas industry is the reason why. Now gas companies are gaslighting us with carbon capture and storage, a fantasy technology that does not work.
“We also know that 90% of WA gas is exported overseas, mostly without royalties. This is not about keeping the lights on in WA, it is about huge corporations making obscene profits at our and our children's expense.
“Our message tonight was loud and clear. This lobby group is not welcome in WA to push their dangerous misinformation. There is no future in fossil fuels.”
ENDS
Please see photos and video footage of protesters here
MEDIA INFORMATION: The Conservation Council of WA (CCWA) is the state’s foremost nonprofit, non-government conservation organisation representing nearly 100 environmental organisations across Western Australia.
For more information, visit: ccwa.org.au.
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