What: Protest vigil against Woodside’s North West Shelf and Browse gas export projects

When: 12.30-1.30pm Wednesday, 23 July

Where: Woodside headquarters, 11 Mount Street, Perth

Leaders and practitioners from a number of different religions will join together in a multi-faith vigil outside the headquarters of Woodside Energy on Wednesday to protest the company’s fossil gas expansion plans.

The vigil, hosted by the WA branch of the Australian Religious Response to Climate Change (ARRCC), will be the third in a series of weekly protest actions held by different community groups outside Woodside’s headquarters.

Woodside is engaged in closed-door negotiations with the federal government over the conditions for approval of its North West Shelf gas export development at the Burrup Hub.

Environment Minister Murray Watt continues to refuse to consult publicly on the provisional approval. Protesters across the community have been calling on the Minister to consult on these conditions and reverse his provisional approval for the North West Shelf.

Uniting Church Kalamunda Council of Elders member of the Ron Coster said:

“The Australian Religious Response to Climate Change (ARRCC) is a gathering of faith communities who have as their DNA the care of creation and the environment.

“ARRCC is particularly concerned about global warming as the result of human activity, particularly the burning of fossil fuels.

“I call on Woodside to change its investment direction and urgently begin reducing its release of methane and carbon dioxide into the atmosphere during extraction, processing and the final use of gas locally and overseas.

“I call on Woodside to stop hiding its real emissions behind the screen of purchasing 'off-sets'. Absolute reductions are required.

“I also call on Woodside to heed the call of First Nations people and the wider community to urgently transition to a renewable and sustainable future.

“A fire is not extinguished by adding more fuel.”

Anglican Priest-in-charge at the Parish of Darlington-Bellevue, the Reverend Peregrin Campbell-Osgood, said:

“In company with most religious and spiritual traditions the world over, the Christian tradition views the earth as sacred and a revealing of the divine.

“We rejoice in the interdependence of all living beings, holding each as precious and sacred. Equally we acknowledge the fragility of this web of interdependence when confronted with expansive human-made projects that view the earth as a resource and the family of things as commodities. Therefore, as people made in the image of God, we are called to protect and care for Creation through our action and voices.

“Woodside’s proposed North West Shelf gas extension will seriously pollute and damage the intricate web of life around the Burrup Peninsula. Much of this damage will be catastrophic and irreversible.

“The project also poses a serious and long-lasting risk to the World Heritage Listed Murujuga rock art, damaging not only the art itself but also the spirits of the First Nations peoples who created the art and the relationship between settlers' people and First Nations peoples.

“We call upon the Hon Senator Murray Watt, Minister for the Environment and Water to pause any final approval and then listen to and carefully respond to the many concerns of numerous environmental groups. We also call on Minister Watt and the Federal Government to honestly and energetically commit wholeheartedly to developing the already available safer, clean energy options to meet Australia’s energy and fiscal needs.”

Quaker and former WA Senator Jo Vallentine said:

“Government approval for the expansion of Woodside’s operations on the Burrup Peninsula at both state and federal levels represents state capture on steroids.

“Allowing Woodside to continue with its destructive polluting industry until 2070 is a slap in the face for future generations. How are our grandchildren and theirs going to cope with a rapidly warming world? This is a theft from the future.

“Our common humanity requires decision makers to take responsibility for the damage already being done to the climate, and to the ancient rock art on the Burrup Peninsula, and to desist from adding to problems which future generations will have to face.”

Buddhist practitioner and ARRCC member Helene Fisher said:

“The climate crisis knows no borders. We cannot know where on the planet the emissions from the burning of 6 billion tonnes of gas originating in WA's North-West region at the Burrup Hub will cause severe, damaging weather events.”