THE PLAN
The expansion of the fossil fuel industry in the year 2024, despite the overwhelming scientific consensus, is nothing short of a crime against humanity. Woodside Energy is currently expanding its massive Burrup Hub, already the largest petro-chemical complex in the southern hemisphere, and it’s got even more in the pipeline. The company will soon seek approval to exploit the massive Browse fossil gas development, what will be Australia’s most carbon-intensive LNG project, should it get off the ground. We know new fossil fuel projects like Woodside’s Burrup Hub will intensify the climate crisis, causing hunger, displacement, war, and mass death.
We can’t accept that. So, what’s the plan?
DISRUPT WOODSIDE’S BRANDING & OPERATIONS
Woodside relies on its social licence to operate to commit its crimes against humanity. The term ‘social licence’ refers to the trust and confidence put into a company by the public and stakeholders. It’s why Woodside spends so much money on advertising in Australia, despite consumers being unable to directly purchase its products.
If we want to prevent Woodside from expanding the Burrup Hub, we need to smash its social licence. If we can negatively brand the Burrup Hub and make Woodside’s image toxic, the company will no longer be able to rely on the support it needs from the public, governments, regulators, and workers to proceed with new development.
We want to create a political context where politicians like Western Australian Premier Roger Cook can’t get away with telling lies about how Woodside is “one of those great companies that underpin our standard of living” and still have a chance of being elected. We also want to cause direct disruption to make it harder for Woodside to proceed with their plans. We intend to get in the way of the industrialised processes through which Woodside commits its crimes against humanity. The best way we can disrupt Woodside’s branding and operations is through nonviolent direct action.
OUR 2023 ACHIEVEMENTS
In 2023, our actions put the Burrup Hub on the map. We gained extensive local, national and international media coverage.
We exposed the damage Woodside continues to inflict upon culture and climate.
Hundreds of ordinary Australians were directly involved in our campaign, causing disruption, coming to our meetings, turning out for solidarity actions, and helping behind the scenes.
Meanwhile, more than 1,500 people made generous donations to support our grassroots work.
Woodside is evidently concerned: It’s not only totally rebranded the Burrup Hub project, it’s also threatened to sue DISRUPT BURRUP HUB campaigners for loss of earnings in the Supreme Court.
Meanwhile, Woodside’s friends in the media have attempted to run smear campaigns on us, the police have subjected us to intense surveillance and overreach, and major party politicians have fallen into line, repeating the lines fed to them by their major donor, Woodside. None of it deters us. Elites dedicated to protecting fossil fuel interests are clearly unsettled, so we must be doing something right. And we’re only just getting started.
– In 2024, we shift into a new phase of the campaign, where we invite everyone to get involved and get onto the streets to DISRUPT BURRUP HUB. We want to show the breadth of opposition to the Burrup Hub, demonstrate our political power, and create opportunities for more people to take action. In 2024, we will see thousands marching on the street under the banner of DISRUPT BURRUP HUB. We will see hundreds risk arrest in direct action against the Burrup Hub expansions. Local DISRUPT BURRUP HUB groups will form across Australia and Western Australia to take their own actions. We will be everywhere, in numbers.
We’re part of a global movement
DISRUPT BURRUP HUB is one campaign in a global civil resistance movement fighting for an end to the age of fossil fuels. We stand in solidarity with groups across the world, including Just Stop Oil, Climate Defiance, the A22 network, Blockade Australia and Extinction Rebellion, who know that it’s only through nonviolent struggle we can protect ourselves from the worst ravages of the climate crisis. We’re also part of a local movement in Western Australia, fighting for the long-overdue goal of ending industrial development on the Burrup Peninsula. We stand with groups like Save Our Songlines, Friends of Australian Rock Art, School Strike 4 Climate, and Greenpeace Australia Pacific, who are each playing a crucial role in the fight for justice on the Burrup.
What will you do?
At this juncture in history, we each have a responsibility to do whatever we nonviolently can to prevent the untold horrors that would result from further coal, oil and gas expansion. As long as the fossil elites are allowed to continue to make short-term profits from new projects like the Burrup Hub, we can’t meaningfully execute the climate solutions that already exist.
You can withdraw your consent from the fossil fuel regime by taking direct action. Together, we can DISRUPT BURRUP HUB. Join us.