A group of climate activists targeting Australia’s largest gas company has successfully fought an attempt by West Australian police to stop them communicating with each other.
A lawyer for the Disrupt Burrup Hub protesters accused police of making misleading claims to a court for anti-association bail conditions usually reserved for outlaw motorcycle gangs.
Gerard James Mazza, 31, Tahlia Madeleine Stolarski, 34, and Jesse Sandover Noakes, 34, are accused of involvement in a failed bid to shut down Woodside Energy’s annual general meeting in April.
They appeared in Perth Magistrates Court on Monday over a burglary charge related to the incident, expecting prosecutors to hand over a brief of evidence.
Instead, police made an application to prevent the Disrupt Burrup Hub campaigners from communicating, defence lawyer Zarah Burgess said outside court.
“It was an application that was designed to cut the activists off at their knees … an application that was made on a very misleading basis,” she said.
“These kinds of conditions that the police applied for are what we would normally see in relation to outlaw motorcycle gangs, not peaceful climate activists.”
Ms Burgess also said it appeared WA police were continuing with a crackdown on lawful protest by climate activists and the court rejected the application.
Last week Woodside’s lawyers sent a lawyer to a Disrupt Burrup Hub campaigner and said the company wants to start civil court action against members of the group.
Allens law firm said in the document seen by AAP that Woodside had suffered lost productivity and other damage as a result of the group’s activities.
It also requested the addressee to hand over evidence about the group and other protesters within seven days to avoid a Supreme Court application being filed.
The Burrup Peninsula, located in WA’s Pilbara region and known as Murujuga to traditional owners, contains the world’s largest and oldest collection of petroglyphs.
Disrupt Burrup Hub claims Woodside’s operations there and its proposed expansion are the biggest new fossil fuel project in the country and could produce billion of tonnes of carbon dioxide by 2070.
It has carried out a series of actions against Woodside this year, including releasing stench gas at its Perth headquarter in June, forcing the evacuation of about 2000 staff members.
Woodside has previously said it condemns unlawful acts intended to threaten, harm, intimidate or disrupt its employees or any other member of the community.