Climate activists have invaded Woodside Energy's annual general meeting, shouting out the names of the children of its leadership while accusing the company of "killing kids" through its gas projects.
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Police were called to the Crown Towers resort and casino in Perth where protesters tried to disrupt the meeting on Wednesday by singing a modified Crowded House song.
They targeted CEO Meg O'Neil and chairman Richard Goyder and the Burrup Hub gas project.
"Meg O'Neil is killing kids ... We need to end Burrup Hub now, what about my future" said one protester in her 20s.
"I'm talking to you parent to parent ... Richard Goyder ... to resign immediately ... And parent to parent, I ask CEO Meg O'Neil to resign," another protester said as shareholders heckled them.
Some of the activists, who are understood to also be shareholders in the company, were ejected from the meeting but it continued despite the disruption.
Ns O'Neil later said their actions were "completely out of line" and disrespectful.
"I'm fair game, (Richard Goyder) I think would accept that he's fair game, but our families have the right to go about their business," she told reporters at a press conference.
"We believe that climate change is an important topic. There'll be different opinions. There'll be a robust debate, and we welcome the robust debate but people need to understand where the line is."
Asked by reporters about the activism, WA Premier Roger Cook said that people should protest respectfully and "not in ways which intimidate".
Shareholders at the four-hour meeting re-elected Mr Goyder as chair by a comfortable margin, but rejected Woodside's climate transition plan in a vote that was purely advisory. Climate activists had urged a rejection of both.
A preliminary tally indicated Mr Goyder would be re-elected with 83.4 per cent support, with 16.6 per cent of votes cast against him, while the climate plan had garnered just 41.6 per cent support and 58.4 per cent opposition.
"Naturally, we're disappointed, but respect the result," Mr Goyder said of the vote on Woodside's climate plan.
"The vote reflects the challenges and complexities of the energy transition, and today's outcome is one that we take very seriously."
Mr Goyder said before the meeting he had personally led over 80 meetings with with shareholders and proxy advisors on the issue over the past 12 months and was dealing with climate transition honestly and openly.
"We would love to be investing more money in renewable energy right now, if only we had the customers, and current customers were prepared to make the trade-offs, particularly financial," Mr Goyder said during the meeting.
Many of its customers are in fact incurring significant costs on their energy transition, he added.
"But we cannot and won't be turning on a dime on this," he said.
Climate activists are particularly incensed by Woodside's Burrup Hub project on WA's Burrup Peninsula, part of the company's $16.5 billion plan to develop the Scarborough gas field 375km off the Pilbara coast of WA.
About 200 protesters gathered outside the Crown complex before the meeting amid a heavy police presence.
They marched without incident about 300 metres up a driveway holding placards with anti-Woodside messaging..
"Shame on Woodside, when you gonna learn, you can't make money on a planet that burns," they chanted. "Six months no rain, Woodside are to blame.
Australian Conservation Foundation CEO Kelly O'Shanassy said the company's Burrup Hub gas precinct was the Southern Hemisphere's largest "gas carbon bomb" and it would produce more than 13 times Australia's annual emissions from all sources over its operating lifetime.
The Australasian Centre for Corporate Responsibility (ACCR) said Woodside's climate plan was rejected by all major proxy advisory firms, at least three major Australian superannuation funds, some of the US's biggest pension funds, Norway's largest private pension fund, and Britain's biggest asset manager.
"The board must now act on investor feedback and begin the long overdue work of credibly de-risking its business," spokeswoman Harriet Kater said.
Woodside says the Scarborough project, scheduled for first gas in 2026, will create thousands of jobs, contribute $19 billion in taxes to Australia and help neighbouring Asian countries with their energy transition.
Australian Associated Press
