Brad Pettitt says law-breaking activists who targeted Woodside CEO Meg Oneill’s home deserve to be heard

Greens MP Brad Pettitt has refused to condemn a group of anti-gas activists convicted of attempted trespass and unlawful damage over a protest that targeted Woodside CEO Meg O’Neill at home. Instead, he recorded a podcast with one of them. Disrupt Burrup Hub activists Matilda Lane-Rose, Emil Davey, Gerard Mazza and Jesse Noakes pleaded guilty on Tuesday and are due to be sentenced next month for going to Ms O’Neill’s home armed with spray paint. Environment Minister Reece Whitby urged other politicians to call them out. “I would hope that everyone, including the Greens, would say that that is inappropriate and we distance ourselves from that kind of activity,” he said. “Homes are no-go zones. “It is reprehensible and completely inappropriate that you go and try and invade someone’s private home to make a political point . . . you can do it in a peaceful way that doesn’t break the law.” Mr Pettitt took part in a podcast with Noakes last week, accusing the Cook Government of giving mining lobbyists “back-door access” to State Parliament. When asked whether he would cut ties with the activists who targeted Ms O’Neill’s home, Mr Pettitt doubled down and praised them. “We support those young people who are standing up for their future,” he said. “I think that’s really powerful and we will continue to support young people, especially standing up and acknowledging that their future feels at risk.” Asked on Wednesday — after the activists had pleaded guilty to the charges — whether the Greens supported the actions the quartet took, Mr Pettitt would only say more protests are likely “if this Government doesn’t act”. Mazza, who previously pleaded guilty to setting off a stink bomb at Woodside’s AGM in 2023, has hosted a podcast interview with Independent candidate for Fremantle Kate Hulett. On Wednesday, she said: “What (Mazza) does in his time is not relevant. We’re increasingly criminalising protesters in Western Australia and I think it is a right for people to be able to protest.” The Greens called a press conference on Wednesday to announce plans to demand the end of open-cut bauxite mining in WA forests if they hold the balance of power after the State Election. Forests spokesperson Jess Beckerling said that at least 33,000 hectares of publicly owned forest had been lost to bauxite mining “and the rate is accelerating”. The policy was immediately slammed by the mining sector as a potential job-killer. “Mining, including bauxite mining, has occurred here in WA for more than 60 years and today generates millions in economic activity and employs thousands of West Australians,” Chamber of Ministers and Energy acting CEO Adrienne LaBombard said. “Bauxite mining is strictly regulated by both the State and Federal Governments to protect native flora and fauna and nearby water sources.”