Woodside files formal complaint with ABC over CEO protest
Woodside Energy has lodged an official complaint with the ABC after a TV crew from the broadcaster’s flagship investigative show Four Corners was present at a dawn protest by climate change activists at the home of chief executive Meg O’Neill.
At least five people from a group called Disrupt Burrup Hub were at Ms O’Neill’s home in Perth at 6.45am on Tuesday. They were protesting against mining and development of the Burrup peninsula in northern Western Australia.
Woodside chief executive Meg O’Neill.
Ms O’Neill said on Friday the protest was “left me shaken fearful and distressed”. The group has said it was a peaceful protest. Three people were arrested, WA Police said.
But it was the presence of an ABC camera crew that has put the broadcaster in the headlines. WA Premier Roger Cook wrote to the broadcaster’s chairwoman, Ita Buttrose, to express his concern. “Wittingly or unwittingly, the ABC was complicit,” he said.
The broadcaster said the crew and journalist had “no knowledge of what action was going to occur” and that they had simply received a tip to go to an address. “The ABC team in no way colluded with the activists,” the ABC said in a statement.
The energy company’s spokeswoman, Christine Forster, confirmed it had submitted a complaint on Friday. Woodside had sent a letter earlier in the week to ABC management demanding answers about how the broadcaster knew about the protest in advance.
“Woodside today lodged a formal complaint to the ABC in relation to a Four Corners team filming at the home of CEO Meg O’Neill on 1 August 2023,” she said.
The complaint alleges the ABC breached its Code of Practice and Editorial Policies by being at the protest.
On Wednesday, Communications Minister Michelle Rowland asked for
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