“Judge Dismisses Woodside Action Against ‘Environmental Defenders’”, 23 July 2026

Just over three years ago, on 1 June 2023, Kristen Morrissey, Joana Partyka and Emil Davey, styling themselves as ‘environmental defenders’, carried out an action at Woodside Energy’s corporate headquarters in Perth. Ms Morrissey released stench gas in the office lobby, causing the building to be evacuated.

A full police investigation was conducted, and each of the three was criminally charged and convicted for their involvement in the incident…

On 21 December 2023, Woodside commenced civil action against the three in the Supreme Court of WA, seeking preliminary discovery of materials against each of them…

Today, 23 July 2026, Justice Howard dismissed Woodside’s application for preliminary discovery. In his judgment, the Judge said that –

“The plaintiffs [Woodside] have clearly devoted very considerable resources to their application. That is evidently the case from the volume of affidavit material put before the Court; the written submissions filed (including reply submissions); and the briefing of senior counsel. Notwithstanding that, the evidence put before the Court does not give rise to the necessary appearance of another person or persons being involved in the Incident”.

The judge observed that “Separately, from the material put before the Court, there did appear to be a tendency on the part of the plaintiffs to conflate the Incident with the broader activities of the Disrupt Burrup Hub group…”

He then added that “The apparent conflation in places may lead to an inference that this application is part of Woodside’s broader response to discourage protests against its Projects.”...

Last week, Greenpeace called the ongoing litigation a SLAPP suit – that is, a ‘Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation’ – a legal tactic used by powerful entities to silence critics by burdening them with the high costs of legal defence…