Browse Basin project sparks protests at Woodside 2026 AGM
Extinction Rebellion Australia, 25 April 2026
Woodside’s Browse Basin proposal is one of the dirtiest new fossil fuel projects currently planned in Australia. XRWA joined climate and community activists on a rainy morning at a protest coordinated by the Conservation Council of WA. Thirty protesters were later removed from Woodside’s AGM.
(photo above from XRWA)
The most comprehensive climate assessment ever undertaken in Australia was released in September 2025. The National Climate Risk Assessment warns of widespread impacts from sea level rise, an increase in heatwave deaths and major impacts to nature, even under a best-case scenario. The Climate Change Authority says that based on current global commitments, the world is on track to see 2.9C of warming this century.
With this grim and very clear warning, it’s madness for the federal government to even consider approving more fossil fuel projects.
Speakers at the Woodside AGM rally included Murujuga custodians Patrick Churnside, Regina Daniel, Kaylene Daniel and Samantha Walker, Cheek Media CEO @hannahferguson, @getoffmychest_aus campaigner Clare Lagan and @environskimberley campaigner Wendy Mitchell.
In a post on CCWA Facebook, Organiser Victoria Pavy said:
“We’ve just come from Woodside’s annual general meeting, and I’m feeling really sad, upset, frustrated. There’s growing community opposition to Woodside’s actions of continuing to mine and export gas from Western Australia. They just don’t care about community, about climate, our economy or the impacts on Scott Reef. It’s never been clearer to me, being inside that room with the shareholders and chair and CEO of Woodside.”
The Browse Basin is a collection of gas deposits approximately 450 km off the coast of North Western Australia. The approval and operation of this project to 2070 will directly impact on the vulnerable Scott Reef marine ecosystem that sits on top of the gas field.
In May 2025 the Federal Government approved a 40-year life extension (to 2070) for the North West Shelf project. This is a critical step for Browse. The core Browse gas extraction proposal remains under environmental assessment by Western Australia and Commonwealth regulators.
If the Browse project goes ahead, Woodside plans to drill up to 57 gas wells at Scott Reef. This will release 1.6 billion tonnes of emissions by 2070 (scope 1 and 3), devastate the pristine reef, threaten endangered marine life, and further accelerate global warming.
Scott Reef is already a vulnerable reef system, suffering from the impacts of climate change with warming oceans, sea level rises and storm surges.
There is no environmentally sound way to drill on, near or under a reef.
There is no indication that Woodside has done any assessment of what is on the ocean floor in the new locations or the new areas of seabed disturbance.
Economic doubts have held up the project so far, but this may have changed, due to the fuel supply crisis triggered by the illegal US/Israel military action in the Middle East.
What hasn’t changed, is the appalling environmental impact of this project.
The only acceptable outcome is for the federal government to refuse approval for the Browse Basin proposal