XRSA says AEP climate criminals are not welcome
Extinction Rebellion Australia, 23 May 2026
Disruptions and protests by XR SA were timed for every day of the Australian Energy Producers (AEP) 2026 Conference and Exhibition in Adelaide. Delegates from major corporations, and engineers, technologists, financiers and politicians from Australia and around the world were sent a clear message that their destructive activities are costing the Earth.
Extinction Rebellion South Australia activists gathered on the Adelaide Convention Centre plaza during severe weather to greet delegates with loud drumming, chanting and strong messages of Earth protection.
The protest was dedicated to First Nations people from Australia and around the world who have been fighting fossil fuel companies for decades to protect their lands, waters and connection to Country.
During a noisy protest on Day 2 of the conference, Extinction Rebellion spokesperson, Gemma Weedall, said:
“Big oil and gas companies are making billions from products that fuel the climate crisis, threatening earth’s systems that sustain all life. Our governments are actively colluding with and bankrolling a greedy industry that has no conscience about the global damage and destruction it is causing.
“In its bid to expand and reap even bigger profits, this destructive industry continues to find ways to ignore or override community concerns, particularly those of First Nations peoples seeking to care for country and preserve their cultural knowledge and practices.”
“We demand our governments grant local indigenous owners the power of refusal, in recognition of their true status as caretakers of country. It is time for everyone to stand together and Take Back the Power!”
In the late morning, a solemn group of Oilies in spectacular black costumes filed into the plaza, and provided an eerie performance depicting the life being destroyed by oil and the grotesque greed of the fossil fuel industry (see top photo by Peter Barnes).
Day 3 of protests at the AEP Conference in Adelaide kicked off in the early morning with a dramatic action by Extinction Rebellion’s toxic clean-up squad. Dressed in hazmat suits and gas masks, the rebels filed down North Terrace to the Convention Centre plaza to greet conference delegates.
Rebel Pam was detained by police and fined after throwing fake oil on the Convention Centre doorstep – an action that caused no real damage, in contrast to the ongoing devastation caused by the fossil fuel industry.
The ever inventive XR SA team celebrated the Australian Energy Producers Conference Gala Dinner later that evening. Extinction Rebellion spokesperson Catherine Cox said:
“The carbon emissions from burning fossil gas and oil are overheating our climate, leading to runaway carnage – dead fish, bleached coral, burnt animals, floods and storms.”
“The AEP Conference and Gala Dinner is swarming with greedy fat cats making billions from fossil fuel expansion and war profiteering; here to schmooze and do dirty deals with governments. We pay through the nose for our energy and fuel, while they lay waste to the resources and ecosystems we all depend upon.”
The DINING WITH DISASTER action highlighted the true cost of extractive industries that put profit above everything, with no regard for the land, aquifers and water supplies or for the people of planet Earth.
On the menu was:
- Bleached Coral Canapes with a Nemo garnish
- Lismore Leak Soup with crunchy mud croutons
- Scott Reef Whale Skewers – in a Woodside state capture marinade
- Beetaloo Barramundi – in a Santos Creme de Methane sauce
- Algal Bloomberry Pie – with ecosystem crumble
- Pilliga Forest Flan – with a fracked Santos glaze
Extinction Rebellion held a Monsters Ball on the final day of the AEP Conference and Exhibition.
Outside, on the Adelaide Convention Centre Plaza, dancing horror characters depicted the terrifying future that the Oil and Gas industry is setting up for us.
Inside the convention centre, massive corporations including Santos, Woodside, Chevron and Inpex were making deals and plans to extract ever-increasing quantities of gas and oil, raking in obscene profits and profiteering from wars fought over fossil fuels.
Across the world, a real-time horror story is playing out. Droughts are causing crop failures, seas are rising in the Pacific, corals are dying and fish stocks are being depleted. Communities across the globe are suffering as prices rise for basic necessities, while disease, famine and conflicts boil over.
Extinction Rebellion SA spokesperson, Catherine Cox said:
“Conferences like these are state-capture horror shows, providing a way for this rogue industry to entice and consolidate government support.
“While our governments continue to enable these monsters and refuse to rein them in, they are complicit.”