XRWA projected their message on the outside of Parliament House last night in a protest over the Burrup Hub.
Inside Parliament House 5 brave rebels were arrested while disrupting Parliament’s debating the Burrup Hub Bill.
In his monthly appearance on Breakfast with Russell and Nadia, the Police Commissioner Chris Dawson hit out at the group, accusing them of lying about their intention.
Here is one of the arrestee’s response:
Hello there,
I listened to your interview with the Police Commissioner regarding the arrests of 5 protesters at Parliament House WA yesterday.
I was one of those arrested and wish to respond to the Commissioner’s comments.
Extinction Rebellion (XR) is a non violent decentralized worldwide network committed to non violent civil disobedience to draw attention to the Climate Emergency. Our aim is to force action to tackle climate change by governments and business corporations, something we should not have to do.
The assertion that the police were lied to is both incorrect and misleading. XR did notify the police that an action was occurring outside Parliament House yesterday. Police were not notified of the action inside which led to the arrests, otherwise the action would have been thwarted. When disruptive civil disobedience actions leading to arrests are planned, only those intimately involved have knowledge of the plan. In this instance the arrestable action inside was planned to coincide with a general action outside Parliament House and few people knew until the last minute, thus ensuring success of the action.
Groups within XR act independently and autonomously and are free to act in this manner while abiding with our principles.
Now back to lies again.
Our government has been lying to Western Australians over the proposed Browse LNG and Burrup Hub expansion, by withholding the TRUTH about the catastrophic impacts of this venture.
It is Australia’s biggest pollution project ever, 4x the size of Adani Coal mine emissions.
It will blow Australia’s Paris Agreement out of the water. I refer you to the CCWA Clean State Report and publications regarding this matter.
Finally, those 5 arrested were grandparents ranging in age from 61 to 76. We do not take arrests lightly but we feel compelled, even forced into this position by the lies and mistruths coming from Governments and Fossil Fuel corporations.
We despair for the future, our grandchildren’s future. We accept the science. We accept that we are in an emergency situation. What we do not accept is government inaction, the obfuscation and lies.
I don’t want to be breaking the law and getting arrested but desperate situations call for desperate measures. And we will continue until we are heard, until the government (state and federal) acts and develops laws and policy which are positive measures to tackle climate change.
Our protest yesterday was to bring attention to a decision which is tantamount to climate denial.
We deserve better from our elected members.
With Love and Rage
TMarkXR