Woodside Energy chief executive Meg O'Neill says the company backs an Indigenous Voice to Parliament, while also taking aim at a 'vocal minority' accused of trying to shut down the oil and gas industry.
Woodside Energy chief executive Meg O'Neill says the company backs an Indigenous Voice to Parliament, while also taking aim at a 'vocal minority' accused of trying to shut down the oil and gas industry.
In a wide-ranging address delivered to the National Press Club this morning, Ms O'Neill revealed Woodside would support a 'yes' campaign in the upcoming referendum to include a proposed Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice to Parliament in the constitution.
"In my view this would be an important step forward in reconcillation [and} a genuine opportunity to bring Australians together," Ms O'Neill said.
Many of the largest companies operating in Western Australia, including Rio Tinto, BHP and South32, have said they support the Uluru Statement From The Heart but have not explicitly backed a 'yes' vote in the referendum.
The announcement makes Woodside Energy one of the only major WA corporate leaders to have done so.
Asked whether the company would continue to support a 'yes' vote if it would affect new projects in WA, Ms O'Neill said there was still work to be done on how the proposed Voice would engage companies on a specific matter.
She conceded the company had not always got it right in terms of working with traditional owners.
"Woodside has been on a journey ... and I'll be direct, when we built the Karratha gas plant we did move rock art," Ms O'Neill said.
"We did it in a way that was culturally sensitive at the time but in ... hindsight its not something we would repeat."
Ms O'Neill affirmed that ongoing developments on the Burrup Peninsula, including Pluto Train 2 and Scarborough, would not involve the relocation of any rock art.
The Burrup is also home to many pieces of ancient Indigenous rock art, which the state government’s Murujuga Rock Art strategy says are likely between 4,000 and 30,000 years old.
Some traditional owner groups have objected to the developments on the grounds that emissions from the projects could cause damage to the art.
Earlier this year, protesters sprayed a Woodside logo on Frederick McCubbin's Down on his Luck at the Art Gallery of Western Australia.
Woodside's office building and the entrance to WA's State Parliament have also been spray painted by protesters.
Speaking today, Ms O'Neill said the group respected every Australian's right to express opinion but that extremism was not the answer.
"A vocal minority wants to shut down the industry and the jobs that go with it," she said.
"They have deep pockets and are using both protest action and the courts to destabilise regulatory processes."
She also sought to highlight the importance of energy security.
"Without gas it's not only energy security that's at stake but also food security," Ms O'Neill said.
"These might seem fairly obvious ... but when you consider the vocal minority that is trying to shut our industry down, it really does beg the question as to whether they understand the consequences of what they are asking for."
You can read more about WA business' sstance on the Voice in the April 17-30 edition of Business News.
