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Two people in custody after protest at offshore Woodside gas platform

Read the original at ABC News (AU) ↗
Cite

Ho, C. (2026, October 18). Two people in custody after protest at offshore Woodside gas platform. ABC News (AU). https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-10-18/greenpeace-protest-woodside-scarborough-gas-border-force/107280744

Dated from the outlet's own feed. Check the original for its byline.

ABC News (AU) · collected 2026-10-18 · by Cason Ho

Quick Summary

Activists from Greenpeace occupied an offshore gas platform operated by Woodside about 200 kilometres off Western Australia's coast to protest against the company’s planned gas project at Scott Reef. Two of the four protesters were taken into police custody after occupying the rig overnight and disrupting operations. The activists had hung a banner on the platform, which is part of Woodside's $12.5 billion Scarborough natural gas project. Greenpeace claims its actions are necessary to protect the environment, while Woodside argues that the protest endangered both the activists' and staff’s safety and caused significant disruption to their operations.
Written by AI on 2026-10-18, from this article's own text only (the story summary below draws on all the coverage).

AI analysis

Story summary

Two Greenpeace activists have been charged with interfering with offshore petroleum installations or operations after occupying an offshore Woodside gas platform about 200 kilometres off Western Australia's coast. The protest disrupted the company’s operations and led to a significant mobilization of resources from federal and state agencies, including the Australian Border Force (ABF) and NOPSEMA. The activists scaled the Scarborough gas rig on Saturday morning, hanging a banner that read "stop Woodside's dirty gas" and "save Scott Reef." Both protesters were taken into police custody on Sunday afternoon after safely removing themselves from their equipment; they now face charges carrying a maximum penalty of 10 years imprisonment. This incident highlights the ongoing conflict between environmental advocacy groups like Greenpeace and companies such as Woodside over proposed gas developments, particularly the controversial $48.7 billion Browse project near Scott Reef.

Written for “Climate Activists Protest Woodside” on 2026-11-02, grounded in this article and the 1 other(s) covering the same event.

Story

📰 Climate Activists Protest Woodside
Environment · 2 article(s) covering the same event. See how they differ ↓

Compared with similar articles

This article reads leans left and hedges 6% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
ABC News (AU)
⚖️ Leans left Hedges 0 of 9 claims Outlet record 68/100
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
16
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
6%
1 of 16 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
Leans left
of the writing, not the subject · beta estimate
Publisher signals
68/100
ABC News (AU)'s corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
2
Environment
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-10-18 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

ABC News (AU) · 4574 article(s) · 10 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 10 correction(s)

Who wrote this

Cason Ho
14 article(s) here · 0 carrying a prediction
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Also by Cason Ho
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 14 articles by Cason Ho →

Topics

Australian Border Force Greenpeace Greenpeace Australia Pacific Western Australia's Woodside

Subjects

Greenpeace ORG · 6× Woodside ORG · 6× Greenpeace Australia Pacific ORG · 2× ABF ORG · 1× Australia GPE · 1× Australian Border Force ORG · 1× Noda PERSON · 1× Sakyo Noda PERSON · 1× Western Australia's GPE · 1× Western Australian NORP · 1×

Narrative

"Greenpeace's actions have triggered a significant, potentially costly and entirely avoidable response, requiring Western Australian resources to be mobilised to manage the safety, security and operational consequences of their actions," a Woodside spokesperson said.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-10-18
2026-10-18 · ABC News (AU)
Two people in custody after protest at offshore Woodside gas platform · assertive framing

Claims (16 extracted, 1 hedged)

Two people are in police custody after occupying an offshore Woodside gas platform about 200 kilometres off Western Australia's coast to protest against the company's gas operations. asserted
people → occupy → operations
An Australian Border Force (ABF) spokesperson said they were working with federal and state agencies to respond to the situation after activists occupied the rig overnight and disrupted the gas giant's operations. asserted
activists → say → operations
Images shared by environmental advocacy group Greenpeace Australia Pacific show its activists scaling a Woodside gas platform and hanging a banner in protest of the company's planned gas project at Scott Reef. asserted
activists → share → Reef
Greenpeace said four protesters travelled to the platform early Saturday morning, and two of them set up "temporary hanging tents" to occupy the platform for "as long as possible". asserted
two → say → platform
On Sunday afternoon Greenpeace said two of its activists had been taken into police custody. asserted
two → say → custody
"Special police forces landed a helicopter on the [platform] at around 11:30am AWST," Greenpeace said. " asserted
Greenpeace → land → AWST
The activists safely removed themselves from their equipment before being taken into police custody around 1pm. asserted
activists → remove → pm
" Woodside confirmed the protest had disrupted operations at the rig, which forms part of the company's $12.5 billion Scarborough natural gas project. asserted
which → confirm → project
"Pre-commissioning activities at Scarborough have been paused as part of routine procedures following the unauthorised access," a spokesperson said. asserted
spokesperson → pause → access
Scott Reef is Australia's largest standalone oceanic reef and a refuge for thousands of aquatic creatures and shorebirds — Woodside's plans have been heavily contested by environmental groups opposed to gas developments in the area. asserted
plans → contest → area
Woodside said Greenpeace's activists had "deliberately and unlawfully" accessed the floating production unit and had "not only endangered their own safety, but that of Woodside staff". asserted
activists → say → staff
"Greenpeace's actions have triggered a significant, potentially costly and entirely avoidable response, requiring Western Australian resources to be mobilised to manage the safety, security and operational consequences of their actions," a Woodside spokesperson said. asserted
spokesperson → trigger → actions
In a statement, one of the Greenpeace activists, Sakyo Noda, refuted the claim that new gas production was necessary to help the world decarbonise, an argument often used by the industry and the WA government. uncertain
world → refute → industry
"We shouldn't be allowing fossil fuel companies like Woodside to extract new fossil fuels, let alone at extraordinary places like Scott Reef," Ms Noda said. asserted
Noda → allow → Reef
Greenpeace Australia Pacific CEO David Ritter said the activists were "highly trained and experienced". asserted
activists → say → ?
"The right to peaceful protest is fundamental to a healthy democracy," he said. asserted
he → say → democracy
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