Four Corners: Oct 9

Monday’s Four Corners sees reporter Hagar Cohen in WA for a story on the battle between climate activists, the government and energy companies.

ABC management was forced to issue a correction in relation to the filming this story after initially stating a crew had no prior knowledge of protest action outside the home of Woodside CEO Meg O’Neill.

WA Police have also served the ABC with an order to hand over all footage captured ahead of pending trials.

The Burrup Peninsula in Western Australia has become critical in the nation’s battle against climate change — with protesters escalating their responses to the proposed expansion of a massive gas project there.

It’s leading to an increasingly combative confrontation between protesters and the state. Four Corners has analysed arrest data and found climate activists across the country are being charged with serious offences in unprecedented numbers.

More than twenty of those charges were directed towards a small group of Perth activists called Disrupt Burrup Hub.

The group made headlines in early August when police arrested them as they attempted to throw paint at the house of Woodside chief executive Meg O’Neill.

“Escalation” is a rare insight into the battle over the Burrup. It reveals how far both sides are willing to go for what they believe in.

8.30pm Monday on ABC.