‘I’m not sorry’: Activists fined over thwarted protest at Woodside boss Meg O’Neill’s City Beach home

Activists who plotted to vandalise the City Beach home of Woodside boss Meg O’Neill have avoided jail and been told by a magistrate that their actions could be viewed as a “personal attack”. Police were already waiting to pounce when Matilda Lane-Rose and Jesse Noakes arrived at the western suburbs home in August 2023 armed with four litres of yellow paint and a bicycle lock. Emil Davey had been arrested after carrying out “reconnaissance” of the premises hours earlier, and he was charged alongside Lane-Rose, Noakes and a fourth activist, Gerard Mazza. At the trio’s sentencing on the charges of attempted trespass and attempted unlawful damage in Perth Magistrates Court on Monday, Chief Magistrate Steven Heath questioned whether they had “crossed the line”. “I consider the decision to target the CEO’s house had potential to be seen as a personal attack,” Mr Heath said. Accompanying that was concern for her family’s safety, Mr Heath said. He accepted they were committed to their cause and not driven by any other motive, and the right to peaceful protest was a pillar of democracy - but was not unfettered, he said. The trio planned to splash paint — some of which was contained in balloons — on Ms O’Neill’s front driveway, garage door and brick wall while Lane-Rose would lock herself to a gate. Mr Heath said the amount of damage planned was “not great” but the offences were “not trivial”. He fined Lane-Rose and Davey $2000, noting their young ages of 19 and 21 respectively at the time of the offences and lack of previous convictions. Noakes, 36, was fined $2500 given his age and prior offences. While prosecutors had pointed to their lack of remorse and pride in their actions, he also granted Lane-Rose and Davey spent convictions, not wanting to scupper his plan to study overseas nor hers to switch university courses to law. Mr Heath deemed the pair unlikely to offend similarly again. But outside court, Davey was unrepentant. “Ms O’Neill is the CEO of the biggest fossil fuel company, and look, her job is to handle this kind of stuff,” he said. “So no, I’m not sorry for her. And I think if you’re going to get a bit upset about a 19-year-old’s paint stunt, it’s about time to grow a backbone.” Lane-Rose said she would continue to protest in a bid to highlight climate change but maybe not “in the criminal sense” — for now. “Whether that’s within or outside of the law, I’m not planning anything like this anytime soon again,” she said. She said the group had realised “that the done thing with climate protests, it hasn’t been cutting through”. The incident and preparations beforehand were filmed by an ABC Four Corners crew. Davey claimed that the night before the foiled stunt - when he was scoping the home - a counter-terrorism officer “dressed all in black . . . pointed a gun at my head”. “They knew we were planning a non-violent protest . . . that’s far, far across the line,” Davey said on Monday. Noakes said that in light of that alleged encounter, the group “knew there was every chance” police would be waiting at the City Beach property. Ms O’Neill later took out restraining orders against the activists, with the fourth — Gerard Mazza — to be sentenced later in February.