Having previously pleaded guilty to three charges, Gerard Mazza, 33, Jesse Noakes, 36, and Tahlia Stolarski, 36, avoided a prison when mitigating factors and the severity of the offence was taken into consideration.  

The trio was arrested in April 2023 after Mazza was apprehended by security at the Woodside event with a stink bomb which he had intended to set off. Stolarski was arrested with a number of smoke canisters and Noakes was later arrested for being involved in the plot.  

Today's hearing was the third occasion the matter had appeared before the judge for sentencing, having been adjourned on two previous occasions for legal technicalities to be overcome.  

All three are members of the Disrupt Burrup Hub protest group which works to oppose Woodside's developments in the Pilbara region.  

During the hearings it was revealed Professor Fiona Stanley and Green Party WA Senator Sophie McNeill had provided written character references for the accused.  

In sentencing the three for the offence of creating a false belief, Judge Astill said they had "overstepped the mark" and said they only failed in their endeavours because they were apprehended.

He added that if they had succeeded in the hoax the disruption "panic...[and]...chaos" would not have been limited to the 392 people at the AGM but to the Perth CBD as a whole.

Speaking after the sentencing Stolarski said: "Today we were fined for Attempting to Create False Belief — in other words, we pranked Woodside. We are guilty of pulling off a highly successful hoax.

"But if we want to talk about creating false beliefs, let's talk about the government."

They're guilty of creating the false belief that 6 billion tonnes of emissions from Woodside's Burrup Hub won't cause climate chaos and mass death."

Open letter

The sentencing comes as opponents of Woodside's application to extend the life of their North West Shelf project continue to galvanise.  

Today more than 80 groups and prominent Labor figures have called on the government to use section 131A of the national environment laws to open a public consultation period on the provisional approval of the Woodside plan. 

The letter calls for the conditions which are now being considered and worked through to be made public so other concerned parties can make submissions.  

Among the signatories are former WA Labor premiers Peter Dowding and Dr Carmen Lawrence along with prominent national environment and climate groups, all the state and territory conservation councils, think tanks, scientists and experts including Professor Fiona Stanley, Professor Andrew Blakers AO, Professor Peter Newman, Professor Kalus Weber and many more.