School Strike for Climate was started by Swedish teenage activist Greta Thunberg in 2018 and has now spread into a global movement, demanding political leaders prevent climate change and for the fossil fuel industry to transition to renewable energy.
Protests were put on hold for much of the last 12 months as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, however they have now resumed as lockdown restrictions ease and case numbers in Australia subside.
Around 500 school students took to the streets of Perth - home to many of Australia's bigger industry players, including Chevron Australia and Woodside Petroleum.
Members of the Electrical Trades Union and the CFMEU told the striking students the oil and gas workforce needed a viable transition into renewable energy jobs, or be retrained into new labour forces.
"As we move towards a greener future, we need a just transition for these workers, whereby these highly skilled workers in these ageing industries will be able to transfer their skills as these industries start to move offline," ETU spokesman Ash Bamford said.
"Where these workers cannot transfer their skills, we need to ensure upskilling, and retraining happens so that no one is left behind."
The Perth protest started in the Supreme Court Gardens before students marched down St George's Terrace in the city's Central Business District, it then headed toward the front of Woodside Petroleum's headquarters before being dispersed by police.
Energy News understands that most Woodside employees were not in the building at the time as they were attending an event at the nearby Perth Convention Centre.
ENB/Mark Tilly
While there were many references to what the protestors view as broader inaction by the federal government, there were specific references to Woodside Petroleum's projects - including Scarborough and the North West Shelf.
Woodside is determined to reach final investment decision on Scarborough by the second half of the year. The project involves developing the Scarborough gas field in north west WA which will go to an expanded two-train Pluto LNG facility.
According to the latest data from the federal government's Clean Energy Regulator, Australia's gas and LNG sector was responsible for 8.6% of the nation's annual greenhouse gas emissions in 2019-20.
The protests across Australia were held the same week the International Energy Agency dropped its bombshell report calling for a halt to new fossil fuel supply projects in order to reach net-zero emissions by 2050.
350 Boorloo Perth campaigner Anthony Collins told Energy News on the sidelines of the protest that organisations like Woodside and industry bodies like APPEA have listened to the IEA in the past and should do so again.
"The IEA are hardly some greenie, lefty organisation - if even they are making the point for us that fossil fuel projects are no longer the way forward, its time the likes of APPEA, Woodside, Chevron started paying attention to that," he said.
"This indicates that projects such as Scarborough are not feasible for investors whatsoever anymore."
