Last Friday, 29 May 2026, Lock The Gate Alliance protesters across Perth and the South West, staged coordinated actions across six WA Labor electorate offices, including those of Premier Roger Cook and senior ministers, including that of Simone McGurk in Fremantle, calling on the state government to rule out fracking in the Kimberley.
The Lock The Gate protesters said their actions followed recent comments from Premier Cook that WA would be “forced to frack” the Kimberley if Woodside’s offshore Browse project did not proceed.
Texan fracking company Black Mountain Energy’s Australian subsidiary Bennett Resources has applied to drill and frack an initial 20 gas wells in the Kimberley, in what is called the ‘Valhalla’ project.
Protesters say the project would require the extraction of 100,000,000 litres of fresh groundwater per well – a total of 2 billion litres across the 20 wells – an unacceptable environmental disruption in the Kimberley.
The WA Environment Protection Authority has recommended approval for the project, and the state Environment Minister Matthew Swinbourne now has the final yay or nay say on it.
More than 8000 community members and groups appealed the EPA’s decision, setting the record for the highest number of EPA appeals in WA history.
The proposal is also being assessed by the Federal Government, which has identified significant potential impacts to threatened species, the National Heritage listed Fitzroy River, and water resources.
On top of all that, WA Labor voted for a statewide fracking ban at its state conference in November last year.
Community members inside Minister McGurk’s office: Julie Richmond, Raya Stanton, Peter Cook, Jane Brinsden, Digby Hill, Margaret Trudgeon and Joanne Taggart (L-R). Photo by Jane Rowett
At 10am last Friday , the Lock the Gate folk entered the offices of Premier Cook, Minister John Carey, Minister Don Punch, Minister Simone McGurk, Dan Bull MLA and Sook Yee Lai MLA, to deliver letters demanding that the Cook Labor government honour the WA Labor state conference vote supporting a ban on Kimberley fracking.
They asked their local Members of Parliament to urge the Premier to meet with representatives from the Frack Free Kimberley movement to discuss his recent comments. Some groups staged sit-ins until they got a response.
Lock the Gate Alliance WA Coordinator Simone van Hattem said that the community is “appalled” by the Premier’s threats to frack the Kimberley under the guise of a fake gas shortage and pointed out that “West Australians love the Kimberley. They don’t want this beautiful region industrialised and turned into a dumping ground for toxic fracking waste.” She added that their “message to the Premier is clear: don’t put your loyalties to the gas industry over the concerns of the community, the Traditional Owners who reject this project, and your own party members who voted to ban fracking at the state Labor conference.”
Protester and Fremantle resident Joanne Taggart, noting that the Kimberley is home to extraordinary landscapes, culturally significant sites and diverse communities, observed that “This is a vote-changing issue. When we speak to community members on their doorsteps, we don’t even need to explain what fracking is. The community will not back down until WA Labor has introduced a fracking ban in the Kimberley.”
Perth-based Frack Free Kimberley volunteer Maureen Gale explained that she had been door knocking across the Perth electorate and the community opposition to fracking the Kimberley was overwhelming. “Many people tell us they would reconsider their vote over this issue, and one in three households are so passionate that they take a yard sign.”
If you’d like to learn more about the fracking proposal in the Kimberley or support Frack Free WA you might like to attend a screening of the documentary Fighting Giants at The Wetlands Centre in Bibra Lake on 17 June.
*By Michael Barker, Editor, Fremantle Shipping News
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