The Fremantle Dockers are facing a battle off the field ahead of this weekend’s preliminary final against Sydney.
Their number-one ticket holder – Tame Impala’s Kevin Parker – has added fuel to the fire by covering the Woodside logo on his Freo guernsey with black tape while onstage in Denver this week.
Other well-known Dockers’ fans, including fellow musicians John Butler, Peppa Lane and author Tim Winton, have added their voices to the Get Off My Chest campaign, urging the club to “call time” on the fossil fuel sponsorship.
“Woodside is taking us for a ride,” the campaign’s website states.
“The company’s gaslighting and greenwashing only makes it more difficult to criticise its harmful behaviour and to call for a change to its ways. Our team is being used to protect its dirty reputation.”
Conservation Council of WA fossil fuels program manager Gerard Mazza said Mr Parker’s decision sent a strong message on the world stage.
The WA and federal governments are yet to complete environmental assessments on Woodside’s Browse project, which conservationists fear will spell the end of the remote Scott Reef system that sits adjacent to the proposed site.
“The Browse project would have a significant cost for Western Australians — not just through the damage to Scott Reef and our climate, but by exporting WA gas overseas royalty-free while Woodside barely pays any tax,” said Mr Mazza.
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“This project is so carbon-intensive and costly it risks increasing WA’s domestic gas prices by as much as four times.”
The group argues that WA already has enough gas to see it through the transition to clean energy, making the costly project unnecessary.
“The EPA has previously said Browse is too risky to proceed — and the independent EPA process needs to be allowed to run without external pressure or influence,” said Mr Mazza.
“Based on evidence provided to the EPA, it’s unthinkable the state government would allow the industrialisation of an underwater marvel like Scott Reef.”
The Albanese government’s move shortly after the 2025 election to approve an extension of Woodside’s North West Shelf Project triggered public outcry.
Final approval was granted last September.
CCWA says more than 70,000 people contacted the federal government in July urging greater scrutiny of the Browse project.
Internal documents obtained by the ABC under freedom-of-information laws show the department planned to put a final recommendation report to the minister by mid-to-late 2026.