Smacking Down CEO Of Australia's #1 Energy Company - And Carbon Bomb Creator - For Blaming "Ideological" Young People
EDIT
On Tuesday, Meg O’Neill, the chief executive of Woodside, attacked young Australians for our “ideological” stand when it comes to the fossil fuel industry. When speaking at the Australian Energy Producers conference, she said: “It’s been a fascinating journey to watch the discussion, particularly among young people who have this very ideological, almost zealous view of, you know, fossil fuels bad, renewables good, that are happily plugging in their devices, ordering things from [online fast-fashion stores] Shein and Temu – having, you know, one little thing shipped to their house without any sort of recognition of the energy and carbon impact of their actions … So that human impact and the consumer’s role in driving energy demand and emissions absolutely is a missing space in the conversation.”
As a 26-year-old and a member of generation Z, I am proud to say I have never made a purchase from the fast-fashion stores O’Neill mentions. I will also be the first to admit that I am consuming more than I should be and have made purchases from questionable stores in the past. Acknowledging this flaw is important; we should all be striving to make more environmentally friendly choices. However, pointing out this prime example of a straw man argument is the more pressing point. This is the blatant scapegoating of young people while directly destroying our climate.
Meg O’Neill, is it easier to blame young people for “plugging in their devices” than speak to Woodside’s spilling of an estimated 16,000 litres of “hydrocarbons” off Western Australia’s north-west coast into the Indian Ocean just weeks ago? Yes, it may be a “zealous” view that young people hold in wanting to stop your North West Shelf gas project, a potential “carbon bomb” that would extend gas production until 2070, both exacerbating the climate crisis and risking ancient First Nations art at Murujuga. I would love to hear you explain how an individual buying a bathmat or earrings online compares with the 74m tonnes of CO2 that were emitted due to the sale and burning of Woodside gas last year alone.
While O’Neill thinks the “missing space in the conversation” is the consumer’s role in energy demand, I would argue the real silence in the discussion is how fossil fuel giants and the Albanese government justify approving projects that will drastically affect the planet my generation will inherit, and what part of your moral conscience allows you to blame us for it. This relentless attempt to shift responsibility and divide us is no longer viable. We see through the spin, we can cut through the noise. There are many powerful young people advocating for a better world, one which values our planet more than the millions being funnelled into the bank accounts of big oil and gas bosses who would rather we kept quiet. If that is my ideological view, I’m fine with that.
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https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/commentisfree/2025/may/28/the-woodside-bosss-attacks-on-my-generation-are-blatant-scapegoating-and-we-see-straight-through-them