The ACTU and Australian civil society organisations have written to the Chair of Woodside’s board regarding their business activities in Myanmar following the military coup.
“As a major Australian Resource Company, listed on the ASX, with a Board sanctioned human rights policy and commitment to transparency, we ask the Board of Woodside the following questions:
1. Is it tenable for Woodside to maintain a joint venture under auspice, with a Government led by a junta accused of genocide by the UN?
2. Considering Woodside has formal concerns about engaging with regimes linked to human rights abuses, how does it justify ongoing operations in the now military controlled Myanmar?
3. Is it tenable for Woodside as a member of the joint venture to provide revenue now or into the future to the junta-controlled Myanmar Government?
4. Is Woodside’s social license to operate tenable given the nationwide opposition to the military government?
5. What example does Woodside want to set for corporate Australia in relation to doing business with Government’s that are accused of genocide and crimes against humanity by the United Nations?
6. Will Woodside disclose all contracts in Myanmar, any payments made to the Myanmar government and rule out any payments to the now military controlled government?