PIs targeting school children at peaceful protests ‘immoral’
The private investigation into school children peacefully protesting oil and gas drilling in New Plymouth has been labelled ‘‘despicable’’ and ‘‘totally immoral’’ by climate activists.
But for one protester, who was just 15 at the time, the news has not come as a shock.
‘‘It was just a confirmation of something you just assumed was going on,’’ School Strike 4 Climate spokesperson Jack Barlow said.
A two-year investigation by Radio New Zealand found that in 2019 and
2020, private investigation firm Thompson and Clark had been paid by businesses in the oil and gas industry, including OMV and Petroleum Exploration and Production Association of New Zealand (PEPANZ), to monitor and help counter citizen groups concerned about climate change.
This included a combined Schools Strike 4 Climate (SS4C) and Greenpeace peaceful protest at OMV’s New Plymouth office in December 2019, where Thompson and Clark tried to undermine the campaigners by monitoring groups on Facebook and providing information to OMV about their plans, a source told RNZ.
The protest ran for three days and OMV employees worked from home during that time.
Barlow was among 10-15 SS4C protesters who travelled from around the North Island for the protest. He was only 15 at the time, and despite being disgusted and outraged by the news, he said he expected it. ‘‘You kind of know going into activism it’s a thing that happens, so in a way I wasn’t shocked at all.’’
Climate Justice Taranaki also had activists there that day, but spokesperson Catherine Cheung said she could not believe children had been investigated.
‘‘It’s despicable what OMV & PEPANZ have done, using T&C (Thompon and Clark) to spy on students and climate activists,’’ she said.
‘‘We have known for years that activists have been targeted, but to be spying on children is just totally immoral.’’
It was a serious breach of privacy and the democratic rights of the young, the most vulnerable, at a time when they were pushing for real climate action, she said.
Greenpeace Aotearoa Programme Director Niamh O’Flynn said spying on children engaged in a peaceful protest was ‘‘completely reprehensible and heavy-handed’’.
‘‘We were completely open about the organising of this protest, so there was no need to spy,’’ she said.
‘‘It’s disturbing that the oil and gas industry sunk as low as spying on students and peaceful climate activists.’’
Greenpeace Aotearoa had called on the Austrian Government, OMV’s largest shareholder, to explain why OMV had been using Thompson and Clark to spy on the peaceful protesters, she said.
Other climate change protests that were investigated by Thompson and Clark include an Environmental Protection Agency Dunedin-based hearing on offshore exploration drilling by OMV in July 2019, and a petroleum conference in Queenstown in September 2019.
In October 2019, they investigated protests at the GasNZ Industry Forum in Christchurch, OMV drilling off the coast of Otago in January 2020 and in the Maui field off Taranaki in MarchApril 2020.
OMV did not respond when contacted on Friday, but company spokesperson Jane Gower previously told RNZ, ‘‘OMV NZ, like many organisations, uses freely available public information to assess activities that might impact our operations.
‘‘We respect the right of peaceful, legal protest but will take the appropriate steps when necessary if our people or businesses are under threat.’’