They also demanded the government act to halt biodiversity loss and reduce greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2025. They had asked Premier Mark McGowan to meet them on the steps and when he did not appear, 15 protesters shut down the Legislative Assembly for about 30 minutes. They threw notes written on felt hearts into the chamber, addressed to each MP, urging them to "tell the truth" on climate change. Five were those arrested; police said they were "passively non-compliant with directives to leave". They will be charged via summons with offences including breaching a move-on notice, trespassing and obstructing police.

A WA Police spokesman said the event occurred without significant incident, there were no attempts to forcibly enter the premises and no reports of damage or violence outside. "There was a brief collective intrusion onto a confined road at the rear of Parliament; however this did not cause interruption to traffic flow or to the general public and the group complied with a directive to leave within a reasonable period of time," he said. Hundreds of protesters rally at Parliament House to protest about climate change inaction. Credit:Marta Pascual Juanola "WA Police would like to remind members of the community that they have a right to voice their concerns through protest activity, as long as that protest activity is conducted lawfully – which means the protest activity does not impede the rights of others, which includes their right to conduct their business." The action follows an initial rally in June and a WA university student walk-out in the CBD last week, and precedes the Global School Strike for Climate on September 20 and International Extinction Rebellion from October 7.

'The social contract is broken' Extinction Rebellion member Fraser Maywood, who attended Thursday's protest, said he had never thought much about climate change during his 35-year career as a mining engineer. But now 60 and semi-retired, Mr Maywood said he had become increasingly aware of the school strikes for climate action, the work of Greta Thunberg and the sheer diversity of the people getting involved in climate debate, including his teenage daughter. “This was not about an ideology, there are a lot of scientists but also other professions,” he said. “We are benefiting from a fossil fuel industry ... we are all in some way complicit.

“Our children, what kind of world are they going to inherit from us?” He and his wife had heard about Extinction Rebellion through its UK activity, and went to a talk at a Perth community hall. Young protesters at Parliament House. Credit:Marta Pascual Juanola He said he was a law-abiding citizen and the thought of protesting was “a bit frightening”, but his decision was spurred by his thoughts about the unwritten “social contract”. “You work, you pay taxes and obey the law and in return the government uses that money for your best interests and protection against whatever is the threat facing the nation,” he said.

“Understanding that social contract was broken gave me an ethical basis for civil disobedience ... there is a requirement that we act in the best interests of humanity. “I don’t have a solution. But we want to alert the public to this real climate emergency,” he said. “Species are dying out and it’s not yellow-bellied parrots we are talking about, it’s losing a huge percentage of our flying insects, for example – the insects we need to pollinate food. It’s about our ability to feed our children, and for them to feed theirs.” A protester is arrested by police at WA Parliament on Thursday, August 15, 2019. Credit:Nathan Hondros " /]