The hoax letter sent by an activist granny read out in court

A Dunedin climate activist’s hoax letter to delegates of a petroleum industry conference had to look authentic but the content ‘’was satire … that was my intention’’, she maintains.

Rosemary Anne Penwarden faces two forgery-related charges: making a false document and using a false document, with the latter carrying a maximum penalty of 10 years’ jail.

The jury in the Dunedin District Court heard from her lawyer, Ben Smith, that the forged postponement letter for the Petroleum Exploration and Production Association of New Zealand (Pepanz) conference in September, 2019 was a joke, which she never thought people would take seriously.

Penwarden initially sent the letter, which she repeatedly described in court as ‘’satirical’’, to 147 journalists.

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‘’It was definitely to get attention,’’ she said, later noting that no-one printed it.

That same letter was then sent to those attending the conference, which she also thought would be read and ignored by delegates: ‘’because it is not something the industry would write’’.

That letter was read in court by the 64-year-old, who was supported by family and friends in the public gallery.

That letter included the lines: ‘’We are deeply concerned at the rapidly accelerating social and political changes engulfing us, highlighted by many of our own children preparing to strike from school to demand a safe future’’.

‘’Our social licence is slipping away faster than anticipated.’’

‘’Furthermore, despite our best efforts at secrecy, activists have discovered this year’s conference and were yet again planning noise and disruption’’.

‘’But there is a silver lining to all of this: we will not be there to listen to that incessant chanting.’’

Penwarden, who protested the conference, said she heard nothing about the letter she was visited by three police officers who seized her cellphone and laptop on May 31, 2020.

Penwarden said she found the email addresses over the internet, and her hoax email was a ‘’form of protest’’.

‘’I really liked the idea of directly able to communicate with those people inside,’’ she said of the attending delegates.

She told the court that her climate activism became ‘personal’ after a visit to Dunedin from a top climate scientist Dr James Hansen of Nasa, in 2011, the same year as her grandson was born.

Her activism included regular protesting outside Pepanz conferences, which included ‘’linking arms with people who are now my lifelong friends’’.

The 2019 conference was a ‘’secret’’, with organisers not disclosing the location, but Penwarden later found out it was going to be held in Queenstown.

That protests included chanting, singing holding signs, and ‘’making noise, so the delegates knew we were not okay with them holding the conference’’.

The point of that protest was to send those delegates, which included industry representatives from New Zealand and overseas, a message, she said.

Penwarden told Crown prosecutor Richard Smith, that it never crossed her mind that the letter would be taken seriously, and it was a fun way of telling a ’’tiny lie’’ which exposed a much larger lie, ie the industry’s impact on the climate.

Despite references in the letter to factual dates and location and an offer to reimburse delegates: ‘’this was not a legitimate letter,’’ Penwarden told Smith.

‘’This is satire,’’ she said.

The letter had to look legitimate, but also be ‘’effectively subtle … and funny’’.

But Smith questioned why she used the impacted parties own logos.

‘’My intention is that this letter was satire … that was my intention,’’ Penwarden replied.

Her goal was a ‘’little bit mischievous’’, and she expected Pepanz to field emails and calls about the letter.

She disagreed that the letter, which was emailed to delegates from a new Gmail account she had set up, was made with the intention to cause disruption.

The court heard from Professor Richard Jackson, of the University of Otago’s National Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, who said humour had been used by protesters for centuries.

The trial continues.