---
title: ‘Software glitch’ broke Woodside pipeline, now 400 people out of work
description: Construction workers on vessel installing Woodside pipeline told there will be no work for weeks while gaping hole, blamed on “software anomaly”, is fixed.
---
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# ‘Software glitch’ broke Woodside pipeline, now 400 people out of work
Friday, 2 February 2024
Construction workers on a 330 metre-long vessel installing a pipeline for Woodside have been told there will be no work for weeks while a gaping hole - likely caused by a “software anomaly” - is fixed.
Tanya Plibersek is being urged to block the ‘climate-wrecking’ Vulcan South coal mine in Queensland, which would raze koala habitat.
And fossil fuel companies - along with the gambling lobby, the big four consulting firms and the banks - continue to dominate political donations, the latest figures show.
**Top Stories:**
[**‘Software glitch’ broke Woodside pipeline, now 400 people out of work**](https://www.watoday.com.au/national/western-australia/software-glitch-broke-woodside-pipeline-now-400-people-out-of-work-20240201-p5f1oa.html)
Construction workers on a 330 metre-long vessel installing a pipeline for Woodside have been told there will be no work for at least four weeks while a gaping hole likely caused by a “software anomaly” is fixed.
[**Tanya Plibersek urged to block ‘climate-wrecking’ Queensland coalmine that would raze koala habitat**](https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/feb/01/vulcan-south-coalmine-queensland-koala-habitat-tanya-plibersek)
Environmentalists say Vulcan South mine would be an ‘absolute disaster’ for animals including koalas, greater gliders and glossy black cockatoos. The Queensland government approved the Vulcan South coal mine in the Bowen Basin earlier this month without requiring an environmental impact statement (EIS).
[**Australia’s most toxic industries lead the annual political donor parade**](https://www.crikey.com.au/2024/02/01/political-donations-data-2022-23/)
Fossil fuel companies - along with the gambling lobby, the big four consulting firms and the banks - continue to dominate political donations, the latest figures show.
[**‘We need information’: researchers rank Australia sixth in the world for missing mining data**](https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/feb/02/australia-sixth-in-the-world-for-missing-mining-data)
A lack of publicly available data about mine sites and their environmental impact is undermining trust in the industry and stifling “rational discussions,” an Australian researcher has said. An analysis by researchers from the University of Melbourne and the Vienna University of Economics and[Business](https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/business-australia) found that 39% of Australian mine sites are not fully documented in the Standard & Poor’s Capital IQ Pro (S&P) database, which is used to collate mining data for investors, and to track the environmental and community impact of mines.
[**Australia ‘on track’ with climate targets needed to protect Great Barrier Reef, Labor tells Unesco**](https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/feb/01/australia-great-barrier-reef-protection-climate-targets-on-track)
The federal and Queensland governments are trying to convince[Unesco](https://www.theguardian.com/world/unesco) not to recommend the world’s biggest coral reef system be placed on a list of world heritage sites in danger – with a decision due at a meeting in India in July.
[**Santos CEO Kevin Gallagher says the company won't pursue legal costs from Tiwi plaintiffs following Federal Court Barossa project battle**](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-02-01/nt-santos-wont-pursue-legal-costs-from-tiwi-plaintiffs-court/103415092)
This is despite the Federal Court last month ordering the applicants to pay Santos' legal costs when it rejected their application to suspend construction of the Barossa project's underwater pipeline, north of Darwin, due to cultural heritage concerns.
[**Lorikeet paralysis syndrome causing hundreds of birds to drop from the sky in northern NSW**](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-02-01/lorikeet-paralysis-syndrome-affecting-hundreds-birds-in-grafton/103407968)
More than 200 paralysed rainbow lorikeets have been taken into care this week suffering from a mysterious syndrome. Scientists are still trying to discover what causes the lorikeet paralysis syndrome that affects birds in south-east Queensland and northern NSW.
[**Western Australia's severe summer heatwave breaks weather records as parts of Perth hit 45C**](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-02-01/perth-wa-summer-heatwave-breaks-temperature-records/103413462)
Weather records have been broken across Western Australia as a severe heatwave batters much of the state's south.
[energy policy](https://blog.greenpeace.org.au/the-canopy/tag/energy-policy), [Woodside](https://blog.greenpeace.org.au/the-canopy/tag/woodside), [pollution](https://blog.greenpeace.org.au/the-canopy/tag/pollution)
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## More news
### [Woodside Energy workers prepare to strike](https://blog.greenpeace.org.au/the-canopy/woodside-energy-workers-prepare-to-strike)
Workers at Woodside Energy have given notice of their intention to strike, throwing Australian gas...
### [Woodside’s Goyder under pressure amidst shareholder backlash on climate](https://blog.greenpeace.org.au/the-canopy/woodsides-goyder-under-pressure-amidst-shareholder-backlash-on-climate)
Britain’s biggest asset manager says it will vote to remove Richard Goyder as chairman of...
### [Green light to extend life of Woodside's North West Shelf would blow Australia’s emissions budget](https://blog.greenpeace.org.au/the-canopy/epa-gives-green-light-to-extend-life-of-woodsides-north-west-shelf-in-blow-to-australias-emissions-budget)
WA’s environmental regulator has recommended approval of gas giant Woodside’s North West Shelf...
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