Two climate protesters who used a caravan to block access to Australia's biggest gas hub have avoided paying Western Australian police more than $33,000 in compensation. 

In November 2021, Petrina Jane Harley and Elizabeth Ruth Burrow cemented their arms into a concrete drum inside the caravan, in protest over Woodside's $16.5 billion Scarborough gas project on the Burrup Peninsula.

Burrow and Harley used an emergency defence in the Karratha Magistrates Court, arguing their actions were justified because of a climate crisis.

The pair were found guilty of failing to obey an order given by an officer, obstructing public officers, and unreasonably obstructing or preventing the free passage on a path or carriageway in January this year.

Magistrate Cillian Stockdale told the court at the time that Burrow and Harley's actions "jeopardised" the community.

He sentenced them to a six-month community-based order, issued a requirement to complete 100 hours of community service, and fined each of them $600.

Compensation claim dismissed

At the January hearing, police prosecutor Sergeant Leonie James said it cost police more than $33,000 in flights and accommodation to send specialist officers from around WA to deactivate the protest.

Sergeant James told the Karratha Magistrates Court in January that police would be seeking $33,000 in compensation from Burrow and Harley to cover these costs.

The pair's defence lawyer Nick Terry said the prosecution did not supply him with supporting documents relating to the basis of their compensation application.

He argued it was unfair to make his clients pay compensation, as their co-offender Caleb Houseman was not required to when he pled guilty in 2021.

Magistrate Stockdale dismissed the compensation application, meaning the activists will not have to pay the $33,000.