Seven central Victorians were among 173 protesters arrested at the recent Rising Tide blockade at the Port of Newcastle.
More than 7000 people attended the protestival at the world’s largest coal port from November 19 to 25, including more than 30 people from central Vicoria. They were demanding a stop to the expansion of the coal industry, and a 78 per cent tax for multinational fossil fuel corporations to assist with the transition to cleaner energy.
The protest then moved to Canberra where hundreds of people took the message to Australian Parliament and many more were arrested. The Albanese Government has approved 28 new coal and gas projects.
In Newcastle, the NSW Police Force put a stop to the protests, stealing paddles from people in boats and using a spike to puncture kayaks.
On the final day of the blockade, the kayakers achieved a historic first: a flotilla of kayaks forced a coal ship to turn around on its final leg into the harbour. 173 people were arrested in Newcastle; 14 of the arrestees were aged under 18 years, 17 were aged over 65 years and almost three per cent of the arrestees were from central Victorian towns.
Some protesters were charged with section 15A(2) of the Maritime Safety Act, ‘…not comply with a direction (maximum penalty $3300)’ but most were charged with section 214A(1) (b) of The Crimes Act, ‘…damage/disrupt a major facility, with a maximum penalty of $22000 and two years’ prison’.
One of the first arrestees was a Castlemaine resident, father of three and social worker Bernard Tonkin. Bernard spent six hours in custody at Newcastle Police Station, and says that the Australian Government targets conveniently ignore emissions that result from our coal and gas exports.
“If we were to account for our exports, Australia is responsible for around 4.5 per cent of global fossil carbon dioxide emissions. Many pretend that Australia is a minor player on the world stage when it comes to carbon emissions, but this is Australia’s big dirty lie,” Bernard said.
“We are like a major drug syndicate for the world’s fossil fuel addiction and we employ the drug dealer’s defence: if we don’t sell it to them someone else will, or we just make money out of selling coal but we’re not responsible for the human suffering caused.”
Another arrestee was 79-year-old Castlemaine resident Terry White.
“It was an ecstatic moment for me, resting quietly on the water, waiting to be arrested,” he said.
“Ever since the year 2000, I have been active in several central Victorian climate movements such as retrofitting low-income households. I knew these local efforts were important but not enough.
“I was very proud to be amongst this year’s arrestees, and I‘ll go again next year.”
Guildford resident Benedict Hughes was not only arrested for being in the shipping channel, but was also banned from Parliament of Australia for three months for sitting and chanting in the foyer.
“We are on the brink of a catastrophic climate tipping point, yet the Government is allowing new coal projects rather than taxing coal export profits to fund rapid community and industrial transition,” Benedict said.
