NSW Police formally withdrew charges against 125 protesters from Rising Tide’s 2024 People’s Blockade on August 7. Activists said they have been “vindicated” for having taken one of the largest civil disobedience protests at the Newcastle Port.
The activists each faced two charges under the Crimes and Marine Safety Act, including NSW’s anti-protest laws which carry a maximum penalty of $22,000 or two years in prison.
Climate activist and Socialist Alliance member Dr Coral Wynter, whose charges were withdrawn, told Green Left that it is an “important win” for the climate movement and for the right to protest.
She said the charges were driven by the Labor government’s attempt to “suppress the climate movement and defend the climate-destroying coal industry” and that the laws were a serious threat to civil liberties.
Wynter said the thousands of climate activists who joined Rising Tide’s call to end new coal are “the force we need for humanity and the planet to survive the imminent threat of climate-induced destruction”.
“This win should encourage us to step up our efforts to build an even bigger and more united climate movement,” Wynter said.
“The police and government should heed this clear message from the courts and drop all remaining charges against Rising Tide protesters for 2024 and the 2025 People’s Blockade.”
The 125 activists comprise the majority of the 173 people arrested at the 2024 People’s Blockade. All but three of the remaining 48 have had their matters resolved; eight had their charges dismissed, with police ordered to pay $73,000 in costs after they lost the first trial last October. The remaining three await judgement, likely in September, following their trial in June.
Rising Tide spokesperson and one of the arrestees, Naomi Hodgson, said: “People are taking these actions because governments continue to approve and consider new coal projects while the climate crisis worsens. As long as governments fail to deliver a credible plan to phase out coal and support workers through the transition, communities will continue to step in and demand action.”
Dr Elizabeth Manning, a neuroscientist from Newcastle, who was arrested at the 2024 People’s Blockade, said the government’s attempts to squash the right to protest are “undemocratic”, adding if it engaged in “meaningful discussions” around the pathway to climate action “these actions would not be needed”.
Dr Peter Schofield, a neurologist from Newcastle, who was also arrested, said: “We all know there is a climate crisis and that what we do now — or do not do — has huge implications for the future of our planet … Governmental failure to respond forcefully to the climate crisis — to do what we know needs to be done — is hugely irresponsible and needs to be called out.”
Julia Grix, the founder and executive director of Climate Defenders Australia, which is representing 110 activists, criticised the police for not withdrawing the charges “long ago, once it was clear they could not make the cases against them”.
“Australia leads the world for arresting climate protesters. That statistic alone is alarming — but it captures nothing of the long, anxious road that follows for those who then have to navigate the criminal justice system. Here, more than 100 people have spent almost two years waiting for justice.”