NEWCASTLE deputy lord mayor Callum Pull has called on the lord mayor to reverse the decision "he made unilaterally" to approve a Rising Tide protest at Camp Shortland.
City of Newcastle has approved climate action group Rising Tide's "protestival" on its land after lord mayor Ross Kerridge met with activists this week despite a Supreme Court ruling to block the Newcastle coal port protest.
Cr Kerridge said he was assured by the protesters that they intended to hold a peaceful event at Camp Shortland and listen to the directions of police.
Cr Pull said the protesters have "already contradicted" that, with a spokesperson for the group confirming on television that they would be entering the harbour.
"Council has confirmed that the lord mayor made this decision unilaterally using his delegated decision-making powers," he said.
"He did not consult the majority of councillors before making this call."
The NSW Supreme Court ruled in favour of the police earlier this month, who moved to have the Rising Tide protest planned for November 22 to 24 deemed an unauthorised assembly.
The protest at Newcastle Harbour was expected to bring more than 5000 people to the city and see hundreds hit the water to block coal ships entering the port for more than 24 hours.
Cr Kerridge said the decision was explained to councillors on Tuesday night.
"If the event was to be stopped, that's a decision that should have been made 12 or six months ago," he said.
"The posters have been up around the city and certainly the publicity has been out there for six months and people have made their plans.
"They have their expectations and by doing this we're negotiating an agreement with Rising Tide that will be organised, it will be under permit and the legalities are covered.
"If we didn't do that, the people would still come."
A CN spokeswoman said the lord mayor has legislated responsibilities under the Local Government Act.
"These include exercising, in cases of necessity, the policy-making functions of the governing body of the council between meetings of the council," she said.
"Given the event will occur prior to the next council meeting on the 26th November, it was appropriate for the lord mayor to make a determination on Rising Tide's event application."
Rising Tide has confirmed the protest will go ahead as planned with participants expected to paddle out in the harbour.
The council's event approval only applies to the land at Camp Shortland.
Cr Pull said the first councillors heard of Cr Kerridge's "captain's call" was when he announced he and a Greens councillor had met with Rising Tide and he had decided to approve the protest.
"Cr Kerridge's decision lacks any merit or credibility and completely undermines our police force and the Supreme Court ruling," he said.
"Given he made no representations to the majority of councillors and did not even consider the impact on the port or the city, Cr Kerridge should immediately reverse his decision.
"The fact that Cr Kerridge would ignore police advice is disturbing."
Shadow Attorney General Alister Henskens labelled the council's decision to approve the event a "disgrace".
"For the mayor of Newcastle to ignore the public safety concerns of the NSW Supreme Court and accept statements by Rising Tide that they will use their "best endeavours" for protesters to obey police directions is naive at best and probably much worse," he said.
"I endorse the sensible objections to the council's actions by the Liberal deputy mayor Cr Callum Pull."
Mr Henskens also called on NSW Premier Chris Minns to step in and prevent the council from implementing the decision.
The "protestival" from November 19 to 26 is set to see thousands of people gather at the world's largest coal port to call for an end to new coal and gap approvals, and the imposition of a 78 per cent tax on coal and gas exports to fund the energy transition.
