CLIMATE protesters who held up coal trains in the Newcastle area have fronted court for sentencing.
Newcastle Local Court on Monday heard five co-offenders connected to the Rising Tide movement and one young woman with Blockade Australia acted out of the genuine beliefs they held about climate change.
Claudia Ellen Hannigan pleaded guilty to charges of unlawfully entering inclosed lands and interfering with business, and causing an obstruction to a railway.
The 22-year-old Queensland woman escaped a criminal conviction, but magistrate Ian Rodgers sentenced her to an 18-month good behaviour order.
The court heard Hannigan acted out of "fear and desperation" about the state of the world when she entered a railway corridor and went onto the Hunter Bridge at Kooragang on June 19.
The "experienced climber" used two poles to make a structure and attached herself to it, then began livestreaming on Blockade Australia's Facebook page.
An oncoming coal train had to use its emergency brakes and came to a stop about 700 metres from where Hannigan was hanging.
Five police rescue officers were put in "extreme danger" when they had to remove her from the poles after she refused to come down, according to agreed facts.
Mr Rodgers read character references and subjective material and said it was clear Hannigan had a bright future and would have found it difficult spending a night behind bars after her arrest.
On a separate occasion, police were called to reports five of about 50 protesters had climbed fences into a rail corridor in Mayfield on April 16 during an "action day" organised by the group Rising Tide.
Richard Boult, 73, Kara Lenka Stuart, 36, Hugh Christian Vaughan, 64, and Anne Elizabeth Hodgson, 65, pleaded guilty to charges of obstructing a railway, and entering inclosed lands.
The court heard Boult and Stuart had no criminal history, and they were each placed on a a nine-month good behaviour without conviction.
Vaughan and Hodgson had minimal records, and were each convicted and fined $440.
A fifth co-offender, Deanna Maree Coco, was also part of the activity in April, which put her in breach of a good behaviour order she was on for entering the Sydney Harbour Bridge and disrupting traffic in 2022.
She was sentenced on Monday for the two offences relating to the Mayfield protest, and resentenced on the Sydney charges, to a 12-month good behaviour order with convictions.
Mr Rodgers said Coco had strong subjective factors and was engaging with a health professional.
Defence solicitor Olivia Freeman told the court the five co-offenders had "sincerely and genuinely held beliefs in regards to climate change", specifically about the burning of fossil fuels and the "climate crisis".
The court heard the five men and women had entered the rail corridor - the sole access point for trains that run to the coal terminal - and set up ladders on a coal carriage when the train stopped.
Banners which said "survival guide for humanity, no new coal" and "we are Rising Tide" were hung.
Police resources were diverted to the scene and the court heard the train was held up for about two hours.
Mr Rodgers said the sentences handed to the Mayfield protesters, and to the Kooragang protester, were not designed to deter legal protest activity, but rather to deal with the criminal offending.
