The NSW Port of Newcastle and the Port of Melbourne have again been targeted by climate protesters on Wednesday, just hours after a teenager scaled a coal loader and glued herself to a railing.
It’s the third day of action by climate activists targeting major east coast coal ports.
A 20-year-old woman named Niamh abseiled off Shepherds Bridge on Footscray Road, near the Port of Melbourne, on Wednesday morning, blocking six lanes of traffic with a safety line stretched across the road.
Earlier, a 22-year-old man named Angus perched himself on top of a nine-metre pole on a rail bridge at Branxton, forcing the closure of the NSW Hunter railway line, with no trains running between Scone and Maitland.
By mid-Wednesday morning, both protesters had been removed by police and arrested.
The man spent over five hours suspended above the rail line, while the woman was also suspended for more than an hour and is expected to be charged with public nuisance offences.
Wednesday’s action came after an 18-year-old Canberra woman was charged on Tuesday night after scaling a coal loader at Newcastle and gluing herself to a railing.
Another woman was charged on Monday after suspending herself above the railway leading to Newcastle’s coal loader.
NSW Police Minister Yasmin Catley labelled the protesters “crazy” and “blockheads”, describing the action as “absolute nonsense”.
“Their actions do absolutely nothing for the environment or climate change,” she told Sydney radio 2GB.
“They are endangering the lives of those around them and in particular the lives of those coming to rescue them,” she said.
“Imagine the train drivers. … it’s not like stopping a car, it can take up to a kilometre to stop a train and that would be a train driver’s worst nightmare.”
Tweet from @BlockadeAus
NSW Police said they were called to Cormorant Road, Newcastle, about 8.30pm on Tuesday after reports of a woman on the coal loader.
Police Rescue officers helped remove her from the structure before she was charged with entering a major facility and causing damage, entering enclosed non-agricultural land and causing a serious safety risk.
The woman was refused bail to appear at Newcastle Local Court on Wednesday.
The 22-year-old woman who suspended herself above the railway to Newcastle’s coal loader on Monday was bailed after appearing in the Newcastle Local Court on Tuesday.
Claudia Ellen Hannigan, was one of three people charged over Monday’s actions by the Blockade Australia group. It came on the anniversary of a police raid on a rural property north-west of Sydney that was allegedly being used by climate action activists to plan protests.
Ms Hannigan was charged with causing an obstruction to a railway locomotive and entering enclosed lands posing a serious safety risk.
She was ordered to live in Sydney’s inner-west and not travel north of Gosford unless attending court, as part of her bail conditions.
Ms Hannigan’s arrest coincided with two other protesters being charged for similar demonstrations in Brisbane and Melbourne.
Multiple Australian states have introduced legislation targeting the disruptive demonstrations of environmental protesters since NSW added new offences and heavier penalties in March 2022.
– AAP
