Mass arrests during protest against Australian coal port in Newcastle

Some 173 climate change protesters were arrested during an attempted blockade of the world’s largest coal port in Newcastle, a regional working class center several hours north of Sydney.

The review was carried out under the direct supervision of the New South Wales (NSW) Labor administration, which worked closely with the federal Labor government in its wider attack on civil liberties.

Police said a total of 156 adults and 14 children (one aged 13) were charged last Sunday. Some 138 people were charged with disrupting a major facility and 32 with failing to comply with safety instructions from an authorized officer. Three more were charged on Saturday for refusing to comply with police orders at the harbour.

If convicted under section 214A of the NSW Crimes Act for the destruction of major infrastructure such as ports and railways, protesters face up to two years in prison and a fine of up to $22,000. These fines for the right to protest were passed with the support of the Labor Party of the then Liberal National coalition government in 2022.

Their use by the NSW Labor Government is a massive attack on democratic rights. This is a clear signal that the Labour-led state is seeking to completely abolish the right to demonstrate.

The protesters, organized by climate activist group Rising Tide for the 13th year, took to the water in kayaks, sailboats and rafts in a restricted area near the shoreline set up by NSW Police. The mass arrests began on Sunday when a flotilla of protesters broke through and blocked a coal ship.

The port authority confirmed that ship traffic was suspended for several hours due to security reasons.

Protesters demanded that the Labor government cancel all new coal and gas projects and end coal exports from Newcastle by 2030. They also demanded a 78 percent tax on profits from coal exports to fund the transition to renewable energy and support fossil fuel workers.

The Port of Newcastle is the world’s largest coal export port, with over 100 million tonnes of coal handled annually and around 2,000 shipping operations annually. Australia is also the world’s second largest coal producer after Indonesia.

Protesters pointed to alarming findings that 2023 was the hottest year on record, as well as the role of the Labor government, which turned to opposition to climate change in its 2022 federal election campaign, promising a 43 percent cut in emissions by 2030 and net zero emissions by 2050. Not only is this not enough compared to the rate of global warming, but Labor has since approved 28 coal and gas projects.

In a subsequent protest on Wednesday, 20 Rising Tide protesters were arrested outside Parliament House in Canberra for blocking a road and refusing to obey orders to disperse from police.

The arrests are among the largest in recent history, following last year’s Rising Tide blockade that resulted in 109 arrests. Police officers were reported to have been brought in from across the state and at least 5 vessels filled with officers were in preparation.

These developments are all the more significant because they are taking place under the leadership of State and Federal Labor governments. In a statement, Hunter Region Labor Minister Yasmin Catley praised the “outstanding” work of NSW Police and “strongly condemned” the protest. Before the protest, the police threatened to ban it altogether.