Former pastor one of protesters charged

EXTINCTION Rebellion protesters, including an Australian of the Year nominee and a retiring pastor, have been charged with trespass for the second time in a week.

Dr Scott Bell, a retired GP who is a Tasmanian nominee for Senior Australian of the Year, Pastor Jeff McKinnon, a pastor of more than a decade at City Baptist Church, and Graham Bailey were all charged with trespass following Wednesday’s climate protest at NAB Launceston.

About 10 people placarded the branch as part of Extinction Rebellion Northern Tasmania’s (XRNT) rolling protests against the big four banks’ continued “funding (of) fossil fuel extraction”.

Placards held out the front of the branch included: ‘Banks profit before people’, ‘Banks funding extinction’, and ‘Banks burning our future’. The people holding these signs were not charged with any offences.

A picture uploaded by XRNT to social media depicted Mr Bailey and Pastor McKinnon sitting inside the bank with protest signage.

Social media pictures also depicted four Tasmania Police officers escorting the pair plus Dr Bell out of the branch.

The trio were granted police bail to appear in Launceston Magistrates Court on January 25.

The protest came a week after similar action at Commonwealth Bank in Launceston.

On that occasion, Dr Bell and Pastor McKinnon, as well as a third person, Helen Hutchinson, were again escorted out of the bank by officers.

All three were charged with trespass and bailed to appear in Launceston Magistrates Court on January 11, ACM reported.