Anti- Adani group cops $ 80k in fines
THIRTEEN anti- Adani protesters have been slapped with a combined total of $ 79,500 in fines after the group fronted court in Bowen yesterday.
Police prosecutor Hannah Beard told the court of two separate incidents in which protesters went into the Abbot Point Coal Terminal and attached themselves to the coal loading trestle, 20m off the ground, in January.
Adani said the delays cost the company $ 7.5 million over two days. Magistrate Simon Young, however, disputed the claims, saying the figures appeared to have been submitted on the value of the coal not put on the ships, rather than the loss of revenue because the coal was transported later.
“I put much more weight on the transport costs of ships not loaded for the day, which are $ 4000 and $ 5000 respectively,” he said.
The eight activists charged with intentionally or recklessly interfering with ports operation made history as no relevant case law could be found.
Protesters from January 11 – Melbourne woman Tessa Cunningham Newport, 22; Sydney man Nicholas Scott Avery, 27; Trinity Beach man Jeffrey James Cantor; Byron Bay woman Juliet Lamont, 47; and her 19- year- old daughter Luca Rose Lamont – sat side- by- side in front of the bench as they were sentenced together.
All avoided having convictions recorded bar Cantor, who appeared in court last year on similar charges.
Protesters charged on January 14 – NSW residents John Alister Ross, 69; Daniel Timothy Skerrett, 30; Liisa Susanna Rusanen, 26; and Ella Margaret Skerrett, 26 – also escaped with no convictions.
Townsville woman Megan Armstrong, who was also part of the group, had her charges adjourned for legal assistance until March 27. Sydney’s Nathan Soloman Bernfield and Lilli Latimer Barto were charged with interference with a railway, trespass on a railway and contravening a police direction after they locked their arms into a concrete barrel placed across the Aurizon- owned railway to Abbot Point.
Barto was fined $ 2500 and Bernfield was fined $ 3000, with no conviction recorded for either offender.
Anna Hush and Gareth Davies faced the same charges when they scaled an Aurizon coal train leading to Abbot Point and hung an anti- coal banner from a wagon. Hush and Davies were fined $ 1000 each, with no convictions.
Mr Young said the fines were not condemning protesting or expression of the individuals’ views, merely the illegal nature of their actions.
“Most of you are from interstate, all are of limited financial means, all have early pleas of guilty… only one of you has a relevant criminal history, in fact most have no criminal and traffic history at all and all have wanted to impose your subjective views on the world on others,” Mr Young said.
“Standing up for what you believe in should be encour- aged, courts focus on particular offending behaviour, not protesting in general.
“However I consider these acts to be very serious and very dangerous.
“You relied entirely on the professionalism and vigilance of port workers – your lives in hands of other people, who were not expecting you to be there and outside their usual routine – I consider it to be stupid.”
Federal Dawson MP George Christensen attended court to observe proceedings and was heckled by the protesters. He posted footage of the confrontation with the group to social media.
In the video, the protesters can be heard heckling and Mr Chistensen tells them to “stop breaking the law”.