Newcastle port: more than 100 arrested after climate protesters continue blockade past agreed deadline

New South Wales police have charged more than 100 people in Newcastle after protesters blocked a major coal port beyond an agreed deadline.

In a statement, NSW police said they would allege in court that protesters had entered the harbour channel at the Port of Newcastle after the 30hour blockage was due to finish “despite appropriate warnings and directions”.

“Subsequently, 109 people – including 49 males, 60 females, five of which were juveniles – were arrested,” police said in a statement on Monday morning.

Organisers Rising Tide said the protesters arrested included a 97-yearold man who was a Uniting Church minister.

On Saturday morning, groups of protesters took turns paddling out into Port of Newcastle’s shipping lane to maintain a 30-hour blockage, with hundreds paddling on kayaks, surfboards and pontoons.

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They aimed to stop coal exports from leaving Newcastle in what organisers hoped would be the biggest civil disobedience action in Australia’s history.

But as 4pm Sunday passed, marking the end of police permission for the lengthy protest, scores of protesters remained in the water expecting arrest.

Police confirmed on Monday that 18 people were taken to Newcastle, Waratah and Toronto police stations while 86 were taken to a nearby port facility.

“They were all issued court attendance notices for operate vessel so as to interfere with others use of waters,” a statement said.

Two men were refused bail to appear at Newcastle local court today, while the remainder will appear on 11 January next year.

Five juveniles were released and will be dealt with under the Young Offenders Act, police said.

Alexa Stuart, a protest organiser, said those on the water ranged in age from 15 to 97 and included school students, a coalminer and her grandfather, Alan Stuart, the 97-year-old Uniting Church minister.

“If the government will not take action on climate change, the people will use civil disobedience,” she said.

“We wish we did not have to do this, but the Albanese government needs to understand we are serious.”

Rev Stuart said he was doing his duty to his family and the planet.

“I am doing this for my grandchildren and future generations because I don’t want to leave them a world full of increasingly severe and frequent climate disasters,” he said.

The NSW Council of Civil Liberties said in a statement it was concerned that legal observers were arrested at the protest over the weekend. Legal observers attend protests, usually as volunteers wearing hi-vis clothing, to hand out information cards, brief people on their legal rights and record interactions.

The council’s president, Lydia Shelley, said charges against legal observers “should be immediately withdrawn”.

“It is not in the public interest for these charges to proceed,” she said.

“If the charges are not withdrawn, it risks sending a dangerous message to the public that NSW police do not want their interactions or conduct with peaceful protestors monitored by independent organisations. It also further strains the already deteriorating relationship between NSW police and segments of our communities.”

Protesters are demanding the government stop allowing new coal projects, tax fossil fuel export profits at 75% to fund community and industrial transition and pay for climate loss and damage.

Police granted permission for the protest to take place after several months of negotiations, the organisers said.

The action has won the support of senior members of the Greens and the party’s former federal leader Bob Brown. The federal Greens leader, Adam Bandt, who kayaked out with protesters on Saturday, called those taking part heroes.

“They’re fighting to stop more floods and bushfires in this country,” he said.

“People here know that we’re nearing a climate tipping point, and that coal and gas are fuelling the climate crisis.”

But the NSW Minerals Council CEO, Stephen Galilee, said that while everyone had the right to protest, protest leaders had to ensure those participating did it safely and within the law. He said stopping NSW coal exports would have a major impact on the NSW economy, given the industry supports 25,000 jobs.

“Coal is NSW’s most valuable export by far, and worth more than $70bn nationally,” he said.

Coal royalties are a key revenue source for the NSW government, earning about $3.5bn in the year to June 2022. From July, the state’s cut of coal sales will rise by 2.6 percentage points, raising an extra $2.3bn over the first three years.