Bowen police called to arrest seven anti-coal protesters over two days
A repeat offender has faced court after multiple anti-coal protests near Bowen sparked accusations authorities were not doing enough to deter activists from breaking the law to make their point.
Police & Courts
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A serial anti-coal protester has been released on a suspended jail sentence after reoffending within weeks of a previous court appearance.
Townsville mother-of-two Juliet Lamont was arrested on the Newlands main line near Bowen on Tuesday, November 30, after using a steel pipe to lock herself on to a train carriage carrying coal from the controversial Carmichael mine.
The 50 year old Frontline Action on Coal activist, who participated in similar protests at Mackay and Bowen in October and November, was denied bail and served two days in pre-sentence custody at the Bowen watch-house.
At Bowen Magistrates Court on Thursday, December 2, she pleaded guilty to obstructing a railway, using a dangerous attachment device, trespassing on a railway, and contravening a direct or requirement of a police officer.
Magistrate James Morton ordered her to pay a $500 fine, forfeit the attachment device used in the offending, and comply with conditions of a one-month jail sentence with immediate parole and another one-month jail sentence suspended for nine months, to be served concurrently.
Lamont, an award-winning documentary filmmaker who relocated to Queensland from New South Wales during the Covid-19 pandemic, has been convicted on four previous occasions for similar actions across Queensland and NSW in 2016, 2018, 2019, and 2021.
At Sarina Magistrates Court last month, she was convicted of multiple counts of trespass, contravening a police direction, using a dangerous attachment, and intentionally disrupting port operations.
She was released without further punishment after serving six-days in pre-sentence custody.
Frontline Action on Coal spokesman Andy Paine said the jail sentence handed down at Bowen represented “consistent overreach by the legal system against climate activists who are taking non-violent action against industries that are knowingly destroying our climate”, that would not deter future action.
“The blatant hypocrisy of our legal system means that people of conscience and courage are going to keep taking direct action like this,” Mr Paine said.
“It is the only avenue ordinary Australians have to address the disproportionate political power of polluting industries.”
His comments come after Carmichael coal mine operator Bravus, formerly Adani, slammed governments’ response to illegal protests as “nothing but a slap on the wrist”, using Lamont’s repeat offending as an example of “insufficient” deterrents and penalties.
“Ms Lamont has a history of putting herself and others in danger,” a spokesman said.
“In 2018 she was charged after locking onto live conveyors in the dead of night with three other people at the Abbot Point terminal – that incident left port staff traumatised as had conveyors been activated Ms Lamont and her friends could have been seriously injured or even killed.”
After the sentencing on Thursday, a Bravus spokesman said it was “time the Queensland Government got serious about enforcing real consequences to stop this sort of illegal protest before a tragedy happens”.
“The penalty Ms Lamont received in Bowen Magistrates Court today was less than the amount you’d be fined for busking without a permit.”
Before locking on to the Bowen train on Tuesday, Lamont said she felt a “profound moral obligation” to act on climate change and “couldn’t live with [herself] and couldn’t look [her] daughters in the eye if [she] did nothing”.
“If we don’t immediately stop our reliance on fossil fuels and get it down to zero, we won’t be able to keep under 1.5 degrees of warming,” she said.
“I think we all know deep down the kind of emergency this is. It really is time for ordinary Australians to act.”
The maximum penalty for using a dangerous attachment device in Queensland is two years’ jail or a fine of nearly $7000.
Patience wearing thin as anti-coal protests stretch on
The operators of major North Queensland coal export facilities have condemned the actions of multiple protesters over two days as dangerous and a waste of police resources.
Bravus Mining and Resources and Abbot Point Operations issued statements in response to protests involving seven individuals at multiple locations near Bowen on Tuesday and Wednesday, calling the behaviour “a nuisance”, life-threatening, and “incredibly selfish”.
Frontline Action on Coal activists Tammy Omodei, Andy Paine, Juliet Lamont, Isla Lamont, Tom Ryan and Georgie Toner allegedly interfered with rail infrastructure carrying coal from the Carmichael mine on Tuesday.
Paul Jukes allegedly targeted the North Queensland Export Terminal, formerly known as Abbot Point, in the early hours of Wednesday morning, suspending himself from a stacker reclaimer machine 60m above the ground.
The group’s members maintain direct action is a necessary and “courageous” response to coal mine operators and investors “trashing” the planet.
Mr Jukes, a Whitsunday resident, said he was motivated by the belief that Bravus, the Australian and Queensland governments, and financial backers such as Blackrock “have all put the profits of billionaires ahead of the health of our planet”.
“I’m doing this for my children and their children,” Mr Jukes said.
“If they are going to have a safe planet to thrive on, we need to take action now.”
Bowen police Officer-in-Charge Senior Sergeant Craig Shepherd confirmed his station was tied up all of Tuesday dealing with the ongoing protests at the rail line, with Mr Ryan refusing to leave his position on top of a coal train until about 6pm.
Speaking from the North Queensland Export Terminal the next morning, where negotiations with Mr Jukes took more than five hours, Senior Sergeant Shepherd said it was the highest number of protests the region had seen for some time.
“We’ve been dealing with this for four years,” he said.
“Covid slowed them down a bit so it’s been about 18 months since the last big series.”
Senior Sergeant Shepherd said it was fortunate Mr Jukes’ protest had only shut down part of the port’s operations, and not the whole facility, but said it was taxing on emergency services including police and fire crews to respond to the ongoing disruptions “on top of all the normal stuff [they’re] dealing with”.
Mr Jukes was arrested about 2.30pm Wednesday and charged with unregulated high-risk activity, trespass, interfering with port operations, and disobeying police directions.
Ms Omodei, Mr Paine, Isla Lamont, and Ms Toner were all charged on Tuesday with trespass, interfering with a railway, using a dangerous attachment device, and disobeying police directions and bailed to appear at Bowen Magistrates Court on December 14.
Mr Ryan, who did not use an attachment device to ‘lock on’, was charged on Tuesday with trespass, interfering with a railway, and disobeying police directions and released on bail to appear at Bowen Magistrates Court on December 14.
Megan Byrnes, arrested for a similar protest on November 15, earlier this week had her charges adjourned to Southport Magistrates Court on Monday, December 13.
Bravus said governments were not doing enough to ensure sufficient deterrents and penalties to stop illegal protests.
“Activists get nothing but a slap on the wrists in Queensland and are back within weeks causing a nuisance and wasting police time and taking officers away from other important work protecting our local community,” a spokesman said.
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