Meet the climate change protesters grinding Australia to a halt

These climate protesters are pulling dangerous stunts to cripple freight networks as they spread their anti-coal message, leaving economic damage in their wake.

From law students to professional pests and even one comparison to Nelson Mandela – these are the protesters behind a series of dangerous stunts which have crippled freight networks in the Hunter Valley and cost Australia millions of dollars.

At least 29 people have been arrested in relation to the rolling protests by anti-coal group Blockade Australia, which have brought trains carrying grain, cotton and coal to a shuddering halt and wiped more than $60 million from the economy.

The fallout continued on Wednesday as the Instagram-famous sisters of one of the activists, who was this week jailed for 12 months for his role in the protests, compared him to Nelson Mandela while blasting authorities for putting their brother behind bars.

Climate pest Eric Herbert with his instafamous model sisters Elisha and Renee Herbert,

In an Instagram post, the twins compared Eric to social justice figures like Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King Jr.

Eric Serge Herbet, 22, was given a non-parole period of six months after pleading guilty to obstructing a train and attempting to hinder mining equipment by climbing on top of a coal train, causing it to stop for five hours.

Eric’s triplet sisters Elisha and Renee Herbert, who are high-profile “twinstagram” models with more than three million followers combined, took to social media in support of their brother.

The sisters, who live and work in Los Angeles but are originally from Caloundra in Queensland, wrote they were “f...ing mad” at officials for jailing him, with Elisha calling her brother one of the “most innocent, precious people just trying to do good for the planet”.

“My triplet brother just got sentenced to a year in prison for stopping a coal train and fighting against climate change on behalf of all of us,” she wrote on Instagram.

Law student Kirsten Hoffman, 23, who filmed herself after pressing a button allegedly causing machinery to stop at the Port of Newcastle. Picture: Facebook

She also compared her brother to major social justice figures like Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela and Rosa Parks who were also sent to jail for fighting for change.

Other convictions include law student Kirsten Hoffman, who was hit with a $1200 fine and sentenced to a two-year community corrections order on Friday after pleading guilty to hindering working of mining equipment and enter enclosed non-agricultural lands.

The student, who says she is studying law at the Australian National University after completing a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Melbourne, says she’s “part of a team of Extinction Rebels camping and causing pacifist disruption for as long as it takes to reach zero carbon emissions”.

Clancey Maher, who was charged after allegedly disrupting train lines in the Hunter, will face court in January. Picture: Facebook

In a video posted to the Blockade Australia Facebook page on November 18, she says: “My name is Kirsten Hoffman and I’m a 23-year-old law student and I just stopped a coal machine by pressing one of the buttons.”

Serial activist Clancey Maher, 26, will face court on January 13 on charges of possessing a bright light or distress signal in a public place, custody of knife in a public place, and causing obstruction to railway locomotive or rolling stock, after allegedly abseiling from a railway bridge running to Newcastle Port’s coal terminal.

Jacinta Walsh, 61, and Quinn Squires, 24, have been fined $1600 and $1700 res­pectively for their protests.