It’s time to ban 'chaotic' Rising Tide protest that puts lives at risk

After the Rising Tide blockade of Newcastle Port on the weekend by green extremists lost the city millions of dollars and resulted in nearly 150 arrests, NSW Minerals Council CEO Stephen Galilee has called for the ‘juvenile indulgence’ to be banned.

It’s time to call it. Enough is enough. Rising Tide’s annual ‘People’s Blockade’ of the Port of Newcastle has once again caused chaos, mass arrests and unacceptable risks to public safety. This juvenile indulgence should no longer be tolerated.

Last weekend, Rising Tide’s cavalcade of extreme activists and supporters sought to prevent coal entering the Port of Newcastle. All manner of small craft, including some barely seaworthy, were urged onto the water as part of the protest.

In seeking approval from Newcastle Council for this event, Rising Tide organisers made overtures about abiding by the law. Council permission was granted, conditional on Rising Tide’s commitment to ‘follow all lawful police directions’.

Despite their track record over successive years of breaking the law and entering restricted areas of the harbour, a narrow majority of the Newcastle Council voted to give ‘in principle’ support for the protest, which was ultimately approved by the Newcastle Council CEO.

However, as predicted by many, ‘Rising Tide’s commitments were worthless.

Many of the small craft that tried to blockade the harbour were barely seaworthy. Picture: NewsWire / Damian Shaw

Reports indicate around 140 people were arrested over the weekend. A protest vessel also collided with a police jet-ski, there was a violent altercation at the Rising Tide protest site, and protesters also illegally boarded a ship bound for the port.

Hundreds of protesters put themselves and others at risk, with police forced to pull people from the water, some entering the water themselves to physically remove protesters. Footage of the event reveals the absolute chaos emergency service personnel were confronted with while doing their job.

Taxpayers were forced to fork out for emergency service personnel and police to help maintain safety during the chaotic event. Picture: Rising Tide / AFP

Once again, taxpayers were also forced to foot the bill to pay for the massive number of police and emergency service personnel required to maintain public safety at the event.

In the end, the protest had a miniscule impact on coal exports at the port, which actually represent less than two percent of global coal supply. It will also have little impact on the strong demand for NSW coal worth around $30 billion in exports and responsible for over 25,000 jobs in NSW.

However, the protest did have a significant impact on the local Newcastle economy. Two cruise ships were scheduled to stop at the Port, but cancelled their plans ahead of the protest. With each ship carrying up to 900 passengers, local hospitality businesses missed out on up to a million dollars of tourism spending.

The protests meant two cruise ships avoided Newcastle, losing the city milions of dollars in hospitality and tourism money. Picture: NewsWire / Damian Shaw

Two other non-coal related ships were also forced to abandon their scheduled docking at the Port.

When will enough be enough? When do the interests of the wider community outweigh the annual chaos caused by these extreme activists?

The economic vandalism and safety risks of these actions are clearly not in the community interest.

It should now be obvious to decision makers that the ‘Rising Tide’ organisers are wannabe anarchists seeking maximum disruption and mass arrests to generate headlines, regardless of the costs to others.

It’s time to end this damaging annual protest activity once and for all.

Stephen Galilee is CEO, NSW Minerals Council