Blockader has charges dismissed for climate-change induced anxiety
She went viral for locking herself to a car steering wheel in a busy Sydney tunnel. Now a climate activist’s charges have been dismissed after her lawyer said she had climate change anxiety and flood-induced PTSD.
Police & Courts
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A climate protester, who made headlines when she allegedly locked her neck to her car on a vital Sydney road, has had all charges dropped because of her climate-change induced anxiety, in the wake of NSW floods, her lawyer says.
Mali Cooper, formerly of Lismore, now from Bellingen, live streamed the moment she allegedly locked her head to the steering wheel of her car after stopping in the Sydney Harbour Tunnel in June.
Traffic banked up for kilometres as enraged members of the public screamed through her car window.
She was charged with entering the tunnel to disrupt traffic and obstructing vehicles as a pedestrian — under new road laws brought in to crack down on protesters who were blocking the city‘s streets with climate protests.
All charges against her were dismissed by magistrate Jeff Linden in Lismore Local Court on Tuesday.
It’s understood Ms Cooper’s defence lawyer, Mark Davis, provided medical evidence to the court that showed the 22-year-old had developed anxiety from her concerns about climate change.
That anxiety escalated into PTSD after Lismore was destroyed by flooding earlier this year.
It was the largest flood, by far, to hit the region in recorded history.
Mr Davis told The Daily Telegraph the court agreed Ms Cooper’s mental health issues meant she had diminished responsibility — and the charges were dropped.
Blockade Australia, the group with which Ms Cooper protested, tweeted a comment from the young activist on Tuesday as she left court.
“I have watched the town I love be decimated by a climate disaster. I have witnessed community step up & take care of each other in place of our (government),” Ms Cooper‘s statement reads.
“If we stand together and resist through direct action, we have the best chance of turning this destruction around”
Mr Davis’ law firm, Sydney City Crime, said the result was a “huge relief” as Ms Cooper had been facing up to two years in prison if convicted under “crazy” new laws designed to stop blockade protests.
Ms Cooper has been ordered to undergo psychological treatment.
Ms Cooper spoke on Channel 10’s The Project in the wake of her arrest, in late June, saying she “does not regret anything”, adding she felt nervous about the future.
Earlier this month, she was named Young Environmentalist of the Year by the Bob Brown Foundation for “taking action on the streets of Sydney for climate and the environment”.
A statement by the foundation said Ms Cooper was unable to attend the award presentation, in Hobart, because “draconian bail conditions” prevented her from leaving NSW.
The end of the case means those conditions no longer apply.
It’s not believed her case will set a precedent against the tough new penalties brought in by the NSW Government earlier this year that can see blockaders hit with $22,000 fines or two years prison.
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