Six Frontline Action on Coal anti Adani, Bravus protesters appear at Bowen Magistrates Court
Half a dozen climate change activists have faced court for ‘dangerous’ anti-coal protests at Bowen only to be told ‘what you do is not going to make any difference’.
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Climate change activists arrested after a series of protests at Bowen have been told their actions will have little impact on an industry supporting local jobs.
Half a dozen Frontline Action on Coal activists faced Bowen Magistrates Court for sentencing on Tuesday after protests on November 30 and December 1 affecting coal trains on the Newlands main line and machinery at the North Queensland Export Terminal.
Whitsunday resident Paul David Jukes was one of the only two protesters to face the magistrate in person, the rest phoning in from Brisbane and New South Wales or pleading guilty in writing.
Jukes, arrested at the North Queensland Export Terminal on December 1, pleaded guilty to unregulated high-risk activity, trespass, interfering with port operations, and contravening police directions.
His lawyer Sue Higginson described the 51 year old as a passionate advocate for social and environmental justice for whom climate change had become a very personal issue after a fire in Lamington National Park destroyed a memorial to his deceased wife – the mother of his two daughters.
“That consolidated his view he needed to do something to try to arrest the impacts of climate change,” Ms Higginson said.
Tendering several character references for the engineer and charity founder, Ms Higginson said his “peaceful, nonviolent, non-threatening” protest was politically motivated and brought him no personal gain and that as an experienced rock climber he had the skills to execute it safely.
Police prosecutor Sergeant Emma Myors said Jukes’ actions – which involved suspending himself 30 metres above the ground from a stacker reclaimer – disrupted port operations for more than eight hours and he could have been killed or seriously injured had specially-trained police dispatched from Brisbane on a chartered flight not been able to talk him down.
Of the other protesters – Tammy Lee Pappin, Georgie Edith Toner, Isla Ray Lamont, Andrew William Paine, and Thomas Alexander Ryan – all arrested on the rail line on November 30, Sgt Myors said they “seem to be placing priority on their views rather than the safety of the wider community and the people they’re impacting”.
“The actions of these protesters cause significant disruption not only to workers, also to police who are taken away from their business as normal operations and that in turn leaves the community without a police presence,” Sgt Myors said.
“On this occasion [November 30], a 15-year-old girl was reported missing that morning, and resources were taken away from that to deal with the protesters,” she said.
Magistrate James Morton told Jukes he was entitled to his views on climate change but “nobody really cares what you feel” and “what you do is not going to make any difference”.
“As we sit here, coal trains are being loaded up and coal’s being shipped out- it won’t change,” Mr Morton said.
To the rail line protesters, his message was similar: that their actions were “of little consequence” and “nothing will come of it”.
“Bowen is dedicated to the workers,” he said.
“You won’t stop progress.”
Jukes’ sentence was a $1000 18-month good behaviour bond, with no conviction recorded.
He was prohibited from entering the North Queensland Export Terminal, and ordered to forfeit equipment including ropes and carabiners used to commit his crimes but allowed to have his confiscated mobile phone back.
Pappin, Toner, Lamont, and Paine all pleaded guilty to contravene direction or requirement of police, obstructing railways, trespass on a railway, and use dangerous attachment device to interfere with transport infrastructure.
Ryan pleaded guilty to contravene direction or requirement of police, obstructing railways, and trespass on a railway.
Paine was fined $2000 and ordered to forfeit the sleeping dragon attachment device, with convictions recorded.
Lamont was fined $1000 and ordered to forfeit the sleeping dragon attachment device and a mobile phone used to film her protest, with no convictions recorded.
Pappin was fined $800 and ordered to forfeit the sleeping dragon attachment device, with no convictions recorded.
Ryan was sentenced on Wednesday to a 12-month, $800 good behaviour bond, with no convictions recorded. He was ordered to forfeit two mobile phones.
Toner will be sentenced at Brisbane Magistrates Court in January.
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Originally published as Six Frontline Action on Coal anti Adani, Bravus protesters appear at Bowen Magistrates Court
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