Arabic version: المحكمة تجيز أسطولاً احتجاجياً مناهضاً للفحم في ميناء نيوكاسل
According to ABC News, the NSW Supreme Court has rejected an application by the state’s police commissioner to stop Rising Tide’s planned climate protest on Newcastle Harbour. The Paddle for the Plant flotilla is set to take place tomorrow, with hundreds of people in kayaks expected to enter the Port of Newcastle.
Justice Edward Muston said he had to balance public interests with police concerns. He said, “The public interests in the facilitations of political expression through assembly outweighs the legitimate concerns which have been expressed by the commissioner.” Protest organisers had submitted the required notice of intention to hold a public assembly, known as a Form 1.
The court heard that up to 785 people in kayaks and other watercraft plan to unfurl connected floating letters, 20 metres long, reading “Coal Exports Equals Climate Chaos”. Participants also plan to form a continuous line across the harbour for about 30 to 40 minutes, blocking the shipping channel before returning to shore. The watercraft number will be capped at 785, more than double previous anti-coal protests in the port.
NSW Police opposed the event, citing safety risks for participants and other harbour users, as well as pressure on resources during previous protests. Barrister David Hume SC said police and transport officials considered the risks unacceptable, including the possibility of collision, capsize and drowning. Assistant Commissioner David Waddell referred to an incident last year in which protesters were washed hundreds of metres down the harbour.
Rising Tide’s barrister Michael Green said the group would have a kayak safety team, require life jackets and ban swimming in the channel. Attendees would be briefed on hand signals to raise an alarm, while organiser Anne Hodgson said the event would be family-friendly and would not involve civil disobedience. The ruling follows a Newcastle City Council decision, passed using Lord Mayor Gavin Morris’s casting vote, to ban Rising Tide from protesting on community land.
