All charges made under the crimes and marine safety laws of NSW have been withdrawn by the NSW Police against 125 people at the Newcastle Local Court today. This follows the dismissal in October of last year of charges against eight other people in relation to the 2025 Peoples Blockade of the World’s Largest Coal Port in Newcastle with the Police already being ordered to pay $73,000 in legal costs for the defendants.
(Media release by Rising Tide below)
Greens MP, Solicitor and Climate Change Spokesperson Sue Higginson said, “This result is hot on the heels of the latest Net Zero Commission Progress Report which identified coal mining emissions as a likely cause for NSW failing to reduce emissions in line with NSW Labor’s climate laws,”
“The Net Zero Commission has already told the Government that extensions or expansions to coal mining in NSW are inconsistent with the Climate Change Act and the Paris Agreement. Ending coal must be a priority for the Minns Labor Government and their attention should be on that instead of trying to punish the community who are doing what good people have always done and that is protest, against coal exports,”
“Independent and expert legal advice is clear, no more coal can be approved in NSW under existing laws. Premier Chris Minns must stop his law and order response to climate change, accept that the community is legitimately expressing their concerns, and get his Government to stop any more coal from being mined and exported in NSW,”
Greens Councillor for Newcastle Siobhan Isherwood said, “This is a big win for peaceful protest and for climate action, our communities are sick of the over-policing of peaceful protests, and the waste of police resources is also wasting the time of the courts,”
“The people that faced court today are ordinary people from all over Australia who are simply fighting for a better future for us all, and us Novocastrians have a long history of peaceful, effective protest. The Rising Tide blockades are a peaceful and powerful demonstration of the power of people who are willing to stand up for the planet when government won’t,”
