NSW Police Force Attempts to Shut Down Rising Tide Protest, With the Backing of the State

NSW police commissioner Karen Webb is taking the organisers of Rising Tide to the Supreme Court of New South Wales this Friday, in an effort to obtain an order allowing state law enforcement to refuse the planned blockade of the waterway leading into Newcastle Coal Port for the period of 50 hours over the weekend of the 22nd to 24th of November.

Rising Tide organisers had submitted a Form 1 to the NSW police, outlining the planned waterway protest in Newcastle, which this year will be part of a 10-day climate festival at Newcastle’s Nobby Beach. But after NSW police conducted a meeting with event organisers, it determined that it did not want the protest action to take place.

The People’s Blockade of the World’s Largest Coal Port, as the protest action is known, initially took place 12 months ago. It saw thousands of climate activists in kayaks blocking the water entry into the port for 30 hours. However, the event made global headlines, after 100-odd kayakers stayed out on the water and were ultimately arrested, after the 30 hour limit stated on the Form 1 had expired.

NSW premier Chris Minns backs commissioner Webb’s call. The premier had already publicly expressed his reservations about the Rising Tide action in September. This is the second attempt by NSW police to close down a protest in a month and it comes on the back of Minns having suggested that law enforcement should be able to close down protests due to financial concerns.

The right to protest

“It’s really disappointing that NSW police backed by Chris Minns are supporting the use of the resources of the Supreme Court to challenge a family friendly climate festival,” Rising Tide spokesperson Zack Schofield told Sydney Criminal Lawyers.

“If the NSW government wanted protests like this to stop, what they should be doing is stop approving new coal and gas projects and tax coal and gas corporations much more than they are to actually fund an ambitious transition,” he continued.

According to Schofield, if the premier wants Rising Tide not to take such actions, NSW Labor could simply cancel all new coal and gas projects and stop approving any more in order to see that happen.

The climate defence group further wants a 75 percent tax placed on all fossil fuel exports, with the revenue then being used to fund community and industrial transition to renewables, as well as an end to all coal export from Newcastle by 2030.

Schofield further asserts that regardless of whether the Form 1 is approved, beyond that people have a “fundamental right to protest on public land and water”.

“If the police choose to contest our Form 1 that is one thing, but they are not the decisionmakers here and neither is the NSW government,” the climate defender made clear.

Protest notification, not a request

Schofield explained that ultimately the decision regarding a Form 1 is up to the NSW Supreme Court. And the Notice of Intention to Hold a Public Assembly, or a Form 1, is not a request for approval, but rather it’s a “courtesy call” to let the police department know what a group of people are up to and if law enforcement doesn’t like it, they need the authority of the Supreme Court to stop it.

Section 23 of the Summary Offences Act 1988 (NSW) requires that those planning to hold a protest must inform the NSW police via written notice, which must detail the location of the rally and the expected number or participants. The notice must be lodged 7 days prior to an event, and if organisers don’t hear anything back, it means the protest is authorised to go forward.

So, a Form 1 provides participants in a protest with immunity from criminal prosecution if they are complying with the terms of what has been agreed to, which means police officers cannot suddenly arrest civilians for standing in the middle of the street, when the action has been approved via the notification process.

This is happening in the wake of the previous Coalition government having passed a draconian antiprotest regime in April 2022, which means that if a protest is staged without approval that obstructs a major road, tunnel, bridge or a major facility, those participating now face 2 years inside and a fine of up to $22,000. And a Minns-led Labor opposition provided bipartisan support for it.

User-pays protests

The NSW police commissioner attempted to shut down the 52nd consecutive week of the pro-Palestine protest, along with a 7th October vigil, to be held in Sydney on Gadigal Country in early October. This move was again supported by Minns, as he’s suggested there is something inherently wrong with the Free Palestine movement since it began gaining traction a year ago.

This attempt failed as an agreement was reached between the organisers and police. But just days later, Minns told the press that he considered NSW police should be able to close down protests if the cost of policing them is too high. The premier explained that the cost of policing the 52 weeks of pro-Palestinian protests had been over $5.4 million and he considered that was too much.

NSW Liberal opposition leader Mark Speakman then chimed in to suggest that protests might be subject to the NSW police user-pays system, which would mean that organisers would be expected to pay for the saturation policing that they don’t even want, at the hefty price of $147.60 inclusive of GST an hour per officer.

Police used the application of the user-pays policing system to price certain music festivals out of the market circa 2018, due to the exorbitant charges for policing services that the NSW police insisted such events required, which involved saturation numbers of officers on the ground.

Schofield posits that advancing Minns’ suggestion that protests be denied if deemed too costly, is the same as supporting the NSW premier if he decided to not hold an election or not to send out ballot sheets to a certain electorate during a vote because of the cost. This is out of line in a democratic society, as the rights to vote and to protest are basic freedoms that must be upheld in a democracy.

Time is running out

The NSW government and its attack dog the NSW police have been incrementally erasing protest rights since at least 2016, when the Baird government rolled out a number of inclosed land laws, after then premier Mike Baird had promised the mining industry a “crackdown” two years earlier, and he singled out “protesters who unlawfully enter mining sites”.

As Schofield tells it, Minns is continuing to pursue this same strategy as the climate crisis is escalating at a rapid rate. A recently released UN report outlines that there’s more carbon emission in the atmosphere than ever before and this year has seen no meaningful climate action. He added that this year is also the hottest in human history and last year is now the second hottest year on record.

“Our Pacific neighbours are desperate to see Australia become a world leader in the transition, whereas now we are the second largest exporter of fossil fuels in the world,” Schofield added.

“We are international pariahs, and it is our responsibility to turn that around. That is why it is important to get out on the water,” the climate activist concluded.