Port Botany protestor who scaled 60-metre crane jailed for four months

By PATRICK MCKENZIE

A 26-year-old man who scaled a crane at Port Botany last Friday has been jailed for four months.

Maxim O’Donnell Curmi, an activist from Blockade Australia, climbed the 60-metre high crane to shut down the port’s largest terminal. He then suspended himself from the crane, where he spent several hours, and broadcasted the action live on Facebook.

The protest came as part of a week of extended action by the group, which uses “organised disruption” to drive climate action and “mobilisations at economic bottlenecks and centres of political power”. 

Mr Curmi was sentenced to four months in prison at Waverley Local Court on Monday morning, with Blockade Australia saying that they will be appealing the sentence “immediately”. 

“This is a risky thing to do, but not acting is more risky,” Mr Curmi said during the action.

“If you’re serious about climate action, you have to get serious about the organised disruption of Australia.”

Port Botany protestor’s jail sentence to expire on July 24

Magistrate Ross Hudson accepted Curmi’s guilty plea, fining him $1,500 and issuing a jail sentence due to expire on July 24.

In a statement released by Blockade Australia, they said that “the judicial system is another tool that Australia uses to protect the interests of the corporate and political elite”. 

The organisation conducted multiple actions last week, including further disruptions at Port Botany on Friday and a woman scaling a train at Marrickville.

The actions were condemned by government officials, with NSW Transport Minister David Elliott warning that harsher penalties could soon be in place for people who “vandalise our economy”. 

The government then introduced penalties of up to two years in jail and a $22,000 fine in response to the protests.

Blockade Australia planning another spate of protests from June 

The successive actions have also prompted NSW Police to establish a dedicated strike force, which Deputy Premier and Minister for Police Paul Toole has said will “ensure police are one step ahead of the protestors”. 

Blockade Australia has continued advocating for direct action, calling for participants in another planned mobilisation from June 27 to July 2.

“We will not be intimidated out of fighting for the political change required to save us all,” the organisation said.

“This is our chance to tackle the system as a whole and hit them where it hurts the most.”