Taking action into their own hands

By Kieran Adair

It’s early Sunday morning in Newcastle, and the sun is blazing hot. On the highway a convoy of two white mini buses are snaking their way through the cities coal port, the largest in the world.

To their right, the port, where gargantuan sized coal loaders run day and night to accommodate the never ending stream of ships waiting in Newcastle harbour.

To their left, the coal stacks are fenced off with barbed wire, this is where coal is bought and stock piled, before it’s loaded onto the ships.

The place is swimming with police, and private security guards. The passengers are giddy, sweaty palmed, excited, and nervous.

It only takes a moment; the convoy pulls up beside the stockpiles. and the 36 passengers are out, crossing the fence, and onto the mounds of coal, occupying the stacks, and stopping it from being moved onto the waiting ships.

They want to stop climate change, and are sick of waiting for the Government to do it. Looking at them however, you realise that these aren’t your usual band of rag-tag rebels.

By day, Moira Williams is just another bureaucrat; a policy adviser at the Department of Environment, Climate and Water.

Right now, this Newtown local is anything but a buttoned-down civil servant, standing on top of 5 tonnes of coal, waving a banner reading “GLOBAL WARMING; Australias Export to the World”

“It’s important to keep the core issue on the agenda, and that’s coal and its contribution to climate change” she told the City Hub “there’s only so far you can get with being polite, and we’ve tried being polite, but it’s not working.

Bill Ryan is old enough to be your grandfather, 88, and a World War 2 veteran. His white hair attests to that, at least it would if it wasn’t covered up by his wide rimmed hat. He is standing next to his son, Colin, 62, a former employee of Telstra, and family man from the Shire.

Bill and Colin are side by side with Moira, “I’m concerned about my children, and my grandchildrens future”, says a frustrated Colin “We need a Government to phase out coal, and move towards 100% renewable energy”

Eager to get business as usual back on track, ‘Newcastles finest’ have just threatened to arrest them for trespass if they don’t leave the coal stacks immediately.

Claire Rose is 15 years old, fresh faced, and full of life. She’s a young punk, with green highlights running through her dark hair. She is standing next to her mum, when faced with the threat of climate change she has more to lose than anyone. “You hear about this stuff and you want to do something… I want to show people that aren’t so [informed] about climate change, so they can make change” she finished “It’s not just a protest to be rebellious, we’re working towards a cause”.

They are being placed under arrest for refusing to leave.

Moira, Bill, Colin, and Claire are four ordinary Australians, from four very different walks of life, and they are just some of the many Australians that are taking direct action out of the domain of long haired hippies.

Moira summed it up perfectly; “[we’re] constantly frustrated about the lack of action, despite the hard work that we’ve put into campaigning over the last three years, we’re seeing nothing happen” she told City Hub “We don’t see [direct action] as a radical step, its just the next step in a very long running campaign.”

And the trend will only continue as the Government fails to take climate action.