Environmental Activism State of Play 2023

Knitting Nannas look like this and they knit.

Northern Rivers Knitting Nannas
The Echo, 1 July 2022
IMAGE: Tree Faerie

They also year in and year out peacefully protest on behalf of their concerned and often very worried communities AND they infrequently get arrested and go to court. 

On 4 July 2023 Cristine Degan, 74, was arrested after she and Susan Doyle, 76, of Valla, locked on to a harvester in Boambee State Forest, on NSW Mid-North Coast. They were both arrested and fined.

In New South Wales the fines for peaceful protest under the the Crimes Act 1900, the Summary Offences Act 1984, the Mining Act 1992, the Forestry Act 2012 & Roads and Crimes Legislation Amendment Act 2022 are becoming extremely large.

In that state people can now be fined up to $22,000 and/or gaoled for a maximum of two years for protesting illegally on public roads, rail lines, tunnels, bridges and industrial estates.

In other states the laws have grown harsher as well. 

Since 2022 in Tasmania “community member protesting the destruction of old growth forests on a forestry site could face a penalty of over $13,000 or 2 years in prison; and An organisation supporting members of the community to protest could be fined over $45,000”. “While in Victoria Anti-logging protestors who “hinder, obstruct or interfere with timber-harvesting operations” can face up to 12 months in prison and/or a $21,000 fine. PVC and metal pipes which are often used in protest activities are now prohibited in working sites, with additional powers provided to police to search suspect individuals who are “reasonably suspicious”. [UNSW Human Rights Institute, 2022]

Now we have the next generation of protests and protestors and one of the suspected offences confronting 37 year-old Joana Partyka - conspiracy to commit indictable offence - has an attached penalty of imprisonment from 14 years to life in West Australia…..

TheSaturday Paper, 16 September 2023:

When the knock came, I was brushing my teeth. For a moment I considered ignoring it: I wasn’t expecting anyone. Eventually I opened the door and standing there were the police. There were six of them, all armed, members of the Western Australia Police Force’s counterterrorism unit, the State Security Investigation Group. In that moment, I felt dazed, almost sun-drunk. My apartment seemed immediately smaller. As I tried to process what was happening, I knew one thing: they were there for me.

A month before the raid in February, I had spray-painted the Woodside Energy logo onto the plexiglass covering Frederick McCubbin’s Down on his luck at the Art Gallery of Western Australia, thrusting into the headlines Woodside’s grotesque mega-project on the Burrup Peninsula. In the intervening period I’d been charged with criminal damage and pleaded guilty. I’d been convicted and issued with a fine and costs, which I paid.

It was after that case had been resolved that these officers arrived at my small apartment. They handed me a search warrant that outlined two suspected offences: criminal damage and conspiracy to commit an indictable offence.

As the first Disrupt Burrup Hub campaigner to receive that unexpected knock at the door, I was unprepared, uneasy and above all unclear why the police were there. I had no greater clarity when they left with my phone and laptop an hour later.

Now, six months later, I have not been charged in relation to the suspected offences outlined on the warrant. Instead, I have been charged with two counts of failing to obey a data access order – for refusing to provide police with the passwords to my devices.

Later this week, I will defend myself in the first criminal trial to come out of the Disrupt Burrup Hub campaign. It is believed to be the first time a peaceful climate activist has faced trial on this charge in Western Australia – a symbol of just how extraordinary a time it is to be a climate activist in this state…..

Read the full article at:

https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/share/16814/2NDiBXBK 

Environmental Defenders Office filed a legal challenge to NSW Government's draconian anti-protest laws on behalf of two Knitting Nannas members who live in fire and flood affected parts of the NSW far north coast

 

Post at The Saturday Paper, 13 October 2022:

Knitting Nannas unpick anti-protest laws

Two members of the Knitting Nannas will challenge the NSW government’s anti-protest laws in court, as climate activists explore avenues for action with “less punitive” consequences.

What we know:

• The Environmental Defenders Office will file the legal challenge on behalf of the two activists, who live in fire and flood-affected parts of the NSW far north coast (The Guardian);

• The two women have concerns about the controversial laws introduced in March that allow fines of $22,000 and two years in prison to punish non-violent protesters;

• They will argue that making it illegal to protest on major roads, tunnels and “near” prescribed facilities unlawfully impinges on the freedom to protest;

• “When it comes to protest rights … it can be a death by a thousand cuts. We have to fight to preserve that right, ” said David Morris of the Environmental Defenders Office;

• The legal challenge comes as the union movement pushes NSW Labor to commit to reversing the laws if elected in March (Sydney Criminal Lawyers);…….

Environmental Defenders Office spokesperson announcing legal challenge on 13.10.22, accompanied by Knitting Nannas Helen Kvelde and Dominique Jacobs. IMAGE: @jatremain

‘For these two women protest became an essential form of political expression to sound the alarm about the impacts of climate change. “Our communities have felt terrified, angry and stressed. Protest can transform those overwhelming feelings into change and action,” Dominique said. “We will ask the Court to find that aspects of these new laws are unconstitutional. Australians like us shouldn’t have to risk imprisonment or bankruptcy to participate in our democracy, and the Government should not be taking away our democratic freedoms.”’ [Environmental Defenders Office, October 2022]

Grafton Nannas Against Gas and Greed joined a community campaign – Fund Our Future Not Gas – in the lead-up to May 2021 Federal Budget

 GRAFTON KNITTING NANNAS CAMPAIGN ON FUNDING OUR FUTURE - NOT GAS

Knitting Nannas setting up for the day in Grafton
Photographs supplied

The Grafton Nannas Against Gas and Greed joined a community campaign – Fund Our Future Not Gas – in the lead-up to May’s Federal Budget. Those participating in this campaign include Nannas from around the state, 350.org and GetUp. The campaign aims to raise awareness about the folly of the federal government’s gas led recovery and highlight where budget money should go to improve the lot of all Australians – not just the polluting fossil fuel companies which the Government plans to shower with largesse.

At the Grafton knit-in outside MP Kevin Hogan’s Prince Street office on Thursday April 22, interested passers-by were asked what they thought should be in the budget. Among the suggestions were improved funding for aged care, hospitals and health, education, the NDIS, homelessness, public housing, first home buyers, Closing the Gap, environmental protection, the ABC, and the CSIRO. As well there were calls for electric car subsidies, more renewable energy, and effective climate action. Another suggestion was not to give more money to the already rich.

Some suggestions were less about budget expenditure but highlighting the concerns many people have about politicians’ ethics and their accountability as well as the health of our democracy. These included calls for honesty, stopping lying, banning big business lobbyists, stopping the press monopoly, and stopping secret deals.

Also there were calls to stop relying on poorly paid workers from overseas (and get rid of 457 Visas) as well as for women’s rights that were real, not token, and the establishment of a Federal ICAC.

Some of those who chatted with the Nannas did not want to add anything to the list but expressed support for what had been listed while others approved of what the Nannas were doing to draw attention to the need for fairness in the budget and applauded the Nannas for getting out and campaigning.

In the follow-up to their knit-in the Nannas will be writing to Kevin Hogan about these suggestions and other general comments they received. The Grafton Nannas believe it would be in Mr Hogan’s interest to listen to what his constituents say about ditching the gas folly and ensuring public money works for his community. He should know that after our local Metgasco experience there is unlikely to be much support here for a gas led recovery, particularly amongst the increasing number of people who want fossil fuels phased out in order to cut our carbon emissions drastically.

- Leonie Blain

On behalf of the Grafton Knitting Nannas Against Gas and Greed

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Nationals MP for Page Kevin Hogan again reminded of the Federal Government's "lack of effective action on climate change"

Nationals MP for Page Kevin Hogan has been in the Australian House of Representatives since the September 2013 general election and, as far as I can tell has never voted against the wishes of his masters in Canberra.

Which means that Mr. Hogan does not support genuine climate change mitigation measures.  

However, the Knitting Nannas Against Gas (KNAG) have never stopped reminding him that it is his duty to represent the people in his northern NSW electorate not a particular political party.

 

Knitting Nannas Against Gas

Grafton Loop

C/- PO Box 763

Grafton 2460

__________________________________________________________

4th March 2021

---- COPY ----

Mr Kevin Hogan MP

Member for Page

63 Molesworth St

LISMORE 2480

Email: kevin.hogan.mp@aph.gov.au

Dear Mr Hogan

Grafton Nanna Concerns

The Grafton Nannas have written to you a number of times over the years expressing their concern about the Federal Government’s lack of effective action on climate change.

We are dismayed that your Government is still ignoring the scientific advice about the need for urgent action on reducing Australia’s carbon emissions.

Your Government is at odds with the States and Territories which are all committed to net zero emissions by 2050 - irrespective of the party in government. Furthermore these governments are all taking action to ensure that they achieve this important goal.

Your Government is also at odds with many major companies in the private sector which understand that they need to make changes in their operations to survive – and prosper – in a carbon-constrained world.

It’s way past time that your Government stopped pandering to the fossil fuel lobby, dropped its ridiculous and damaging “gas-led recovery” and pursuit of futile pie in the sky nonsense such as carbon capture and storage and took its responsibility to the Australian people and future generations of Australians seriously.

We Nannas are particularly concerned for today’s young people who will inherit a world which is set to be irretrievably damaged by the selfishness and folly of you and your Coalition colleagues.

Do you, Mr Hogan, feel any personal responsibility for your Government’s failure to act effectively for our young people?

Yours sincerely

Leonie Blain

On behalf of the Grafton Nannas