Newcastle: 2024

This afternoon Anna (69) climbed upon a coal train and blocked the coal trains going to the Newcastle coal port, the largest of it’s kind in the world. This made her’s the second action of the 11th day of Blockade Australia’s sustained mobilization. She shared the beautiful view of the clouds in the skyline and lamented the coal train cutting through it. As she blocked this very train from reaching the port on it’s journey to fuel our climate collapse, she shared:

“This is horrific that so much coal is being taken out of this beautiful country and it’s causing a catastrophe. I cannot just sit by and watch. I write to and have visited politicians, I’ve tried everything. If you look at the good science and believe the science, it’s not looking good. This is my home and it’s your home too.”

“Since this country has been colonized it’s been robbed and pillaged and raped. There’s no end to our greed, and it’s all just for money.”

“The system is based on greed and exploitation and unkindness. I fear for our future generations, my grandchildren and all those young people working their butts off, so kind and clever and sweet. What future have they got when good people are doing nothing.”

“Imagine if a thousand people did this, just kept it up every day, imagine if everyone volunteered to do this every day, and said it’s killing us and it’s killing our children.”

Be a part of the resistance.

Katta (27) has climbed onto a traverse line that has been strung up between Glennies Creek rail bridge and a nearby tree. These current protests have lead to 70+ hours of disruption to one of the worlds largest fossil fuel supply chain. 

Katta, who successfully took the Government to court last year, is currently hanging on an elevated traverse stated, 

“Through my many years of environmental work, I have realised that the traditional mechanisms we are given, like voting and legal action, are powerless in genuinely addressing climate change.”

“I successfully took the Australian Government to court for failing to disclose climate risk in their sale of Government bonds, yet this groundbreaking win was able to be nullified by those in power because this system is built to protect powerful interests. If we wait and rely on the traditional avenues of change-making, we will forever be waiting while this system hurtles us towards climate collapse.”

“We cannot rely on the Australian system to prevent climate collapse when it has always prioritised the interests of those with entrenched power.”

“History has shown us that the only way to challenge corporate power and the rich is through disruptive action that stops the real functioning of the economic processes that are destroying the living planet.” 

Australia is driving climate collapse through its rampant extraction and exportation of resources. A system built on infinite growth is completely unsustainable no matter which political party is in power or how many renewables projects are built. We cannot have infinite growth on a finite planet.

History has shown us that direct action works in confronting power structures when it is targeted and sustained. We pledge to continue taking action against Australia’s climate destruction.

Kalpa (65) has jumped on a coal train, blocking all trains in and out of the Newcastle Coal Port. She has also locked on in the carriage and could be blocking traffic for many hours.

She shares, “climate collapse and ecological devastation happening in this continent and all over the world is what drives me to take this action today. I want to show ordinary people, just like me, how easy it is to take these kind of steps. Direct action is an attempt to have a strong protest voice.”

In less than 250 years Australia has destroyed a continent which had been cared for and managed sustainably for tens of thousands of years.​​​​​​​

Australia as a colonial project is hurtling us blindly towards a cliff edge from which there is no return. We need to stop it. We need to get in the way of this system that is blocking any path to safety. We have to #BlockadeAustralia.

In the third action of the day, Andrew (67) has boarded a train and is stopping all freight movement in and out of the World’s largest coal port in Newcastle.

Andrew’s action comes as part of Blockade Australia’s prolonged incapacitation of the Hunter coal supply chain, which has so far caused upwards of 60 hours of disruption to one of Australia’s biggest extractive operations.

“I’m stopping coal trains for my granddaughter’s generation”

“The science around climate is conclusive and we need to act now, the sooner we act the more we can address this collapse”

Big business, media monopolies, parliament, fossil fuel companies – the institutions that govern power on this continent are killing the world. At this point in history, to defend everything that is important to us, we have to go after the system in its entirety.

#BlockadeAustralia

Okay, Day 9 and it’s been a wild evening!

2pm: After Luke’s morning action, Heike jumps on a coal train halting trains in and out of the Newcastle Coal Port.

11pm: Skye climbs into a tree-sit tied to the rail, blocking traffic for a solid 5 hours. She is kept company on her livestream by a few passionate supporters from around the world over night.

4.30am: Nate steps in at dawn for the next 3 hours, hanging from a bipod over 2-mile creek bridge leading into the world’s largest coal port.

Our message is simple: the planet’s life support systems are in crisis. The systemic machine we call Australia is driving us into a catastrophic climate collapse through rampant resource extraction and expansion.

#BlockadeAustralia is a growing network that knows direct action is effective when it’s targeted and sustained as it challenges power where it operates on the ground.

As long as Australia continues to exploit this continent and those who call it home, our resistance will continue.

Luke, a 35-year-old ecology student and expectant father, ushered in DAY 8 of #BlockadeAustralia ‘s sustained campaign of disruption at the Port of Newcastle.

Luke was suspended up a tree with a line of rope that was also attached to the rail. He was arrested after being lowered from the tree and is now in police custody.

“I’ve knocked on doors and i’ve written to my MPs, been to rallies in the cities, I’ve voted, I’ve donated to NGOs. I work in environmental regeneration, I’m an ecologist, I’m studying ecology and I’m having a child in a few months (big smile). None of that stuff’s working. My child’s future isn’t looking any rosier. It’s not individual politicians – it’s the system.”

“We’re all future ancestors, and as future ancestors, I think we should be thinking about what kind of legacy we’re going to leave.”

Aahana has refused police bail due to repressive bail conditions that cut contact with her community via non-associations with any “#BlockadeAustralia activists”. She has a support person and is being transferred to a youth detention centre until her hearing. We stand with her in solidarity and care.

Like she said today, “I’m not taking this action to get arrested, this is the systems response… The system was always intended to benefit a small group of people. The state eradicates dissent… it puts profit over people, commodity over community.”

“WE are centred in hope, storytelling and solidarity – but we must get organised”

If you can, please support our Legal Fund for the 17 arrestees.

Aahana (17) takes bold action this morning, hanging from a bipod at a pinch-point into the Port of Newcastle. We believe she is still there 3+ hours later, after locking onto the structure when search and rescue cops arrived.

She shares some potent words,

“I extend my respect and solidarity to all Indigenous communities fighting for liberation. The nation state of Australia is responsible for not only the massacre of Indigenous people on this continent but across the globe.”

“98% of Australia’s trade is through the ports. I’m disrupting corporate and institutional power, the foundation of Australia’s system. Disruptive tactics have always been employed, and are always criticised as extremist and counter intuitive. Despite this, the status quo celebrates many wins of the same disruptive tactics, attributing the successes to the framework of liberal democracy and the more passive reformist movement.”

“I’m totally disabled from participating in our “so-called democracy” but still expected to be compliant with all the evidence that suggests we need to take action – strategically and urgently.”

“We are living with finite resources but this system works towards infinite extraction. Blockade Australia immobilises key infrastructure on the ground where power is manufactured. I believe nothing happens without people. I want to use myself, as a person, to take action.”

13 actions and counting… we must #BlockadeAustralia!

As the sun rose this morning hanging from a single rope over a tree a daring activist introduced themselves:

“I’m Jasmine, I’m on the stolen land of the Wonnarua people, where sovereignty was never ceded. I am hanging from a tree sit attached to a monopole which is blocking all trains going into and out of the Newcastle coal port.”

As confused rail workers and later police scratched their heads while examining the structure she was suspended by. Jasmine sat tight and blocked the system that is destroying us.

“I feel like direct action is the only way forward. Reforms and anything that is in line with the system, touted by the system, is never going to serve the people.”

As the landscape was blanketed with rays of morning light, like the hope Jasmine represented, she, explained the centrality of the crisis:

“This isn’t just about coal, it’s so much more, it’s the system in general that’s allowing not just climate collapse but a slow societal collapse, while the politicians and people in power only worry about themselves.”

The climate collapse is one disaster out of many that the system has generated from it’s first principles. As more and more violence is mercilessly perpetrated against our climate and the world, engaging in direct action that stands up boldly, to block the system is essential.

Jasmine held strong blocking the fuel of the system for over two hours.