A Canberra woman has been charged with a serious offence carrying the penalty of jail time in NSW after she allegedly scaled a fence at a Newcastle port and occupied a piece of mining equipment.
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Anna Molan, 62, was arrested on September 15 after she allegedly joined a group of about 30 to 40 protesters and entered the Newcastle Coal Infrastructure Group - a significant coal exporter.
Ms Molan and others allegedly scaled the wire mesh fence before climbing onto a stack reclaimer - a large piece of machinery for moving stockpiles of material - and occupied it, court documents say.
Someone activated an emergency stop button and operations came to a halt for the rest of the day.
Police said in September they became aware of activist group Front Line Action on Coal planning protests including locking on, banner drops and occupations. Court documents referred to the group’s website:
“On 14 and 15 September we will launch a series of actions to starve the Newcastle port of coal.
"On 16 September we celebrate, debrief and begin to plan for the next phase. We need to end coal yesterday. We need to end fossil fuels forever.”
On September 1 two banners were dropped into the Queens Wharf Brewery tower in Newcastle, one saying: “Only a knob would ignore climate change.”
On September 3, a woman suspended herself on a tripod over a rail line at Sandgate. Two days later a teenager did the same thing.
Two days after that, a person locked on to a coal train and had to be cut off in a process that took three hours.
On September 13 protesters stopped and mounted a coal train causing “major disruption” to the rail line for more than two hours.
Police will allege the infrastructure group, Yancoal and Pacific National have suffered considerable financial loss and delayed production as a result of the incursion by the protesters.
Ms Molan, of Holder, is charged with intentionally or recklessly hindering the working of mining equipment and unlawfully entering the group’s inclosed lands and interfering with its daily operations.
She has pleaded guilty to the charge of unlawfully entering inclosed lands.
Her lawyers have requested the brief be served in relation to the other charge.
The former charge carries a maximum penalty of seven years jail, while the latter carries the risk of a maximum fine of $5500.
The case was listed to return to court on February 14.
