Former Wollongong councillor Cath Blakey at a protest in Newcastle on Sunday, 30 November. Photo: Rising Tide.
Former Wollongong councillor Cath Blakey was arrested at a protest in Newcastle over the weekend.
Ms Blakey was part of a blockade of the world’s largest coal port by Rising Tide.
On Sunday (30 November), Ms Blakey joined swimmers and kayakers who entered the shipping channel of Newcastle Port to stop the movement of coal ships.
Ms Blakey said she was motivated by the accelerating impacts of climate change.
“I kayaked into the coal port shipping channel because, like many Australians, I’ve seen the climate impacts first-hand,” the former Greens councillor said.
“It has been six years since Wollongong declared a climate emergency. Six years since my mother-in-law’s house was burnt in the unprecedented bushfires of 2019.
“There has been some progress in emissions reduction, but federal and state Labor governments continue to approve new coal and gas mines, and have failed to include a climate trigger in the new environment law reforms.
“I attended the Newcastle event with 50 other Wollongong residents, taking on a wide range of volunteer roles in a very well-coordinated public festival.
“I didn’t take the decision to kayak into the shipping channel lightly, but the recent National Climate Risk Assessment shows that keeping coal in the ground matters when it comes to Australian livelihoods and our ecosystems.”
Experts say we can expect more frequent and severe natural disasters, crop failures, sea level rise, high temperatures and unpredictable weather as a result of rising carbon emissions.
Rising Tide is calling on the federal government to place a moratorium on new fossil fuel projects, to tax current fossil fuel profits at 78 per cent to fund new clean energy jobs and pay for climate damage and to phase out coal exports.
Rising Tide organiser Zack Schofield said the suggested tax policy is the same as Norway’s, and could bring a host of social benefits.
“Norway has been taxing profits of its oil and gas sector at 78 per cent since 1996, raising more than a trillion dollars for its sovereign wealth fund,” he said.
