2024-07-09
Another young woman in NSW has been sentenced to a term of imprisonment for protesting about climate change. 21 year-old Laura Davy was sentenced to a term of 3 months in prison by Newcastle Magistrate Michael Barko for allegedly shutting down part of the coal loading facility at the Newcastle Coal Port, as part of broader local protest action against the coal industry for its proven role in climate change.
Davy was arrested and charged under anti-protest laws introduced by the former Coalition Government and supported by NSW Labor in 2022, which provide up to $20,000 in fines and two years in prison for certain acts of protest. These unprecedented fines and sentences have been widely condemned as draconian and undemocratic by human rights lawyers and advocates.
Greens MP and spokesperson for justice Sue Higginson said “This is the reality of harsh and draconian anti-protest laws, we see them implemented by both police and magistrates poorly, arbitrarily and dangerously. The fact is no one, no matter who they are, should be subjected to a term of imprisonment for engaging in acts of nonviolent civil disobedience as part of their political and moral objection,”
“This is not the first time in NSW a young woman has been thrown into prison for taking direct action against the Government’s inaction on climate change and then released on bail as an appeal takes place. When Violet CoCo, also thrown into prison, appealed her prison sentence it was overturned. I hope and strongly suspect the same will happen for Ms Davy, because decades of legal precedent in this State, Country and other democratic legal systems says justice is not served by locking up nonviolent political prisoners,”
“A mature democracy recognises the importance of political participation beyond the ballot box and this includes peaceful protest and nonviolent civil disobedience, no matter how inconvenient it may be for big business. Anti-protest laws in NSW were from the outset designed to protect the profits of big business. You can make millions burning and exporting fossil fuel, but if you’re a grandmother or young activist raising the alarm on the climate emergency on the wrong road or railway line, you could do jail time,”
“The fact is there is a people’s movement committed to genuine climate action and the end of the extraction, burning and export of coal. This movement isn’t going anywhere. It is only getting bigger and it will not be stopped by throwing people in prison. These laws cause unnecessary harm, clog up the legal system, and subject the public to unnecessary costs,”
“As Laura Davy awaits her appeal, the government is reviewing these draconian anti-protest offences. The Supreme Court of NSW has already found they are partly unconstitutional. Now, the Minns Labor Government must reverse this dangerous, undemocratic trend, strike these laws from the books, and enshrine the right to protest in law for good,” Ms Higginson said.
A recent report by the Human Rights Law Centre found that the most consistently targeted activists by anti-protest laws were from the environmental and climate movement.
Ms Davy’s sentence was handed down on the same day scientists announced that, for the first time in history, global temperatures exceeded 1.5 degrees above the pre-industrial average for an entire year. Ms Davy has appealed her sentence and has now been released on bail.