July 6, 2024 - Activists are now in their 11th day of action at the World’s largest coal port in Newcastle as they use direct action to draw attention to the impact of fossil fuels on global heating. 

When functioning at full capacity the Hunter coal supply chain has a ten thousand ton coal train moving along it every 15 to 20 minutes. The current protests have led to 70+ hours of disruption to one of the world’s largest fossil fuel supply chains through the Newcastle Port.

At 6.30 this morning Katta (27) climbed onto a traverse line that had been strung up between Glennies Creek rail bridge and a nearby tree, 10kms north of Singleton in the Hunter Valley. 

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.’ 

Locked and Loaded

Katta’s action comes just hours after Kalpa (65) climbed onboard and locked onto a loaded coal train last night stopping all train movements along the Hunter rail corridor for over three hours.

‘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,’ said Kapla.

‘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.’