Police ordered to pay $73,000 in costs to Rising Tide legal team

The legal team that successfully argued for the dismissal of charges against the first four Rising Tide blockade defendants last October has today won its costs hearing, with the court ordering police to pay $73,000 in legal costs.

Last October, Newcastle Local Court ruled that there was not enough evidence to support the prosecution’s claims that the four ‘test case’ protestors caused a serious disruption to the Port of Newcastle when they paddled out as part of the 2024 People’s Blockade of the World’s Largest Coal  Port. The charge s214a of the Crimes Act which carries a maximum penalty of 2 years in prison or $22 thousand dollars (or both) was dismissed.

There remains over 258 protestors facing the same s214a charge, from the 2024 and 2025 People’s Blockade protests, with another round of ‘test cases’ scheduled for June and the remaining set down for October to November.  

Today the four defendants were also sentenced for the remaining charge they faced from the protest, s14 of the Marine Safety Act, ‘obstruct other vessel’. All four pled guilty, with the two with prior convictions receiving XX fines and two with no prior convictions walking away with no conviction recorded.  

Naomi Hodgson Rising Tide spokesperson said:

“This win for the legal team is also a win for everyday people standing up to defend our kids’ future and protect the right to protest.”

“This decision shows that police have been heavy-handed in their use of harsh new anti-protest laws. They pursued these charges without sufficient evidence — not only were they unable to prove the allegations, they did not even have a reasonable basis to prosecute. The court has now made clear that this was a profligate waste of time and public resources.

“History will judge the real criminals to be the executives of the fossil fuel companies driving catastrophic climate change, not the peaceful protestors calling for a safe future.”