​​BY AMBER HOLDEN

Environmental activist Deanna ‘Violet’ Coco has vowed to continue her protest against government inaction on climate change, despite her historic arrest in Sydney last year.

Coco was the first environmental protester arrested under harsher penalties introduced by NSW Parliament in April 2022. She was arrested with two others for blocking a lane on Sydney Harbour Bridge, resulting in major delays for peak-hour commuters, and sentenced to 15 months in jail.

In an address to grassroots movement Extinction Rebellion in Abbotsford on Saturday, Coco outlined plans for the group’s upcoming Festival of Resistance in Melbourne. The festival will call for commitment to the protest despite the higher possibility of arrest.

“Here we are, in the end game … our actions today impact the viability of our planet for now and every other generation to come,” Coco said.

“We have been cornered into civil resistance. We have been absolutely let down by our governments. Every other avenue has been tried and failed.”

Coco, who spent a total of 13 days in jail before being granted bail, was issued with a 12-month conditional release order in March after district court judge Mark Williams approved her bail appeal.

The Road and Crimes Amendment Bill, under which Coco was charged, means an individual can be fined up to $22,000 and jailed for up to two years if deemed to be disrupting any major facilities or infrastructure such as roads or transport.

In a statement, then Acting NSW Premier and Minister for Police Paul Toole called the bill a demonstration that the NSW Government was committed to cracking down on “selfish, economic vandalism”.

The anti-protest laws targeting environmental protesters in Australian states including NSW, Victoria and Tasmania have been highlighted by Human Rights Watch as a “violation for the right to peacefully protest” and listed as a cause for concern.

Victoria's Government has passed a similar anti-protest amendment to the Sustainable Forests (Timber) Act, which comes into force in May. The amendment is set to include similar penalties: a fine of up to $21,000 and prison sentence of up to 12 months for protesters who disrupt legal timber-harvesting operations.

The state-owned commercial forestry industry, VicForests, makes about $560 million a year, and is Australia's largest forest and wood products industry, according to the State Government.

A statement released by Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said the anti-protest legislation “introduces offences and updates existing penalties to deter dangerous protest activities in Timber Harvesting Safety Zones and prevent harm”.

“These changes are focused on illegal and dangerous behaviour occurring within timber harvesting zones and do not limit normal recreation in forests, or peaceful demonstration in areas where it is safe and legal to do so,” the statement said.

Environmental Justice Victoria drafted an open letter in response to the anti-protest amendment – signed by 67 environmental, legal and human rights organisations – raising concerns over the “draconian” infringement on the right to peaceful protest in Victoria.

Coco told the Extinction Rebellion meeting on Saturday that the amendments in NSW and Victoria were signs current protesting was doing its job.

“When you try and challenge the state in ways that expose the emergency situation that they’re not wanting to address, they will use violence," she said. "The taking away of my freedoms was violence.”

Also at the meeting were Extinction Rebellion members Brad Homewood and Elizabeth Hartrick, arrested in Sydney last August for participating in a Blockade Australia protest that blocked a road. Both were offered plea deals by NSW Police as part of their sentencing.

Mr Homewood plans to reject the deal and fight his conviction in court.

“There are a small group of us who have declined the deal and will plead not guilty and openly challenge the law in court, because we believe it is our fundamental right to engage in non-violent disruptive protest,” Mr Homewood said.