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Protesters who shut down part of Adani's north Queensland coal port have questioned why they were collectively fined almost $80,000 — more than six times what the mining company faces for dumping coal-polluted water.
Thirteen protesters from Frontline Action on Coal (FLAC) each received fines of up to $8,000 on Tuesday in the Bowen Magistrates Court, after they chained themselves to coal-loading equipment at the Abbot Point Port in January.
The fines handed down by Magistrate Simon Young to nine of the activists came from the first-known cases of an obscure charge: intentionally or recklessly interfering with a port's operation.
The protesters pleaded guilty to this and other charges of trespass and contravening police directions.
In another case, Adani was issued a fine of about $12,000 by the Queensland Environment Department after it reported releasing water with nearly eight times the permitted level of coal sediment onto a beach when Abbot Point was inundated with rain from Cyclone Debbie last March.
Adani has since chosen to fight the fine in court "on principle".
Tess Newport, 21, a university student from Melbourne who was fined $8,000, said the comparative penalties "seem a little out of balance".
"I think some people would consider it unfair," Ms Newport said.
Ms Newport said she had no regrets about her role in a protest which landed her in court for the first time.
"We all have our values and the actions I took align with mine," she said.
George Christensen, the federal government MP for Mackay and a vocal Adani supporter, posted on Facebook a video of his exchange with anti-Adani protesters before he entered court on Tuesday.
"You should stop breaking the law and harming local workers, and you'll have to answer to the court today on what youse [sic] are doing," he told the activists.
FLAC spokeswoman Tully Doole said the protesters should not have been "slapped with mega fines" for "trying to protect our future from dangerous climate change".
"Whilst Adani has mega bucks and lawyers to challenge their miniscule fine for polluting our environment, these working people have children to feed, health costs and school fees to pay," she said.
The activist group, which has been involved in protests leading to almost 100 arrests in recent months, is seeking donations to help pay the fines.
Reported tensions between interstate protesters and local supporters of Australia's largest proposed coal mine have occasionally spilled over in public.
One man was charged last month with assaulting anti-Adani protestors at a town hall event involving Federal Opposition Leader Bill Shorten on Townsville.
A day later, Townsville City Council said police warnings about tensions over the mine prompted them to cancel the screening of a documentary about the Stop Adani protest movement at one of its venues.
Topics: law-crime-and-justice, courts-and-trials, mining-environmental-issues, mining-industry, environment, qld, bowen-4805, townsville-4810, brisbane-4000
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