New protest group Blockade Australia aims squarely at corporate Australia in its Hunter Valley coal export protests timed for Glasgow COP26

Some of it takes place on or near mine sites, but most is aimed at the rail lines and the port's three coal terminals, because stopping things here has a broader impact, as shown by a series of high-profile actions by a new activist group calling itself Blockade Australia.

The scale and duration of the Blockade Australia protests show significant planning, and they are certainly getting under the skin of the industry.

IN THE NEWS:

Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce says the group has disrupted $60 million worth of exports so far, and NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller has upped the ante by saying police could lay charges attracting up to 25 years in jail - a threat that Blockade Australia described as "draconian overreach".

Not so long ago, people who tied themselves to coal trains were seen as extreme radicals.

Today, they still go farther, in terms of civil disobedience, than most people with similar beliefs.

But their contention, that "the climate collapse threatens all life on earth", is essentially the same message that a host of world leaders said they believed in at Glasgow COP26.

The obvious difference is that the so-far anonymous organisers behind Blockade Australia have no faith in the politicians, saying, for example, that the 1.5-degree temperature rise targets of the Paris agreement are a "calculated political deceit, designed to pacify the public".

They say "change is necessary for survival, as Australia continues to block climate action, we will blockade Australia".

In the Hunter Region, that means disrupting the livelihoods of tens of thousands of breadwinners. Ultimately, if the collective desire to "decarbonise" the world continues, then those jobs are doomed in the longer term, regardless.

Still, a split view remains.

What Commissioner Fuller yesterday described as "dangerous and criminal behaviour", Blockade Australia justified as "centralised, sustained and disruptive action to force the urgent broad-scale change necessary for survival".

NSW courts have been increasingly reluctant to punish climate protesters in recent years.

It will be instructive to see how they view this latest round of publicity seeking, with Glasgow still fresh in everyone's minds.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: