An Extinction Rebellion protester who abseiled from a bridge, causing traffic chaos in Adelaide’s CBD, has apologised for the disruption she caused after being convicted of obstruction of a public space.
Key points:
- Meme Caroline Thorne abseiled from Adelaide’s Morphett Street bridge outside an oil and gas conference
- The protest prompted the state government to introduce new anti-obstruction laws
- She was ordered to pay $750 in compensation — far less than the $8,000 that was sought
Meme Caroline Thorne was sentenced to 15 hours of community service and must pay $750 in compensation to SA Police and the Metropolitan Fire Service, far less than the almost $8,000 sought by SAPOL to recoup costs.
Thorne was arrested in May during a protest outside the Adelaide Convention Centre, where an oil and gas conference was being held by the Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association.
The protest caused the Morphett Street bridge to be blocked and halted trams along nearby North Terrace, causing significant disruption in the middle of the city.
Thorne abseiled off the bridge and remained suspended over North Terrace for at least an hour before she was safely brought down by emergency services.
In response to that protest, and another the next day, the South Australian government introduced new laws increasing the maximum penalty for “obstructing a public place” from $750 to $50,000 or three months in jail.
The new laws, which were swiftly passed through state parliament in the weeks following the protests, represent the harshest penalties for that charge in the country.
Thorne previously pleaded guilty to the charge.
In sentencing, Magistrate Kate White said it was clear from the facts of the case that it was a particularly serious example of the offence.
“The maximum penalty was considered by the parliament to be so utterly disproportionate to the gravity of your offending that the law was subsequently changed,” she said.
“To wilfully disobey the law as and when you chose by reference only to your own conscience is to undermine a system of government that delivers the very freedom of thought, belief, and association that is so important to you. These are fragile privileges.”
Magistrate White also addressed the impact on commuters caught in the protest “who experienced, at best, frustration and, at worst, substantial economic loss as they remained idling in traffic”.
“Ironically, given your motivation, it is unlikely that all of those people were driving electric vehicles,” she said.
Outside court, surrounded by supporters from Extinction Rebellion carrying banners and chanting, Thorne apologised.
“As I said from the very start, I apologised deeply about the inconvenience that was caused that day, my dangling over the bridge,” she said.
“I’m very sorry for the losses that were occurred by some of the people waiting in that traffic and the traffic disruption that was caused.
“A lot of people have been asking me, ‘Why did you do it?’ I’ve been very deeply troubled by the escalation of the climate crisis in recent times.
“I’d hoped that the science behind the warnings to stop fuelling the crisis would guide our response but in fact our state and our federal responses have been half-hearted to say the least.”
Thorne has been ordered to pay the victims or crime levy and court costs.
