The trio who became the test case for the state’s ‘anti-protest laws’ when they blocked the entrance to Wilpinjong mine, had the controversial charges dismissed at Mudgee Local Court on Tuesday.
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Bev Smiles, Bruce Hughes and Stephanie Luke – who became known as the Wollar Three – were arrested in April 2017, the day after a NSW Planning Assessment Commission hearing into the Wilpinjong mine extension.
They became the first people charged with the laws - introduced in NSW months prior to their arrest –
‘Destroy/damage equipment/road etc belonging to etc mine’ and ‘Hinder working of mining equipment’.
The maximum penalty was seven years imprisonment.
In his judgement, Magistrate David Day found that “there’s no evidence that the road was rendered useless, it was obstructed and easily cleared”.
“What I observed [on the video submitted as evidence] was a blockade, not unlike the old style union picket lines, not seen much in recent times,” he said.
And went on to say that the phrasing of “belonging to” needed to establish “ownership” of the road and equipment by the mine, which he didn’t believe was done.
The trio were placed on 12-month good behaviour bonds for the backup, traffic charge of obstructing drivers’ path.
Smiles, Hughes and Luke had earlier entered pleas of guilty to this charge and due to their respective ages and lack of criminal history no convictions were recorded.
Their representative Phillip Boulten SC told the court, “if an infringement was issued on the spot, we wouldn’t be here”.
Magistrate Day did say of the backup charge that “a road is a road and subject to road rules” which are there for safety.
And suggested that their protest would’ve been satisfied by setting up on the grass verge either side of the gate and uploading their actions to social media.
However, his honour did go onto say that protesting does occasionally break the law and that achievements such as suffrage couldn’t have happened if those taking a stand hadn’t run afoul of the laws of the day.
“Justice prevailed for us today,” Ms Smiles said. “It’s a huge relief for us and I think we’ll sleep more easily tonight than we have for a very long period of time.
“We had an excellent legal team and quite a strong case as the judgement demonstrated.
“What we were charged with seemed to be a fairly basic activity and to be charged was quite a shock, it was a real relief that we’ve been found not guilty to either of those charges.”
