NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet has slammed the actions of environmental protestors, claiming they have wiped millions off the national economy in just days.
Climate change protest group Blockade Australia has posted photos and videos of its efforts to disrupt coal deliveries by train into the port of Newcastle this week.
The group has claimed responsibility for closing train tracks in the Hunter area eight times alone this week.
Blockade Australia activist 'Zelda', dressed in a gas mask and hazmat suit, climbed on top of a coal train where she started to shovel coal onto the tracks
'I'm here to return this dirty coal back to the earth where it came from,' Zelda said in a video posted on the Blockade Australia Facebook page
Climate change protest group Blockade Australia has posted photos and videos of its efforts to disrupt coal deliveries by train into the port of Newcastle this week
The cancellation of about 20 freight trains carrying export goods such as coal, cotton and grain in the Hunter region was costing the economy around $1 million on each occasion, claimed Paul Scurrah, chief executive officer of rail freight operator Pacific National.
'At a time when Australia needs to recover from the economic shocks of the coronavirus pandemic and associated lockdowns, one of the most critical rail freight networks in this country – the Hunter Valley system – has been brought to a complete standstill because of dangerous protests from environmental extremists, Mr Scurrah told The Daily Telegraph.
'These radicals not only put the safety of our train crews in great peril but their actions in the last 48 hours have led to 20 cancelled Pacific National rail services to the Port of Newcastle.'
Mr Perrottet also weighed in on the actions of protest groups, whose behaviour had disrupted the lives of 'many ordinary people who are just trying to
