The state government has announced it’s going to war against railway protestors, with even harsher penalties now in place.
New legislation will this week introduce a maximum $22,000 fine for obstructing a railway… and two years imprisonment… or both.
It comes as more than a hundred protestors were charged in Newcastle after a coal port protest and the state government says many of the recent protesters causing mayhem in the Hunter Valley were charged with obstructing a railway.
This provision also covers people found to have helped those who directly commit the offence.
The government says train drivers should not have to work in fear, worrying about whether they will need to apply an emergency brake to avoid striking a trespasser.