Dominic Perrottet ‘pleased’ to see climate protester Violet Coco jailed for blocking Harbour Bridge

The climate change protester who blocked the Sydney Harbor Bridge will serve at least eight months in jail for disrupting rush-hour traffic, a sentence New South Wales Premier Dominic Perrottet described Monday as “pleasant to see”.

Environmental protester Deanna ‘Violet’ Coco was sentenced to 15 months behind bars on Friday and will have to serve a minimum eight-month non-parole period after she used a van to block a lane on the Harbor Bridge, causing the chaos of travelers in April.

Human rights advocates called the sentence “incredible” and said people should not be criminalized or jailed for peacefully protesting.

However, Prime Minister Dominic Perrottet defended the punishment as “not excessive” on Monday and said he hoped the sentence would deter protesters from taking actions that would “make people uncomfortable”.

“If the protesters want to put our way of life at risk, then they should throw the book at them and that’s nice to see,” Perrottet said.

‘We want people to be able to protest, but to do it in a way that doesn’t upset people across New South Wales.

“My opinion is that those protests literally began to bring our city to a standstill. The clear message here, and it’s a clear lesson: everyone has the right to protest, but do it in a way that doesn’t upset people.’

The prime minister’s comments drew a mixed reaction from people on social media: former Bachelor host Osher Gunsberg warned that Perrottet was on a “slippery slope”.

“Protest is vital in a democracy, and considering what is at stake, the level of protest was probably not even close to an appropriate response. It’s a slippery slope from here sir,’ the TV presenter wrote on Twitter.

“Ignore the underlying issue here: current law allows fossil fuel companies to destroy Earth’s biosphere, the ultimate inconvenience for all species, including Sydney road users,” added journalist Quentin Dempster.

Human Rights Watch researcher Sophie McNeill called Perrottet’s comments “incredible.”

“Amazing Dom Perrottet finds it ‘nice’ that a peaceful climate activist has been given eight months in jail,” Ms McNeill wrote.

‘The nerve to claim that it’s people like Violet who put “our way of life at risk.” If that’s who Premier wants to jail, he’s going to have to start arresting fossil fuel executives.

Coco was one of four protesters, from the activist group Fireproof Australia, who blocked lanes on the Harbor Bridge in April.

The 31-year-old man climbed on the roof of the rented van and lit a flare while the other three protesters held banners and stuck to the road.

Coco pleaded guilty to seven counts and was fined $2,500, but is appealing her sentence and will face court in March 2023.

His harsh sentence comes after the New South Wales government introduced tough new laws increasing punishment for non-violent protesters following a series of climate change rallies earlier this year.

The measure, which is being challenged in the Supreme Court, could see nonviolent protesters jailed for up to two years and higher fines.

Perrottet made the comments about Coco during a news conference at Coogee Public School, where it launched a new curriculum for students across the state.

However, the prime minister did not have a distinctive part of his typical appearance: his usual transparent glasses.

Reporters questioned the Liberal leader’s ‘new look’, with Perrottet confessing that he did not have a pre-election makeover, but had accidentally reversed himself over his glasses.

Perrottet later took to Twitter to show off the crushed pair of glasses and admitted to reporters that he had gone to the optometrist to get a new pair.