Alan Glover - actor, comedian, volunteer firefighter and activist - was unhappy with his sentencing outcome at the Downing Centre court in Sydney on Tuesday.
Glover was given an 18-month good behaviour bond and he has to pay a $3000 fine for blocking a bridge or tunnel. He says he plans to appeal.
Glover's crime - blocking the Sydney Harbour Bridge - was an act of civil disobedience. He and three others from activist group Fireproof Australia blocked the eastern most lane of the Sydney Harbour Bridge on April 13, 2022, at 8:30am. Glover and activist Deanna "Violet" Coco set off flares on top of a truck, while other activists glued their hands to the bridge. They livestreamed the event on social media.
Glover was convicted under Section 144G(1)(b) Roads Act 1993 (NSW) ie. seriously disrupting or obstructing vehicles or pedestrians attempting to use the bridge, tunnel or road.
This charge carries a maximum penalty of 2 years or a $22,000 fine.
"I said on Facebook I was sorry to be doing it and I was," Glover says. "I didn't want to block people's route. I have been an activist for all my adult life - marching, writing letters, starting petitions, joining, and phoning politicians. I've done everything legally, and not getting any action.
"The climate emergency is upon us, and we need immediate drastic changes to the way we conduct ourselves on the planet. Fireproof Australia are not about sitting quietly; they're about getting attention and putting it in people's faces."
Fireproof Australia is a politically unaffiliated group, an offset of the larger international activist group Extinction Rebellion.
Glover says he got involved in the movement after fighting fires in Laguna and Wollombi in 2019-2020, and becoming concerned. Glover was a deputy captain and crew leader of the local Rural Fire Service in the Wollombi area.
"I had been a firefighter for 40 years at that time and had never seen anything like that, nobody had, in living memory," he says. "The biggest, worst fires right down the east coast of Australia."
While Glover was fighting fires, his own home in Wollombi was threatened by fires in three different directions. His wife and friends stayed home and cared for the house.
"I've known about climate change for decades," he says. "It's nothing new. If only governments had led as they're supposed to do to mitigate the dangers of climate change decades ago, we wouldn't be in that situation. Now it's out of control and they're still not doing anything."
Fireproof Australia have three specific demands to deal with the consequences of climate change.
The organisation wants a self-sufficient, Australian-based and owned aerial firefighting fleet. Because fire seasons in the northern hemisphere are lasting longer, aerial resources from countries in that region are less likely to be available when Australia needs them.
Fireproof Australia also wants to "smoke proof" schools, aged care facilities and disability facilities by installing air filtration systems to protect the most vulnerable people from the effects of bushfire smoke.
"Forty-five people died as a direct result of smoke inhalation [during the recent fires][," Glover says. "You need HEPA filters to block out the particulates. It makes me worried about how much smoke I've breathed in, for all the volunteers."
The third thing Fireproof Australia wants is the re-homing of fire and flood victims.
"In 2023 the people who I know, particularly on the South Coast of NSW who have been burnt out in 2019/ 2020, two years later they are still without a home, living in sheds or caravans, waiting on government support," Glover says.
"The same in the Northern Rivers, lots of my friends were affected by the floods, several of my friends lost their homes."
Glover plans to appeal his verdict, as he doesn't want a criminal conviction on his record.
In retrospect he regrets his actions. He's learnt that he can get the message across without breaking the law.
"The climate emergency is upon us and we need response from the Perrottet Government," Glover says.
Glover was required to notify the RFS of his actions and was stood down. That means he can't attend the brigade, nor wear the uniform, nor respond to fires. Because he's been convicted, he may be removed from the membership.
"May is the active word. They don't have to do it," Glover says. "I am hoping that they don't punish the community by removing an active and experienced firefighter. Punish me by all means, but why punish the community?"
Glover is fund-raising to pay his fines and his barristers. He says any funding raised beyond those costs will go to the Environmental Defenders Office.
