Midnight Oil frontman Peter Garrett has called comments made by NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet about the jailing of activist Violet Coco “disgraceful” and “fascistic”.
Climate protestor Deanna ‘Violet’ Coco was sentenced last Friday to 15 months in prison, with a non-parole period of eight months, for blocking a lane of traffic on the Sydney Harbour Bridge back in April. Coco is set to appeal the sentence, but will remain in custody until her hearing in March after being refused bail.
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When asked for his opinion on the sentence – the harshness of which has “alarmed” human rights advocates – Perrottet said it was “pleasing to see”.
“If protesters want to put our way of life at risk, then they should have the book thrown at them and that’s pleasing to see,” Perrottet said, as per The Guardian. “We want people to be able to protest but do it in a way that doesn’t inconvenience people right across NSW.”
Garrett responded to Perrottet’s comments on Twitter yesterday, labelling them “disgraceful, fascistic & ignorant beyond belief”.
Disgraceful, fascistic & ignorant beyond belief. ‘NSW premier describes jailing of climate activist Deanna ‘Violet’ Coco as ‘pleasing to see’ https://t.co/OVdeJ3SfuI
— Peter Garrett (@pgarrett) December 5, 2022
Midnight Oil’s activism is well-known, having ferociously advocated for environmental rights, nuclear disarmament, the rights of First Nations people, and workers’ rights since the beginning of their career. In 2020, the band was actually awarded the Sydney Peace Foundation’s gold medal for human rights.
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