Climate change protestor Julian Richard Bowron criticised for grandstanding larger issue in trial, fined $100

A climate change protestor has been criticised for using the justice system to “ventilate a larger issue and attract attention” after spending several hours defending his innocence of blocking a busy Bunbury intersection. Julian Richard Bowron appeared in Bunbury Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday, where he was found guilty of unreasonably obstructing or preventing the free passage on a path or carriageway and fined $100. The court was told police were called to the roundabout at the Victoria Street and Clifton Street intersection on the morning of November 1 last year, where they found Bowron seated on a deckchair in the middle of the southbound lane on Victoria Street holding a cardboard sign as a form of protest. Police prosecutor Sergeant Troy Gildersleeve said motorists were unable to pass through the southbound lane on Victoria Street. During the trial, First Class Constable Corrick Worrell said traffic on Victoria Street, the main thoroughfare in the Bunbury CBD, was “quite busy” and he had to park his police vehicle at a different intersection due to traffic in the area being banked up. Body camera footage that was played for the court showed Bowron seated in his deckchair shaking his head when Const. Worrell asked him to move his protest to the grassed area outside Federal MP Nola Marino’s office. During their short conversation before Bowron’s arrest, Const. Worrell also explained Bowron had to have a permit to be able to block a road, which Bowron did not obtain. Bowron also gave evidence during the short trial, raising a defence of emergency and submitting that he felt compelled to take action to bring attention to the climate change emergency “as an Australian citizen and a privileged member of the wider international community”. “To do nothing is to be complicit,” he said. “I had to do something, I did not have a choice. “I regret that my actions caused inconvenience to motorists but I felt it was reasonable to bring attention to the dire situation.” Bowron also told the court he had engaged in other forms of protest such as signing petitions and taking part in protest marches but felt that “none of that made any difference” and “no one was listening”. In cross-examination, Bowron believed his protest “was effective” despite conceding that few people would have been able to read his signs due to his location and not having direct proof of its impact. However, Bowron admitted driving his car to the location of the protest, explaining that “we all contribute to emissions” and “it’s complicated”. In handing down the verdict and penalty, magistrate Joanne Andretich criticised Bowron for taking the matter to trial as a form of grandstanding at a cost to the community as a whole. “You have involved the justice system and police to ventilate a larger issue that affects the community at large and to attract attention and create news,” she said. “That is not really the approach you should be taking.” Along with the $100 fine, Bowron was also ordered to pay more than $250 in court costs.