Brad Homewood, a climate activist was found guilty and fined $5,000 in the Magistrates' Court of Victoria by Magistrate Andrew Halse, after protesting for hours at the Exxon Mobil’s refuelling facility.  

Homewood, in relation to him blocking the exit gate of Exxon Mobil's facility in Spotswood and protesting, was charged with four offences. As a defense, Homewood argued that the protest was necessary, because there was a sudden or extraordinary emergency of the climate crisis under Crimes Act 1958 (Victoria) §322R. §322R requires that (i) Homewood reasonably believed that circumstances of sudden or extraordinary emergency exist; (ii) Homewood reasonably believed that the protest was the only reasonable way to deal with the emergency; and (iii) the protest is a reasonable response to the emergency of the climate crisis. To support his case, Homewood submitted expert reports on the severity of global heating and the history of civil disobedience being used to affect political change. However, Magistrate Halse found the reports inadmissible and ruled in favor of the prosecutor. 

According to a fundraiser launched by Homewood, Homewood is planning to appeal the decision in the Supreme Court of Victoria.

R v. Homewood

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An aim to achieve a quantifiable outcome within a given time-frame, set by an institution such as a national government.

Policy instruments are techniques or tools used by governing authorities to promote certain policies in order to achieve predetermined goals. Put simply, instruments are how a government tries to achieve its goals, with this taxonomy being focused on national policy instruments.

Risk is the potential for adverse consequences resulting from the dynamic interplay between (climate-related) hazards, exposure, and vulnerability of affected human or ecological systems.

Groups  of people who are adversely affected by climate change or the response to it

A set of principles, processes, and practices that build economic and political power to shift from an extractive economy to a regenerative economy.

Justice is the ethical and political framework that addresses fairness, including issues of responsibility, rights, and structural inequity.

Renewable energy means all forms of energy produced from renewable sources in a sustainable manner.

Fossil fuel is a generic term for non-renewable energy sources such as coal, fossil gas, and oil (including crude oil, and petroleum products), that can be used for electricity and heat generation. Fossil fuels are hydrocarbons formed from pressurised and heated organic material buried over millions of years.

Molecules in the atmosphere that play a key role in the greenhouse effect by trapping heat radiating from Earth’s surface.

Area of the economy in which actors engage in identical or related activities.

In human systems, the process of adjustment to actual or expected climate change and its effects, in order to moderate harm, increase resilience or exploit beneficial opportunities. In natural systems, the process of adjustment to actual climate change and its effects; human intervention may facilitate adjustment to expected climate change and its effects.

The management and allocation of funds, assets and investments to meet various objectives