Defendant Thomas Taptiklis took the stand today. Photo: RNZ / Mary Argue
A member of the Restore Passenger Rail protest group insists that hanging protest banners from an overbridge above a motorway was not dangerous.
The defence opened on Monday in Wellington District Court for four members of the group charged with endangering transport, for their actions during three protests in October 2022.
The prosecution argued the protesters created unreasonable risk for the people around them - Michael Apathy, Thomas Taptiklis, Te Wehi Ratana and Andrew Sutherland have pleaded not guilty.
Lawyer Christopher Stevenson KC said what happened was not disputed, but the jury would have to grapple with how and why it happened, and ask themselves whether the protest action was - as the prosecution argued - "patently unreasonable, in the circumstances".
He said in the months leading up to the protesters' actions there had been dire warnings from the United Nations and the UK government that suggested the world could become unliveable due to climate change, and that humanity was at risk.
In coming days the jury would hear from climate change experts - Victoria University's Professor James Renwick and Manchester University's Professor Kevin Anderson - about the climate crisis, its trajectory, and "how far off-track we are in limiting warming for our children, and their children", Stevenson said.
Entered into evidence on Monday were UN Secretary-General António Guterres' urgent calls to action that accompanied the 2022 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres' urgent calls for action on climate change were entered as evidence in a trial of members of the Restore Passenger Rail protest group. Photo: RNZ / Mary Argue
Defendant Thomas Taptiklis also took the stand and disputed the prosecution's claim that the protests were risky.
He said safety was paramount throughout, and as a rockclimbing expert he was confident every precaution was taken.
Briefings prior to protest action were almost solely dedicated to safety, with about "three minutes on how to make the banner look good", he said.
Taptiklis maintained people understood that climate action was important, only disagreed with Restore's methods of drawing attention to it.
"I've heard it a thousand times.... 'this isn't the right way to go about it'.
"I'd love to know what is, because I feel like I can hand on heart say I've tried everything that I can think of," he told the jury.
Taptiklis outlined how his climate advocacy had shifted and escalated since the mid-2000s - from encouraging individual action to lobbying politicians.
He said ultimately, climate change could not be solved by shorter showers, and action needed to happen at a global scale and on an industrial level - however, he said petitioning MPs had come to nothing.
Taptiklis said the Restore Passenger Rail group was advocating for the 'low-hanging' fruit and that restoring railway travel to 2000's level would significantly reduce the country's emissions.
He said it was only after a banner was hung across the southbound lane of the Johnsonville-Porirua Motorway reading: 'Michael Wood we need to talk', that the then-Transport Minister agreed to see them.
"It's unfortunate that it took that much to get a meeting with the minister, but it worked."
The trial is set down for three weeks.
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
