The Enclosed Lands, Crimes and Law Enforcement Amendment (Interference) Bill 2016 is part of the NSW government's push to ensure that the right to peaceful protest is balanced with the need to ensure public safety, the safety of workers, the protection of communities and lawful business activity.

Resources minister Anthony Roberts said the reforms would enable police to take a more proactive approach to managing and prosecuting illegal activity, which he said were tying up police resources.

"The NSW government makes clear its support for the right to legal protests conducted in accordance with the Summary Offences Act 1988," Roberts said.

"However, unlawful activities put the safety of protesters and workers at risk and are costly for businesses and the public.

"Communities also suffer, with the deployment of Police resources reducing the capacity to respond to critical incidents."

The law will update a law that will extend the meaning of "mine" to include petroleum workplaces, in connection with the existing indictable offence of intentionally or recklessly interfering with a mine under the Crimes Act 1900.

The Baird government's proposed new laws will hike maximum fines for illegal entry to mining and CSG sites tenfold, from $550 to $5500, and give police greater search, seizure and move-on powers.

Sabotage

Equipment sabotage at nine natural gas worksites near Narrabri overnight highlights the need for tougher laws for trespassers and those who damage property, Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association CEO Dr Malcolm Roberts said this morning.

At the fenced Santos sites, more than $75,000 worth of equipment - including solar panels, batteries, solar regulators and security cameras - was either damaged or stolen.

Of greater concern was the tampering and removal of items at gas well-heads putting personal safety at risk and creating potential for damage to the surrounding environment.

"Illegal acts that place health, safety and the environment at risk are deplorable," Dr Roberts said.

"We respect the rights of people to peacefully protest but there is no justification for trespassing, vandalising equipment and harassing people for doing their jobs.

Dr Roberts urged the NSW Parliament to support proposed tougher penalties that protect workers and communities from illegal and unsafe protests.

"Protestors have nothing to fear from proposed new penalties if they abide by the law," he said.

Response

While groups such as APPEA and the the Minerals Council of Australia have welcomed the proposed laws, the targets, which include landholders affected by CSG developments and coal mine expansions, say they go too far.

Dr Roberts welcomed proposed changes to the law he said would give police "adequate powers to respond to illegal protests on private land".

"The safety of workers and land owners should not be put at risk by activists seeking media attention.

"Trespassing on private land, vandalising equipment and harassing people doing their jobs may be tactics promoted by some activist groups, but there is no justification for breaking the law.

"Unfortunately we have seen reckless activity from a small number of protestors.

"Families who support gas production on their land have been threatened, equipment has been sabotaged, workers have been prevented from getting to their jobs and contractors have been followed home and harassed.

"Such activity puts people's safety at risk, is costly for business and diverts valuable police resources away from where they're needed most."

Protests

CSG has often been at the forefront of the NSW protest movement, notably the Bentley blockade that eventually saw Metgasco chased out of Casino, and recent protests at Santos' water treatment plant in the Pilliga state forest, where NSW police recently pepper-sprayed a grandmother, one of the Knitting Nannas, who was chained to machinery.

NSW Greens have called the laws "draconian", and criticised Roberts for labelling farmers and others protecting land and water from CSG as "eco-fascists" this week.

"Many of those taking direct action against coal seam gas projects are farmers who feel they must act to protect the land and water from being poisoned or destroyed. They are Australian patriots, not ‘eco-fascists'," Greens MP Jeremy Buckingham said.

"I've sat next to a 64-year-old farmer with a lock around his neck and the gates of Santos' project out of concern for water resources and his family's farming future.

"The Baird government is showing its true colours by siding big mining interests against patriotic Australians seeking to protect land, water and communities."

He accused Premier Mike Baird of pandering to his political donors, such as Santos, which made $170,000 in political donations last year, and his former chief of staff, Stephen Galilee, who now runs the NSW Minerals Council.

The NSW Minerals Council praised the proposed laws as a "measured and responsible" approach because protesters had interfered with heavy equipment, blocked or sabotaged gates, tampered with explosive charges and rammed a security vehicle using violent and illegal activities put protesters, mine workers, and emergency service personnel at risk.

"When big mining companies like Santos make political donations to the tune of nearly $170,000 it raises the serious question of what type of influence or outcomes they're expecting to buy," Lock the Gate Alliance spokesperson Phil Laird said.

Defiance

Greens Police spokesperson David Shoebridge said the proposed laws were part of a pattern from the coalition of evermore aggressive policing and constantly expanding police powers to crack down on civil liberties

"These expanded police powers go well beyond coal seam gas protests and will extend across the state to clamp down on protests as diverse as WestConnex, recreational hunting and forestry," he said.

"I wonder if Baird even notices the irony when his right wing government proposes massive increases in police powers and then describes democratic protestors as ‘fascists'?"

Greens will be voting against the changes.

Lock The Gates, and farmers around Narrabri say they have taken part in peaceful protest against Santos' CSG operations, and that higher fines will simply make people even more angry.

Farmers say they have been forced into protesting because a perceived risk to the Great Artesian Basin from CSG and coal mines such as Shenhua's proposed and highly controversial Watermark mine, despite multiple reports that have concluded that various developments can be safely undertaken.