By Vanessa Walker and Patricia Karvelas
AustralianApril 9, 2003
The decoy was in place. The marine radios were buzzing and the boats, secreted in the small bays and channels that line Sydney Harbour, were ready to pounce. As HMAS Sydney glided past, just 10 minutes after being waved off by the Prime Minister and with its crew still standing to attention on the frigate's decks, Greenpeace's operation swung into action.
Three weeks to the day after protesters scaled the Sydney Opera House to paint "No war" on its sails, Australia was about to experience its second serious breach of national security in the name of political dissent.
Five inflatables and two jet boats sped out of the adjacent coves, covering the 400m to the frigate so quickly that the four police launches cruising alongside had no time to close the gaps. Pulling close to the bow of the 138m-long Sydney, 30-year-old Lismore resident Mikey Rosato used a pole with a hook at the end, which he attached to a D-ring on the ship to hoist himself halfway up its length and attach a banner to the ship.
For close to an hour, the frigate, which was carrying enough weaponry to repel air, surface and submarine attacks, carried a large "No War" banner on its bow as it headed out of the harbour for a 5½-month deployment in the Persian Gulf. At the stern of the ship, 25-year-old Sarah Roberts was hanging by the same method. But the humiliation was not complete. One of three land-based Greenpeace co-ordinators radioed HMAS Sydney and advised the crew two divers were directly in the frigate's path. One of the divers was ex-army, and other ex-Australian Defence Force personnel were instrumental in the success of the operation.
The Greenpeace plan had been in place since Defence Minister Robert Hill announced HMAS Sydney's departure a week ago. Greenpeace HQ immediately gathered what it described as 80 of its best and most highly trained operatives to stage an action that would embarrass the Government. They met last week to construct an operation, which they gave a trial run on Monday, that would either delay or halt the frigate's departure. More than an hour after it departed Garden Island, farewelled to the tune of a navy band, the Governor-General and families of its 230-strong crew, HMAS Sydney was forced to a stop.
Further away in the harbour, Greenpeace had strung a rope from buoys across the western channel as a symbolic way to stop its advance, leaving the eastern side open for safety reasons. NSW water police, who had committed two of its seven launches to deal with a decoy – Greens MP Ian Cohen paddling to the frigate on a surfboard – were left gasping. "They attacked from all those small bays, Middle Harbour, Chowder Bay and Taylor Bay," marine area commander Grahame Welsh said. Deputy Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione said: "Today's tactics were unusual. They haven't been used by Greenpeace prior to today."
Commander Welsh painted a picture of chaos and violence perpetrated by what he believed to be 15 kayaks, six inflatables, two yachts and a number of high-speed Greenpeace runabouts. The drama left the NSW police – which claims to be already on heightened alert – perplexed about the change in Greenpeace tactics, despite acknowledging they had advance intelligence about the likelihood of a water-based protest.
Greenpeace co-ordinator Steve Campbell said the idea was always to stop the ship. "Given the skills base we have in these missions, it's probably very difficult for security forces to stop us doing what we are doing," he said.
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