Gifts of love and solidarity for Violet CoCo were placed under a Christmas tree here on December 11.
And for Queensland Premier Annastasia Palaszczuk, Mulgrave MP Curtis Pitt and New South Wales Premier Dominic Perrottet, lumps of coal for their unabashed support for coal and gas magnates while criminalising peaceful climate protest.
Santa Claus made a surprise appearance, saying: “Like Violet, I bring hope to children while heralding major traffic disruption."
“Kids used to ask me for toys,” Santa said, adding: “These days they ask for a planet that’s fit to live on.
“There are many more Violets in waiting. Your leaders want to lock them up as this climate crisis deepens, so their fossil fuel bosses can keep engorging themselves on their riches. And you don’t live as long as me without knowing that it’s only through protest and civil disobedience that so many basic rights have been won.
“So, this year in every child's stocking I'm giving a real gift of hope — a photo of Violet CoCo stopping traffic and a megaphone for taking to the streets together.”
Violet Coco will spend Christmas behind bars after she was sentenced last week to 15 months jail with an 8 month non-parole period under draconian new NSW laws targeted at non-violent climate protest.
The sentence has drawn international condemnation, including from the United Nations Special Rapporteur.
Similar anti-protest laws have recently been enacted in Queensland, Victoria and Tasmania.
Meanwhile, Pitt pressed for charges against nine elderly climate protesters who chanted “Stop coal, stop gas” inside Queensland parliament last week. The charges carry potential jail terms and have not been used since the days of Premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen.