Around 20 mothers participated in a "nurse-in" with their babies and children at the office of the Department of the Premier and Cabinet in Newcastle on Wednesday morning, protesting inaction on climate change.
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The group of parents, and at least one family whose home had been destroyed in recent bushfires, had several demands including increased funding for fire services as well as the rejection of all new fossil fuel projects in NSW.
The group sat in the entrance hall of the Honeysuckle office from 10am and said they left voluntarily before midday. Police arrived at the office at 11am.
Newcastle City Police District Inspector Shane Buggy said at the time of police attendance a number of protesters had entered the office building while others had been locked outside.
"The group left at their volition without any incident, it was a peaceful protest from the police perspective," he said.
The inspector encouraged others considering planning protests to contact police for advice beforehand.
Organiser Erin Killion, 40, of Newcastle, said she arranged the protest out of concern for the future of her six-week-old daughter Susie-Jean and other children worldwide.
"I've been following climate change as an issue for a while now but the penny dropped [about] how serious it was when I was pregnant with her," Ms Killion said.
"We decided to sit in here at the office of the Premier and Cabinet because Gladys Berejiklian and her government seem gung-ho to keep approving fossil fuel projects."
Ms Killion said the action was one of several events organised by Australian Parents for Climate Action marking the United Nations' Universal Children's Day, which falls on November 20.
"The UN rights of the child convention protects ... a fundamental obligation to protect children, including their safety, health and basic fundamental needs like water and food," she said. "All these things we see threatened by climate change, not as a theoretical thing in the future. We're seeing children's homes burnt down in front of our faces."
The protesters were calling for the nation to move to 100 per cent renewable energy sources by 2030 and for no new fossil fuel projects to go ahead in NSW, as well as increased funding for fire services.
"And, particularly throughout the Hunter, for the government to fund a just transition for coal workers," Ms Killion said.
Fiona Lee, whose home was destroyed by bushfires on November 8 in the Mid-North Coast town of Warrawillah, near Bobin, attended the demonstration with her two-year-old daughter Pepper.
The family is currently staying in Newcastle.
Ms Lee said she was calling for better resourcing for the Rural Fire Service.
"Just better resourcing to protect kids from the impacts of climate change, including fires," she said.
A spokesperson for the NSW government said the Department of Premier and Cabinet was aware of a "peaceful protest" in its Newcastle office on Wednesday.
"The NSW government is acting on the impacts of climate change with its NSW Climate Change Policy Framework, which commits NSW to achieving net-zero emissions by 2050 and helping NSW to become more resilient to a changing climate," the spokesperson said.
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