"These young Extinction Rebellion people, I have no relationship with them," Mr Pass said. "I'm just a dad ... I'm highly intelligent, highly educated." Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk on Wednesday labelled Mr Pass's protest "absolutely ridiculous". "We heard this morning disturbing news, I believe, about a man who actually locked himself onto a railway track," she said. "This is absolutely ridiculous, it is not only putting his life at risk, it is putting the train driver’s life at risk and it is a huge disruption to our city train system."

Mr Pass said he was moved to stage his protest out of frustration at the lack of political action on the climate situation in Queensland and globally, as bushfires burned through ancient rainforest in Lamington National Park and around south-east Queensland. "Following the appropriate procedures laid down for you as a citizen, they are designed for you to fail," he said. "Media, politics and the law ... these mechanisms are no longer functioning." A police officer speaks with Mr Pass during his one-man protest at Bowen Hills on Wednesday. Mr Pass said his only choice was "directly confronting society" with the reality of climate change, as the Extinction Rebellion protesters blockading Brisbane all week were trying to do. "You have to confront people to knock them out of their malaise," he said. "Asking politely hasn't worked."

Mr Pass was charged with one count each of endangering the safety of persons travelling by railway, contravene direction or requirement, and initiation of particular explosives in public place prohibited (flare). He will appear in Brisbane Magistrates Court at the end of the month. Another climate activist who described herself as a "regional Queensland mum" also detailed her decision to join the activists this week. Toowoomba resident Alison Fearnley wrote in a public post on social media that she was arrested on Monday afternoon after gluing herself to the middle of a pedestrian crossing in Brisbane's CBD. "I have been a law-abiding citizen all my life, and before this year I had never been to a protest. I grew up on a small cattle farm. I am a Justice of the Peace. I have a job, a two-year-old daughter, a loving husband and a mortgage," she wrote.

"However, since learning about last year’s United Nations IPCC [Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change] report that outlined the dire situation the earth is in, I have come to the realisation that without urgent action on the climate crisis, I will lose many of the things that I love, and my daughter’s future could be filled with extreme hardship. "That report said we are at high risk of heating the world so much that it will make the planet uninhabitable for most humans. "It also said that we need to halve carbon emissions in the next 10 years and completely decarbonise our economy by 2050, when my daughter is my age." Ms Fearnley described her anger and frustration as political leaders continued with "business as usual". She said she wrote letters and met with politicians but got nowhere. "The CSIRO says if things don’t turn around, by 2050 Toowoomba will be, on average, 4.6 degrees hotter, meaning no true winter and five straight months of the year over 30 degrees," she said.

"Our community is already struggling through the worst drought in living memory, extreme water shortages and unprecedented bushfires happening at the beginning of spring. "Further temperature rises will destroy the town that I love and chose to raise my family in."