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Welcome to the Protest Rights Wrap, a bi-monthly overview of the protest rights landscape in Australia.
Communities nationwide are engaging in inspiring protest action, which is too often met with repression. Simultaneously, more and more civil rights organisations are speaking up for the right to protest, with over 120 community organisations endorsing the Declaration of Our Right to Protest – a framework outlining the standards governments must uphold to protect protest.
So what's happening around the country in the protest rights space?
A government-initiated review into the 2022 anti-protest laws is currently underway. The laws – which were ruled partially unconstitutional by the NSW Supreme Court – include huge fines of up to $22,000 for obstructing a major road, tunnel, bridge, or a railway station or port, and even threaten imprisonment for up to 2-years. After receiving pressure from civil society groups including ADN for public consultation to be included in the process, the NSW government is now accepting community submissions to the review.
ADN has created a submission guide for individuals and we invite you to share your thoughts on the laws, even if you don’t live in NSW. If you are part of a NSW organisation, please encourage them to make a submission to the review using our organisational submission guide.
In other news, Legal Observers NSW has published a report into the misuse of the protest permit system by NSW Police. The report casts doubt on the NSW government’s claims that the permit system adequately protects the right to protest, detailing several case studies of NSW Police misrepresenting and misusing the permit system to constrain protest.
The anti-protest consensus in NSW politics was on display recently when Premier Chris Minns demoted Labor MLC Anthony D’Adam from his position as Parliamentary Secretary. Minns’ decision came about after D’Adam criticised police for charging several peaceful protestors with assault. The protest in question was a ‘dye-in’, where a few drops of food colouring accidentally splashed on police officers.
Melbourne Activist Legal Support has documented several incidences of excessive police use of force against protestors at a Boeing factory protest on 15 April. Witnesses observed police using pain compliance holds and pressure point tactics on protestors who were not resisting arrest, with one instance of 15 police violently taking one protester to the ground.
The Victorian Parliament has meanwhile closed its public gallery to visitors following several protests taking place in the gallery.
A forest activist charged under Tasmania’s 2022 anti-protest laws received a sentence of 4 months’ imprisonment. Having already spent 70 days in jail prior to being sentenced, Ali Alishah was subsequently released on May 17.
May 31 will mark the one-year anniversary of new anti-protest laws being introduced in South Australia that increased the penalty for obstructing a public place from a $750 fine to a staggering $50,000 fine or 3 months imprisonment. These are the toughest anti-protest fines in the country.
ADN is inviting individuals and organisations in SA to sign an open letter calling on the SA Parliament to repeal the laws. The letter will be delivered to all SA MPs on May 31, and we invite you to add your voice and share the sign-on with others before then.
Grassroots groups, human rights organisations and unions gathered on May 16 to rally against the laws, leading a demonstration through Rundle Mall.
Image: Community members rally in Adelaide on May 16 2024 calling for the repeal of the anti-protest laws. Image credit Gemma Weedall
WA Senator Dorinda Cox was pushed into the crowd by police mid-speech at a peaceful pro-Palestine protest in Perth. WA Police ordered the group of protestors to move on after they gathered near Crown Casino to protest a speech by Anthony Albanese.
Two Woodside activists are alleging WA Premier Roger Cook defamed them by falsely claiming during a press conference they intimidated and threatened the children of the chief executive and chair of Woodside Energy.
Last week, the NT Parliament rushed through laws that grant the police commissioner authority to declare snap, three-day curfews in instances of ‘public disorder’. The curfews can be extended up to 10 days with the police minister’s approval.
Laws rushed through parliament that centralise power without community consultation are rarely good for our democracy. We know that when governments get the power to impose blanket restrictions on freedom of assembly, they can and do use this power to constrain civil liberties like the right to protest. For example, similar legislation in NSW has been used to threaten pro-Palestinian marches with a lockdown of Sydney CBD and extraordinary police search powers.
These new laws threaten the NT community's right to assembly and have faced criticism from the North Australia Aboriginal Justice Agency and the NT Children’s Commissioner.
Encampments calling on universities to divest from weapons manufacturers and cut ties with Israel are currently underway at 11 campuses around Australia. Monash University and University of Melbourne have erected notices banning members of the public who intend to participate in protest activity from their campuses. Several universities have also threatened to initiate disciplinary proceedings against students for actions like chalking slogans on footpaths and using specific protest chants.
Image: Monash University and Melbourne University notices banning members of the public who intend to engage in protest from University grounds.
ADN coordinated an open letter, signed by 8 other human rights and legal organisations, calling on university administrators to respect the right to public assembly and refrain from inappropriate suspensions of students, penalties on protestors or police intervention. At the time of publishing, students at Australia National University have been given notice that they must disband their protest camp or face police action. ADN have written to the Vice Chancellor to remind the university of their responsibility to protect the right to assembly.
It’s been a significant two months for protest rights, with communities mobilising across the country to exercise and protect our right to protest.
Join them by taking 5 minutes to make your submission to the NSW anti-protest laws review before 1 June.
If you’re in South Australia, sign the open letter to MPs calling for the 2023 anti-protest laws to be repealed.
And wherever you are, please share this Protest Rights Wrap with anyone who you think may be interested.