It's Anastasia here with the latest 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 people are speaking up for the right to protest, with over 140 community organisations and thousands of individuals endorsing the Declaration of Our Right to Protest.
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On 3 July, we marked the first National Day of Protest Rights with an event hosted by Senator David Pocock at Australian Parliament House. Along with our partners in this campaign, we launched three tools for protest advocacy:
Power of Protest graphic stories series by community activists created by Amnesty International Australia
The Protest in Peril report on the last twenty years of protest restrictions in Australia by Human Rights Law Centre
The Declaration of Our Right to Protest – our collection of standards that all government agencies should uphold. This was the first time we’ve presented the Declaration to Federal parliamentarians.
Twenty community organisations and many individuals joined the social media conversation about why we need to #ProtectProtest. Look through the hashtag on X or on Instagram for inspiring stories of why protest matters from organisations like the Australian Council of Social Service, Community Legal Centres Australia, and The Australia Institute. Senator Lidia Thorpe also acknowledged the National Day of Protest Rights in the Senate.
Celebrating the National Day of Protest Rights: Hassan Nasir Mirbahar from ADN, Peter Murphy from the first Mardi Gras, Aunty Matilda House from the original Aboriginal Tent Embassy, Jay Moran, Sara Abdelmawgoud and Tahlia Nesfield from Amnesty, and Anastasia Radievska from ADN.
Celebration of the right to protest is particularly important at a time when protest continues to be demonised in public discourse. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese recently suggested that protests outside electorate offices could escalate to the political violence recently seen in the US with the attempted assassination of Donald Trump, stating that “actions outside electorate offices… need to be called out unequivocally and opposed”. Last week, Albanese’s electorate office in Sydney issued a notice to protesters who had maintained a peaceful picket outside since February to leave the immediate vicinity of the office, with NSW Police threatening to issue move on orders if protesters did not clear the area and a constituent arrested for trespass. I spoke with The Guardian on this issue:
A protest rights campaigner for Australian Democracy Network, Anastasia Radievska, said protests outside the offices of elected members was “an important form of expression in a democracy”.
“The peaceful picket at Prime Minister Albanese’s office has been a gathering place for families and community members practising their democratic participation,” Radievska said.
Internationally, the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association is writing a thematic report on stigmatising narratives and implications for their exercise of these rights. We put in a joint submission with Human Rights Law Centre analysing how protest in Australia has been stigmatised by governments, police and media over the past several years.
One climate protester was given a 3 month jail sentence after being charged under NSW’s anti-protest laws for an action at the Newcastle coal port. This marked the first time a protester was sentenced to imprisonment under the 2022 laws, which are currently under legislative review. A second protester who suspended himself above a railway truck to stop work received a 1 month jail sentence.
Australian Democracy Network was joined by Community Legal Centres Australia, Human Rights Law Centre, Inner City Legal Centre and Amnesty International Australia in condemning the sentence. I also spoke to The Guardian about the increasing use of punitive bail conditions to restrict protesters’ capacity to engage in protest before they’re even found guilty of an offence.
A new Campus Access Policy at the University of Sydney has introduced a requirement of 72 hours notice for protests on campus and banned the use of protest implements such as megaphones without university approval. Along with four other human rights organisations we have written to Vice Chancellor Mark Scott expressing concern about the non-compliance of these rules with international protest rights standards and calling for the Policy to be repealed.
Victoria Police have used pepper spray on protesters twice since June, with young children caught up in a pepper spraying of the crowd at the weekly Palestine protest march in Melbourne. Protesters were also pepper sprayed and 6 arrested at a weapons manufacturer picket in Thomastown.
Protesters facing pepper spray in Melbourne - photo by Free Palestine Coalition Naarm
New restrictions have been imposed by Victoria Police on the use of a sound truck at the weekly Free Palestine marches. The sound truck driver has been fined and Deaf attendees no longer have access to the interpreter who would stand on the sound truck stage, leaving them unable to fully participate in the rallies. Melbourne Activist Legal Support has also reported discriminatory policing, excessive use of force and obstruction of legal observers in relation to a pro-Palestine counter-rally.
The University of Melbourne has been referred to the Victorian Information Commissioner for its use of CCTV surveillance to bring disciplinary proceedings against students who participated in an encampment earlier this year. The University previously claimed that the footage could not identify individuals.
Tasmania’s state forestry company has admittedit invalidly banned 19 protesters from public forests earlier this year and has offered to cover associated legal costs. Sustainable Timber Tasmania stated that a technical error in the notices had made them invalid, but has reserved the power to ban individuals from public forests and continued issuing prohibition notices.
A protester who unfurled a banner in the public gallery of Queensland Parliament has been fined $5,000 under ‘disturbing the legislature’ laws. The laws which carry a 3 year maximum sentence haven’t been used since the Bjelke-Petersen era. Thirteen more protesters involved in the Parliament action will face court in October.
The Australian Federal Police have been accused of using ‘unnecessary’ force against protesters at an action on the Parliament House lawns. A protester stated that an AFP officer had a hand on her neck and her finger was twisted during the incident.
Four protesters arrested after unfurling a banner from the Parliament House roof have been issued 24 month banning notices from Parliament House and charged with trespass.
Advocates celebrate the National Day of Protest Rights at Parliament House
These examples demonstrate the escalating crackdown on peaceful protest and show the need for a collective effort to protect this vital civil right. In the face of this it was inspiring to see so many of you come together for the National Day of Protest Rights.
It’s also why it’s critical to continue to grow this movement - you can help by sharing the Declaration of our Right to Protest on your social media or with friends, and please share this Protest Rights Wrap with anyone who you think may be interested.