The Australian Human Rights Law Center (HRLC) on Monday urged the Victorian government to reject a proposal to require protesters to obtain a police permit to protest, following the country's recent turn to anti-protest violence.
Chaos erupted in Melbourne on Saturday, with 24-hour protests by various groups and at times violent exchanges between protesters, leaving three police officers injured. Groups like HRLC have pointed out how protesters in Australia have recently faced laws that are inconsistent with international human rights law. In practice, the group notes, these laws act to discourage protests, even if they are not explicitly provided for. For example, in response to protests by climate change activists at Sydney Harbor in the New South Wales (NSW) region, legislation was passed making it a crime to interfere with “key facilities”. In Tasmania, disrupting a workplace could lead to a prison sentence under the Police and Crime Amendment (Workplace Protection) Bill 2022, following anti-logging demonstrations. Similarly, in Victoria, the Sustainable Forest Timber Amendment (Timber Harvest Safe Zones) Act 2022 makes interfering with timber operations an offense, punishable by imprisonment and/or fines.
HRLC quoted Senior Counsel David Meijer Canales as saying:[t]The right to protest is not given to us by the police or parliament; it is a fundamental right of all people in a healthy democracy. “Having to seek government permission to protest against a government is not only absurd but an affront to democracy,” states Article 20 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.[e]Everyone has the right to peaceful assembly and freedom of association. ”
In late 2023, the New South Wales Supreme Court ruled that part of a bill enacted in New South Wales to increase penalties for protesters was unconstitutional.
