The forests of the Northern Rivers were protected in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s by activism. The Terania Creek protest was a landmark environmental protest and was the first time citizens physically defended a rainforest by placing themselves in front of police and loggers. In 1982 following the Mt Nardi protests ‘the NSW Cabinet made their historic Rainforest Decision, creating or expanding the Nightcap, Border Ranges, Washpool, Dorrigo, New England, Werrikimbe, and Barrington Tops national parks, creating Mount Seaview and Mt Hyland nature reserves, and the Murray Scrub, Sandy Creek, and Cambridge Plateau flora reserves.’
Without protest and direct action many of these areas would have been logged, and lost, and would not be available to the public, the endangered species habitat would not have been preserved.
Yet the NSW coalition government joined forces with Labor to put in place draconian legislation that targets environmental activists in particular. This saw the jailing and sentencing of Violet Coco to 15 months of prison time for protesting on the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Cherish Kuehlmann was arrested in the middle of the night by NSW police for protesting rising costs of living, and long-time forest protester Susie Russell was singled out, charged and placed on restrictive bail conditions for being in a public forest area last month.
Protecting the right to protest
Today The Greens unveiled plans for legislative changes that will unravel the state’s anti-protest regime and protect the important right to protest in NSW.
Greens MP, environmental lawyer and long-time forest activist Sue Higginson has committed to repealing anti-protest laws brought in by the Liberal National Coalition since 2014. Anti-protest laws have created new offences such as aggravated trespass on a business property, dramatically increased police powers and resulted in unprecedented sentencing that is aimed at quashing the democratic right to protest and silencing dissent. The Government in lock step with the Labor opposition brought in the most recent tranche of anti-protest laws last year as climate group Blockade Australia ramped up protest activity in Sydney to raise awareness about the climate crisis. Under those laws non-violent protesters could be sentenced to imprisonment for up to 2 years and or fined $22,000 simply for blocking a road.
‘In the early 1990s I locked on to a bulldozer to stop the destruction of an old growth forest. That forest is now protected under the law. Back then I didn’t face the risk of serving prison time. In fact, I went on to become a lawyer and worked with communities to prevent the destruction of our environment and hold governments and corporations to account under the law,’ said Ms Higginson.
Protected Bentley
Adam Guise, who is running for the seat of Lismore said, ‘We have a long and proud history of protesting against unjust laws. We have protested to protect our ancient Gondwana rainforests, to give First Nations people and women the right to vote, uphold workplace rights, and change harsh drug prohibition laws.
‘Thousands of us engaged in non-violent civil disobedience in the Bentley Blockade and Gasfield Free campaign to stop the toxic coal seam gas invasion of our beautiful region. We know too well the important part disruption plays when engaging in civil disobedience. That is how social change is created.’
Erosion of rights
‘The deliberate erosion of our fundamental democratic right to protest that we have seen over the last decade is frankly alarming,’ said Ms Higginson.
‘I am here to reverse these laws as an MP. Protest is a critical mechanism to drive progress or prevent destructive policies from occuring in our environment and communities. There are so many important reforms throughout history that have only been possible because people have taken to the streets and the forests to draw attention to issues.
‘Non-violent direct action and protest has led to the protection of our world heritage forests and national parks, equal rights for women, some rights for First Nations people, minimum pay and conditions and has stopped the destruction of many places from development.’
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