The right to protest is a test of a country’s democracy. And the right to protest means very little if it doesn’t include the right to disrupt. It is the right to peaceful assembly. We don’t have that right enshrined explicitly in our Constitution. But it is implied through our freedom of political communication. Governments are expressly forbidden from introducing any laws which might impede a person’s right to express themselves or protest. Yet state governments around the country have introduced anti-protest laws. It’s both undemocratic AND unconstitutional.
Peaceful protest has been critical in how we advance reforms. But across Australia protesting has been criminalised through anti-protest laws. Over the past two decades, 49 laws have been introduced across federal, state and territory parliaments. And the state with the most pokies also has the most anti-protest laws. Yep, NSW. Oh, and it was brought in by a Labor government. The same party who historically was called ‘the party of unions’. The unions who represented a workforce who had many of their issues raised and resolved through … yep, protest.
On Friday we saw the consequence of police emboldened by these draconian anti-protest laws. Former Greens candidate for Grayndler, Hannah Thomas was hospitalised after severe injuries sustained while being arrested at what is a weekly peaceful Friday morning protest in Sydney’s South West at a facility that allegedly supplies components used in the manufacture of F-35 jets flown by the IDF. Hannah could lose her eye. I know Hannah. She is smart. She is principled. She is committed to peace and non-violence. It was why she was there in the first place. She is about 45 kilos. The excessive force used to arrest her has meant she may lose her eye. Yet she was charged for allegedly ‘hindering or resisting a police officer’ and will have to attend court in August. Worried? You should be.
The Human Rights Law Centre says that the anti-protest laws in NSW are ‘anti-democatic, disproportionate and violate human rights law, in particular the freedom of expression and peaceful assembly’. The current laws were rushed through in just 30 hours in April 2022. Penalties for peaceful assembly can be up to two years in jail and a $22,000 fine. It’s clear that this is not about order, it’s about social control. It’s a heavy-handed deterrent to citizens who protest against climate action, environmental destruction, or are anti-war. It’s because protest works. It makes governments uncomfortable. It calls them out. It makes them accountable.
Without the right to protest, we don’t have a democracy. Protesting is how we make change. We start a debate. We break through media silence. We make government listen. Remember the Franklin Dam? It became a critical federal election issue, it went to the High Court where the Franklin River was given world heritage status so the Tasmanian government had to abandon their project. Protest saved a river. It changed a government. It started a political party.
Protest provides a voice for minority groups – those who are silenced by the tyranny of the majority. Without protest women and First Nations people would not have the vote. Without protest LBGTQI+ communities wouldn’t have marriage equality. We wouldn’t have eight-hour workdays or weekends. We wouldn’t have ended rainforest logging in Nightcap National Park and had Gondwana rainforests recognised with a world heritage listing. Without protest, Bentley and surrounds would be totally fracked. And closer to home, the last 1% of coastal heathland in the Byron Shire, Brunswick Head’s wallum heathland would be an upmarket housing development. Protest is OUR voice.
And not being able to protest, isn’t just anti-democratic, ‘the forcible suppression of opposition’ is the beginning of fascism.
It’s time to protest our right to protest.
Mandy Nolan’s Soapbox column has appeared in The Echo for almost 23 years. The personal and the political often meet here; she’s also been the Greens federal candidate since before the last two federal elections. The Echo’s coverage of political issues will remain as comprehensive and fair as it has ever been, outside this opinion column which, as always, contains Mandy’s personal opinions only.
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
