Mike Baird's anti-protest laws risk turning NSW into Bjelke-Petersen's Queensland
Date
March 15, 2016
Sydney Morning Herald
Freedom of speech and freedom of association are cornerstones of democracy.
Any attack on them, such as the Baird government's proposed protest laws, is an attack on our democracy and civil society.
Peaceful protests have made the world a better place. Protest helped end slavery and child labour, delivered workers rights and equal rights, delivered better air and water quality and protection of the planet's most iconic landscapes.
In Australia protests saved the Great Barrier Reef, the Daintree Rainforest, Kakadu, the Tasmanian Wilderness, Fraser Island and the many great national parks that have paved the way for our multi-billion dollar tourism industry. The Great Barrier Reef tourism industry alone is worth $6 billion and supports 60,000 jobs.
In Mike Baird's world the Great Barrier Reef would be dotted with oil rigs and tankers, the Franklin River would be dammed, the Daintree Rainforest would have been wiped out, and Fraser Island would have disappeared from sand mining.
The people who fought to save these places are now seen as national heroes but Mike Baird wants to stop their kind in their tracks. He wants to stop people such as Wallaby great David Pocock from protesting about mining and trying to protect farmland.
In Baird's world the iconic Australian bushland of the Pilliga, our largest inland forest, would be dotted with 850 coal seam gas wells. Beyond that the industry would expand across our best farming country.
The proposed protest laws would give police new powers to break up protests, to search and destroy private property. If police say just one person obstructs traffic, they can shut down an entire peaceful assembly.
This is a slippery slope that gives police discretion to silence dissent and could turn NSW into a police state. Far from being a moderate, Baird is taking NSW down the sad road of Joh Bjelke-Petersen's Queensland.
The laws will allow police to arrest anyone carrying or operating anything the police think will be used in a protest. Police would be able to arrest you and confiscate and destroy your car, for example, if they think it will be used to disrupt business in a protest. What has happened to the presumption of innocence?
Protesters could be fined more for opposing illegal mining activity than miners could for operating illegally. People will face $5500 fines for protesting on business premises, while mining companies will face fines of only $5000 for conducting illegal mining activities. This new $5000 maximum has plummeted from the previous maximum of $1.1 million, which is a more realistic deterrent for a resource company.
Protesters such as David Pocock who lock themselves on to mining equipment even face seven years in jail.
What is more galling is that these laws are aimed at stopping protests about coal seam gas mining in the Pilliga Forest, where Santos has been responsible for a long list of pollution incidents, including contaminating groundwater aquifers with uranium and other toxic heavy metals. No Santos executives faced jail for this environmental damage. In fact Santos was fined a mere $1500 – exactly the same penalty that one protester received simply for being in the public forest at the time it was declared "shut" for Santos' CSG activities.
It is shameful that the Coalition would want to increase penalties for people who only want to protect our farmland, water and air from an industry with a proven track record of environmental damage.
NSW needs industry that will make money, create jobs and not pollute our precious farmland and water resources.
Does Baird want to be remembered as a premier with a vision for the state that embraces innovation and renewable energy and addresses climate change or does he want to be yesterday's man who hitched his reputation to a 1950s world view of motorways and failing fossil fuel industries?
The Shooters and Fishers Party should also think twice about passing this legislation if they want to gain support from the farming community, which this legislation is directly targeted at. Farmers lost faith in the National Party because of this exact issue, that they were being deserted in favour of mining.
These laws will not just affect environmental protests. Any protest activity will be affected, such as protests for better wages and conditions, protests to protect our public health system and protests against unnecessary wars.
People do not take lightly breaking the law to voice their concerns. They do it because they have strong views that are not being heard.
There are already plenty of laws that are used to deal with peaceful protests.
Premier Baird must drop these proposed laws, as well as reinstate the previous penalties for mining companies. We do not want to live in a state ruled by police and business.
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