Coaldrake report author’s wife faces jail over parliament protests
The wife of the man who led the review into the Palaszczuk government’s integrity crisis is facing up to three years’ prison if convicted for disrupting Queensland Parliament.
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The wife of the man who led the review into the Palaszczuk government’s integrity crisis is one of 14 climate change protesters facing up to three years’ prison if convicted for disrupting Queensland Parliament.
Lee Coaldrake, wife of former Queensland University of Technology vice-chancellor Peter Coaldrake, is a member of climate action group Extinction Rebellion, and was allegedly part of a co-ordinated protest held during a parliamentary sitting on November 30, 2022.
The 69-year-old is part of the group – aged between 24 and 82 – who will face court on Wednesday charged with the rare crime of disturbing the legislature.
The charge has not been used in Queensland for at least three decades – before the state’s landmark Fitzgerald Inquiry, and the legislating of the formal right to public protest.
Dr Coaldrake’s court appearance comes less than a year after her husband was tasked by Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk to lead a review into the culture and accountability of the state’s public sector following a spate of integrity scandals. His June report was accepted in full by the government, with Ms Palaszczuk pledging to accept the 14 key recommendations “lock, stock and barrel”.
During Question Time on November 30 – as the Premier was on her feet – the group unfurled banners over the railing of the public gallery which overlooks the chamber while chanting “stop coal, stop gas”, and disrupted parliament for a total of three minutes.
The Environmental Defenders Office has confirmed it will represent the group in court, with the first appearance scheduled for Wednesday.
The activists, mainly women in their 60s, were quickly hauled out of parliament by security with no property damage or physical harm.
Speaker Curtis Pitt – who requested Queensland Police charge the group following the protest – was quick to slam the actions as a “horrendous process” and labelled the use of a wheelchair to smuggle in cameras to livestream the event as a “particularly despicable act”.
“The right to protest in a free society is an important part of our democracy,” Mr Pitt said the following day.
“The protest that occurred in the assembly yesterday was not a lawful or peaceful protest. It was a protest that attempted to disrupt our primary democratic institution.”
Ms Palaszczuk also weighed in following the disturbance, saying “people have the right to protest silently in public” – a comment that prompted Extinction Rebellion to hold a protest with their mouths taped shut outside 1 William Street in December.
Dr Coaldrake’s social media reveals she has been a supporter of Extinction Rebellion for some years.
A livestream of the protest taken inside Queensland’s parliament is also present on her Facebook page, along with the caption “investing in renewables while at the same time approving new coal and gas projects is duplicitous. You can’t have it both ways”.
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