One rule for protesters, another for the rest of us

Across the English-speaking world a new tendency is afoot, one which sees radicals and criminals empowered even as the full force of the law is brought to bear on otherwise law-abiding citizens, writes James Morrow.

The old idea that the rule of law applies to everyone equally, regardless of class, connection, or politics, is dying out.

Across the English-speaking world a new tendency is afoot, one which sees radicals and criminals empowered even as the full force of the law is brought to bear on otherwise law-abiding citizens.

And Australia, it turns out, is not immune.

In the UK, Prime Minister Keir Starmer has earned the nickname “Two-Tier Keir” for the way thugs have been allowed to run rampant, often in the name of easing jail overcrowding, while ordinary citizens can literally expect a knock at the door from the police for the most mildly controversial (and politically conservative) social media post.

In the US, the phrase anarcho-tyranny is increasingly used to describe what is happening in Democrat strongholds like California and New York.

In California, drug dealing and vagrancy is rampant on the streets of major cities and criminals are allowed to steal as much as they want from shops so long as the value of the goods comes in under US$950.

Activists blockade Newcastle port on the weekend, but despite 170 arrests a protest spokesperson said they expected judges would let them off lightly. Picture: Roni Bintang/Getty Images

There, otherwise law-abiding citizens are subject to increasingly complex and expensive compliance regimes that see people fined thousands of dollars for parking violations and making doing things like opening a restaurant prohibitively expensive.

In New York, just before the presidential election, a wildlife rescuer endured a five hour raid of his property and the confiscation and murder of his pet squirrel, named Peanut, over a paperwork dispute.

Yet just last week a career criminal was out on bail when he allegedly committed a two and a half-hour stabbing spree that left three New Yorkers dead, despite having been arrested eight times in the past year.

And, again, don’t think Australia is immune.

On the one hand, both Labor and Liberal governments have been keen to police what ordinary people say and do online – most recently through the happily withdrawn misinformation bill.

But on the other hand, things get messier when it comes to what extremists say and do on the streets.

Certainly the push to censor has been a bipartisan phenomenon.

Think of the Coalition secretly kyboshing Covid-related posts it did not like when it was in power, or more recently attempts by the eSafety Commissioner under Labor to block footage of a Western Sydney bishop being stabbed.

But to borrow a phrase from Orwell, some forms of expression are clearly more equal than others.

The past year in particular has shown, at all levels of government, a blasé tolerance to radicals spreading hate and committing economic vandalism in the service of left-wing causes ranging from Palestine to fossil fuels.

Pro-Palestine protesters set up camp at Sydney University. Picture: Rohan Kelly

In recent weeks we have seen everyone from port-blocking environmentalists in Newcastle to pro-Palestinian demonstrators in Sydney and Melbourne singing the praises of Hezbollah face barely any legal consequence.

And while state governments and magistrates bear a lot of the responsibility for letting our streets – and now ports – get out of control, the tone is set from the top.

When it comes to dealing with pro-Palestinian demonstrators crossing the line, the Prime Minister has from the start demonstrated a weak attempt at even-handedness that looks to many like equivocation.

Recall that in the days after October 7, world leaders like Joe Biden and former UK prime minister Rishi Sunak rushed to reassure Jewish communities and convene national security teams.

In Australia, Anthony Albanese was hanging out at Uluru trying to save his Voice referendum.

Only after it was pointed out to him that perhaps he should get on the front foot over the massacres did he hastily pop in on a Melbourne synagogue to reassure the Jewish community.

As recently as a few days ago a prominent Sydney rabbi was forced to tactfully point out that the Prime Minister was “falling short” in his duty to condemn anti-Semitism.

Is it any wonder that so many bad actors have felt free to act with impunity?

Meanwhile in Newcastle this past weekend we had the spectacle of demonstrators taking to the water to temporarily block shipping at the largest coal port in the world.

Around 170 people were arrested, but even those collared while on bail with long rap sheets for similar activity have been told they are unlikely to face any real consequence.

To be clear, Australia has not yet achieved the level of double standards present in some other countries.

But when protesters for what are seen as progressive causes like Palestine or climate change are all but given leave passes while the government looks to censor others, well, it can’t be long now.