Brisbane Black Lives Matters protests: Did the Premier really do enough?
She’s talked tough to Queenslanders about the need to abide by COVID-19 restrictions for months, but did Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk really do enough to discourage 30,000 protesters from taking to the streets of Brisbane? HAVE YOUR SAY IN OUR POLL.
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Did Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk really give protesters an emphatic warning not to turn up before 30,000 protesters hit the streets of Brisbane, flouting social distancing restrictions and health advice, on Saturday June 6?
Here’s how last week’s social distancing failure played out.
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PREMIER’S HARD LINE ON BORDERS, PUBS, PARKS AND SOCIAL DISTANCING
‘WAKE UP’ – MARCH 23
“My message on Friday was pretty clear, don’t go and have a big night out. If we have to take stronger measures, we will take stronger measures.”
She also said all non-essential travel must stop and everyone should follow social distancing measures:
“It is not a laughing matter. There are people out there who think this is not going to happen to us. Wake up! It is.”
‘THAT CAN’T HAPPEN’ – MARCH 26
(Days before tough coronavirus restrictions began)
“When I was coming in to work this morning I saw five people sitting on a park bench on a picnic table in very close proximity to each other … That can’t happen.”
FINAL WARNING – APRIL 2
The Premier issued a final warning to Queenslanders ignoring social distancing rules, saying they could trigger the start of tougher restrictions:
“Social distancing means 90% of people have to be doing the right thing and going to the beach with all of your friends and your mates is not on. If you’re not doing the right thing, the mayors will shut the beaches and the police will absolutely enforce it. Final warning, everyone!”
‘FULL STOP’ ON BORDERS – APRIL 8
“Our border closures are obviously having an impact, the cruise ships leaving are having an impact but like I said we’re looking at six months here. I think everyone needs to buckle in for the six months and then let’s see how we go after that”
HOW THE PROTESTS PLAYED OUT
JUNE 5 - DAY BEFORE PROTEST
The Premier said her decision over the borders would not change this month, reiterating it would be reviewed at the end of June.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk:
“Nothing is changing in the month of June, you can ask me every single day but my mind is not changing because we still have active cases in the southern states.”
“At the end of June we will review that as I have said, but we will not compromise the health of Queenslanders at this time – full stop.
“We are living in a different world at the moment and I would hope that people respect the health advice. However, there will be people who will turn out … What I would ask people to do is if you are thinking about protesting, please think about staying at home and showing your support through social media. But secondly, if you do go, we are asking people to be very mindful of social distancing and staying in family groups.”
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian, who on June 4 said protesting was inherent right in our democracy”, switched tunes and said police will use the courts to try to stop the protests
“All of us have given up so much and worked so hard to make sure we get on top of the virus. What this protest has turned into is a flagrant disregard of the health rules. We can’t afford to have exceptions.”
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews urged Victorians not to go to the protest:
“Big events are not allowed. Big events are not safe. Big events will do nothing but spread the virus. This is not an ordinary Saturday in June, we’re in the midst of a global pandemic.”
Prime Minister Scott Morrison:
“Our message is very clear that the health risks of gathering in such large numbers and into close proximity are real. Let’s find a better way and another way to express these sentiments.”
JUNE 6 - DAY OF THE PROTEST:
Deputy Premier and Health Minister Steven Miles defended the decision not to shut down the rally, saying a protest by anti-vaxxers had gone ahead last week without the same outcry:
“We are a free society where we have a long tradition of people being able to speak their minds, express their political viewpoints. That’s particularly important in Queensland where that was suppressed for a very, very long time. What we have said here is that we would prefer people not to go and express their protests in other ways. But if they do go, then the health advice that we have consistently provided remains the same. That is that they should keep 1.5m distance between groups.”
He likened it to rules around visiting shopping centres or a park.
“There can be thousands at parks. As long as they maintain social distancing,” he said.
THE PROTESTS - after 11 days of protests and riots in the US, the Black Lives Matter movement quickly spread to Australian shores with physical demonstrations planned around the country on Saturday June 6 in capital cities, regional towns and online.
BRISBANE - Organisers and police estimate at least 30,000 took part in the protest.
SYDNEY - The protest began with about 12,000 and swelled to an estimated 20,000.
MELBOURNE - It is estimated 10,000 took part in the Victorian capital city protest.
JUNE 7 - DAY AFTER THE PROTESTS
Premier thanks the protesters for “adhering to social distancing”
“We’ll have to see how our health response goes, but there was very clearly that I did ask people to stay at home and protest at home, but the people who did go were very respectful. As I said I thank Queenslanders for adhering to social distancing. I understand that there was hand hygiene and everything was there as well, hand sanitiser but we’ll now have to see what the results are in the next couple of weeks
JUNE 9
Premier claims the crowds was bigger in Sydney
“I was very clear that people should not attend that protest. But as I said, it didn’t just happen in Queensland. It happened in NSW. I think there were larger crowds in NSW.
JUNE 12 - DAY BEFORE PLANNED SECOND ROUND OF PROTESTS
Deputy Premier Steven Miles
The Deputy Premier Steven Miles urged people to maintain social distancing ahead of more planned protests this weekend. He said if people wanted to protest, there were other ways to do it. Mr Miles would not say whether he believed people should be fined.
Originally published as Brisbane Black Lives Matters protests: Did the Premier really do enough?
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