Parliament House security under review after twin protests

Parliament House security arrangements are being reviewed after four protesters managed to climb onto the roof and unfurl pro-Palestine banners at the same time as climate protesters glued themselves to bollards in the building’s Marble Foyer.

Australian Federal Police Commissioner Reece Kershaw said protesters used diversionary tactics to evade security, as Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Opposition Leader Peter Dutton condemned their actions.

Pro-Palestine protesters at Parliament House in Canberra.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

The four protesters who spent an hour and a half atop the building and hung banners, including one beneath the coat of arms reading “war crimes … enabled here”, were escorted off the roof by security shortly before midday. Three men and one woman were arrested and banned from Parliament House for two years.

During a later Senate committee hearing, Kershaw said that as well as the protests at Parliament House, a separate group had made false reports of protests happening elsewhere to send police away.

“There are some actual deliberate actions this particular group has taken … to use diversionary tactics to move very, very quickly,” he said.

Asked how the protesters got on the roof, Deputy Commissioner Krissy Barrett said they were able to climb the fence at the top of the grassed area on the side of the building.

The protests come after a fractious fortnight in parliament during which Labor senator Fatima Payman crossed the floor last week to vote in favour of a Greens motion to recognise Palestinian statehood, before resigning from the party on Thursday to sit as an independent.

Parliament rises for its winter break on Thursday evening, with the next parliamentary sitting day on August 12. There has been heightened concern about the security of MPs, with several having their electorate offices vandalised by pro-Palestinian protesters in recent weeks.

On Thursday, climate protesters had also made their way into the Marble Foyer and glued their hands to bollards.

Police quietly removed about a dozen people from the building before other officers ran through parliament after hearing about the pro-Palestine protesters, saying: “They have jumped the fence”. Fences on the grass sections of Parliament House were installed in 2017.

Other banners hung off the building read: “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” and “No peace on stolen land. Genocide since 1788”. The group chanted, “Free, free Palestine” and “Stop the bombing now, now, now”.

The protesters took one of the banners down while talking to police before they were removed from the roof. They had earlier thrown a paper plane to the ground below with a statement.

“On the 4th of July, we emphasise the point that Australia relentlessly continues to enable and commit war crimes as an ally of our ‘great and powerful friends’,” it read. “We use the occasion of the 4th of July to call for true independence from the USA and an end to the enabling of war crimes.”

In a statement, police said the four rooftop protesters had been banned from Parliament House for two years for the stunt. During question time, House Speaker Milton Dick said he had launched an investigation into the building’s security.

Protesters scaled the balcony of Parliament House.Credit: James Brickwood

“I have spoken with the Australian Federal Police commissioner and … organised an investigation into today’s events. I’ve asked the commissioner for a wider review of the security arrangements. I do not want a repeat of today’s events,” he said.

Albanese and Dutton said the protesters should face the full force of the law. “These actions have done absolutely nothing to advance any cause. Indeed, they have hurt the cause that those engaged in this reckless activity believe they are advancing,” Albanese said.

Several Liberal MPs, including senators Simon Birmingham and James Paterson, slammed the demonstration, saying people were “fed up with those types of protesters”.

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