Peter Dutton wants disruptive climate protesters to foot the bill for diverting police resources

Peter Dutton wants disruptive climate protesters to foot the bill for diverting police resources.

Peter Dutton wants climate protesters to foot the bill for diverting valuable police resources.

Peter Dutton wants disruptive climate protesters to foot the bill for diverting valuable police resources and hopes “a lot” of them will be arrested today if protests continue.

Members of the Extinction Rebellion group will engage in their fifth consecutive day of demonstrations on Friday, after chaining themselves to a catamaran in Brisbane and to one another in Melbourne on Thursday and causing chaos for morning commuters.

MORE: Queensland protest crackdown upsets Labor comrades | Henry Ergas says Extinction Rebellion is not a protest against governments — it is a protest against the voters who elected them | Kerri-Anne Kennerley says Extinction Rebellion protesters should be used as speed bumps and jailed

“This goes well beyond (the right to protest),” Mr Dutton told the Nine Network on Friday morning.

“People have the right to express their view and express it forcefully, but this is a disruptive element. These people are radicals, they’re outliers and I think frankly they do cause more harm than good. I think it’s right that the police will interact with them today, hopefully a lot of them are arrested or moved on because it is a huge disruption to CBDs.’’

Activists from Extinction Rebellion glued themselves to a road in Melbourne this week.

The Home Affairs Minister said protesters were “thumbing the nose” at fellow Australians who want to go about their day without disruption.

“I think very strongly that we should be charging these people the cost of the police response,” Mr Dutton said. “If you’re conducting yourself in a peaceful way ... with a permit from the police, an agreed route ... then that’s completely acceptable.

“These people are radicals, they’re outliers and I think frankly they’re doing their cause more harm than good… Hopefully a lot of them are arrested…” @PeterDutton_MP on climate change protestors. #9Today pic.twitter.com/4BjrB8QZ9C

— The Today Show (@TheTodayShow) October 10, 2019

“But when you are acting outside of the law, which these people are doing, you are diverting valuable police resources. I think there should be a price to pay for that. It has happened in Victoria where the State Government before has sought to levy that charge of the police response to the organisers. So there’s a precedent for that.”

Activists from Extinction Rebellion block King Street during a protest in Melbourne on Thursday.