Greens seek federal legislation to override anti-protest laws

Tasmanian-inspired anti-protest legislation has swept the nation, to the chargin of the Greens who are seeking to overturn the current laws.

Climate activists hold signs during a rally at Violet Coco's bail hearing at the Downing Centre Courts on December 13, 2022 in Sydney, Australia. Photo by Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images

THE Greens will seek to pass legislation through Federal Parliament to override state-based anti-protest laws.

Laws passed by several states including Tasmania had clamped down on demonstrations.

Sydney woman Violet Coco was sentenced to eight months in to prison earlier this month for a climate change related protest action on the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

Environmental Protesters marched from Town Hall to the NSW Parliament to demanding an end to the Anti-Protest laws. Violet Coco who was recently bailed from prison spoke to the crowd. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Swift

And the state government passed its own laws creating tougher penalties for protesters who trespassed on workplaces, disrupted businesses, obstructed streets, or created a “public nuisance”.

Greens federal justice spokesman David Shoebridge said right to protest was under attack all over Australia, inspired in part by the draconian nature of the crackdown in Tasmania.

“The environment and justice movements are increasingly under threat of legal sanctions and arrest for acts of nonviolent resistance to the extractive industries, especially logging and fossil fuels,” he said.

“Protesters shouldn’t be met with repression, with police violence or with long prison sentences.

“The right to nonviolent protest is essential in any free society but we see politicians across the country increasingly using their positions of power to crack down on protests that threaten the fossil fuel and logging industries.”

Senator Shoebridge said the Greens’ proposal was supported by constitutional legal advice confirming that the Federal Parliament has the power to pass right to protest laws based on the external affairs power.

Greens NSW Senator David Shoebridge speaks during a rally at Violet Coco's bail hearing at the Downing Centre Courts on December 13, 2022 in Sydney, Australia. Photo by Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images

The Bill will be drafted in the first half of 2023 in close consultation with legal reformers, activists and the environment and justice movements.

Tasmanian Greens leader Cassy O’Connor said this state had led the nation in cracking down on nonviolent protest.

“We have anti-protest laws on this island where you can do more time in jail and face a heavier penalty, then you can for home invasion, or loitering near children,” she said.

“The issue here is that you’ve got a corporatist Liberal government that would rather prioritise the well being of their donors than children striking for a safe climate. It’s shameful.”

Ms O’Connor said the laws would be used to target anti-stadium protesters.

“I think there will be thousands of people all over this island who will protest against that stadium,” she said.

“I doubt that it will get off the ground such as the intensity of the feeling on this island about a what a wasteful folly it is.”