From the age of 15, I have led peaceful protests that have involved people from all walks of life, each calling for greater action from the government on climate change. School strikes, which young people such as myself have organised and participated in for so many years, have blocked roads, stopped traffic and public transport, and brought cities to a halt. Disruption is a tool.
But now, disruption is a crime. We’re not climate activists; we’re criminals.
Laura Davy isn’t much older than me. She shares my passion for a world free from climate disasters of harrowing frequency and severity, one that future generations can inhabit without existential fear. And like me, she sought to exercise her democratic right to peaceful protest. Yet a couple of weeks ago, she was handed an exorbitant jail sentence of three months for her involvement in a blockade of the Port of Newcastle, the largest coal export port in the world.
Another young Blockade Australia protester, Max O’Donnell Curmi, was arrested in 2022 after he scaled a crane at Port Botany to block a docked ship being loaded with coal. Only a week earlier, the NSW government had rammed through the country’s most draconian protest legislation, introducing penalties of up to $22,000, alongside or in place of an imprisonment term of two years for protest activities deemed to disrupt roads, tunnels or other public facilities.
The criminalisation of peaceful protest is a stain on our democracy. The Human Rights Law Centre’s reporting reveals a concerning trend across Australia, in which laws seek to erode the ability of citizens to protest and demand reform — ostensibly for public order and safety, realistically to prevent attention being drawn to climate-wrecking practices.
In Victoria, environmental activists who disrupt catastrophic forest logging can find themselves slapped with a fine of up to $20,000 or up to a year in jail. In South Australia, the laws are the harshest, reaching as high as $50,000 in fines and three months in prison for blocking roads or public facilities.
Bail conditions are also becoming a tool to stifle protest. In 2023, police sought to prevent Matilda Lane-Rose, a Disrupt Burrup Hub protester who was involved in a foiled protest outside Woodside chief executive Meg O’Neill’s home, from communicating with any members of the advocacy group. This was a manipulation of the judicial process to obstruct a group from continuing its campaign against Woodside Energy.
Labor rode into power on a platform of climate action, environmental reform and intergenerational equity. Its rhetoric around increasing Australia’s climate targets, fulfilling the Paris Agreement and “ending the climate wars” brought hope for a term of ambition and action, of things done differently.
But in the two years since the Albanese government was elected, we’ve seen it break its election promise to reform Australia’s broken environmental laws, deferring these reforms indefinitely. We’ve seen it unequivocally reject that it owes current and future generations a duty of care to safeguard their health and well-being in the face of climate change. And we’ve seen it endorse gas until 2050 and even beyond, funnelling through fossil fuel projects all around the country.
For climate protesters, the enemy is polluting fossil fuel companies. Those that extract coal and gas, causing oil spills, poisoning the water of Indigenous communities, and leaving a trail of destruction in their wake. Those that line the pockets of our politicians, that roam the halls of Parliament lobbying our government.
For climate protesters, the fear is of a world of climate disaster. Yet for governments and fossil fuel companies, whose enemy is the climate protester, the fear is loss of profit.
Naturally, people will protest. There are movements around the country drawing attention to the gap between the government’s action and rhetoric, and people are taking matters into their own hands to demand meaningful reform.
The right to peaceful protest is a cornerstone of a democratic society, which Australia claims to be. Protest is a tool through which we can collectively demand action and accountability from our politicians. It is a catalyst for social and political change.
Peaceful protest is not the problem, but a symptom. The problem is that the health of our planet hangs in the balance while those entrusted with legislative power prioritise short-term political gain over the long-term well-being of the planet and future generations.
What if any limits should be placed on the right to peaceful protest? And should the government be doing more to protect the planet for future generations? Let us know your thoughts by writing to letters@crikey.com.au. Please include your full name to be considered for publication. We reserve the right to edit for length and clarity.
