Win for democracy: Dangerous Anti-Protest Law Defeated in Tasmania’s Upper House

Human rights, Aboriginal, social justice and environment organisations have welcomed the Tasmanian Legislative Council’s commitment to civil liberties with its voting down yesterday of the Workplaces (Protection from Protesters) Amendment Bill 2019.

The anti-protest bill was dangerously broad and if passed, would have seriously undermined people’s right to come together and speak out about the issues they care about.

The proposed law would have created several broad and poorly defined offences which would criminalise various peaceful advocacy actions on a range of issues.

If passed, the law could have seen people charged for:

standing on a footpath and handing out pamphlets about gambling harm;
asking people in a public park to sign a petition criticising the treatment of elderly people in a private aged care facility;
making Facebook posts or sending tweets which encourage protest action against companies exposed as exploiting workers or sexually harassing women.

A previous version of the same law was struck down by the High Court for being an unlawful restriction on Australians’ freedom of political communication.

The bill was criticised in the Legislative Council for being ineffective, broad and unnecessary. If passed, the law would have almost certainly ended up back at the High Court.

Yusur Al-Azzawi, Senior Lawyer, Human Rights Law Centre:

“We welcome the Legislative Council’s vote to stop this law. Governments have a responsibility to uphold and protect the right to protest. Whether it’s women’s rights, transgender rights, racial justice or the environment, our ability to come together and speak out on the things we care about is fundamental to our democracy.”

Jenny Weber, Campaign Manager, Bob Brown Foundation:

“The Tasmanian government’s draconian anti-protest bill was defeated and needs to be consigned to the rubbish bin. Tasmanians are determined to stand against the needless invasion of public native forests and the island’s globally famous wild, natural places. Premier Gutwein’s attempt to stifle opposition to their environmental and climate destruction was a costly waste of taxpayer’s funds. As Tasmania heads to the polls they should note that Gutwein’s government pushed to silence our healthy democracy.”