NEWS | Democratic Freedoms

Governments must not give into their demands for profit at the expense of our planet, and our right to speak up.  This is why we have released our Declaration of Our Right to Protest. 

By David Mejia-Canales
Senior Lawyer

Our right to protest is fundamental to our democracy, it’s how we hold the powerful to account and speak up about what’s important to us.  

Protest has been crucial to achieving many important social changes from First Nations land rights to the eight-hour workday. But in recent years, our right to protest has come under sustained attack. 

Across Australia, we have seen a range of anti-democratic, draconian, anti-protest laws introduced at the behest of powerful corporate interests. These laws are disproportionately impacting environment and climate defenders advocating for action on climate change. 

We are living in a climate crisis and the multibillion-dollar fossil fuel industry is determined to silence those of us who are deeply worried about our future. Last month, ABC’s Four Corners revealed the escalating tactics being used by the fossil fuel industry to silence us. These corporations are using their government backdoor connections and legal intimidation to silence anyone trying to sound the alarm about the harm they are causing us and our planet. 

Governments must not give into their demands for profit at the expense of our planet, and our right to speak up.  

This is why we have released our Declaration of Our Right to Protest.  The Declaration calls for governments across Australia to adhere to international standards and human rights law to protect protest rights.

The Declaration has already been endorsed by 60 civil society organisations including the Australian Council of Social Services, Greenpeace Australia and Amnesty International.  

The Declaration outlines the minimum protections required to prevent our right to peacefully protest from being eroded, it can also be used as a tool to measure any new anti-protest law against.