We are unique among liberal democracies in lacking robust legal protection for human rights
, the freedom to protest is under threat. As the protest was taking place in Devonport, the Tasmanian upper house was in the final stages of preparing to debate a draconian anti-protest law which will come before it on Wednesday. The police offences amendment bill 2022, if passed, will have a chilling effect on protest in Tasmania.
This is the fourth time the Tasmanian Liberal government has tried to pass laws which restrict protests – particularly forestry and mining protesters, at whom this law appears to be squarely aimed. After first being enacted in 2014, a different law was struck down in the case of Brown v Tasmania It should not. The law is unnecessary: the government has failed to show any need for the changes. It says the bill is necessary to protect worker safety and denies it is aimed at legitimate protest. But a recent estimates hearing was told that the regulator, WorkSafe, had not received a single protest-related safety complaint at a worksite in the past eight years. To the extent the government is worried about violent protests, existing laws already provide a range of criminal offences.