Tasmania’s anti-protest bill passes upper house as activists vow to fight on

The passing of the Tasmanian bill comes just weeks after Victoria passed similar legislation.

Tasmania’s controversial anti-protest laws have passed the state’s upper house with some amendments, despite heavy criticism from a range of social activists.

According to ABC News, there was no support in the upper house for a section of the bill dealing with public nuisance.

Previously, the bill had sought to change the Police Offences Act to introduce new offences for public nuisance and trespass, which would have increased penalties for those protesting for social justice causes.

See also: Threats to right to protest signal continuation of war on charities

A number of amendments to the bill were approved, including the requirement for police to prove that protesters had “substantially” obstructed workers and intended to do so.

Maximum penalties for individual protesters were reduced from $13,575 for a first offence to $9,050, and the maximum term of imprisonment was increased from 12 to 18 months. For second offences, maximum fines were reduced from $22,625 to $13,575 and the prison term reduced from 30 to 24 months.

Civil society organisations have called the bill “alarming” and said it will “weaken Tasmania’s democracy and erode the right to protest”.

The groups have called for the bill to be repealed as soon as possible.

Jo Flanagan, CEO of Women’s Health Tasmania, said the bill could unfairly target women protesting sexual and family violence or for the right to access health care.

“We are grateful the Legislative Councillors voted to overturn the clause restricting protest in public places but overall, this is such a sad day for Tasmania,” she said.

Kieran Pender, senior lawyer at the Human Rights Law Centre, said the bill “should never become law”.

“This bill will have a chilling effect on the right to protest in Tasmania, limiting the ability of people to exercise their democratic rights.”

Environmentalist and founder of the Bob Brown Foundation, Bob Brown, said the bill had been aimed at his organisation’s activities but vowed to keep fighting to preserve the environment.

“This bill was always aimed directly at our foundation and our successful, popular campaigns. It is the government of big business pandering to logging, mining and fish-farming corporations, many of which drain their profits out of Tasmania, to stifle our spotlight on their destruction of Tasmania’s beautiful environment and wildlife,” he said. 

“It won’t work. It will have no effect on our intention to campaign for Tasmania’s beauty, naturalness and wildlife.”

The Tasmanian bill passed just weeks after Victoria’s parliament also passed a bill aimed at environmental protestors.