Australian Democracy Network

We are creating an Australia where civil society is robust and vibrant; public debate is informed, fair and diverse; citizens are engaged, government is clean, open and accountable and the wellbeing of people and the planet comes first.

We are creating an Australia where civil society is robust and vibrant; public debate is informed, fair and diverse; citizens are engaged, government is clean, open and accountable and the wellbeing of people and the planet comes first.

Email MP: In Defence of Dissent

411 emails sent

Use the email tool below to send the report to your MP and ask what they are doing to protect our democratic right to protest. We recommend personalising your email by adding why the right to protest matters to you.

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Subject:

The right to protest is under threat in Australia. Across all states and territories, over 50 anti-protest laws have been passed in the last two decades. I am concerned about this increasing restriction on our democratic right to protest, particularly in a global context of threats to democracy.

On 9 February, NSW Police were recorded using significant force against a peaceful protest in Sydney. Vision being shared includes the use of pepper spray against people who appear to be complying with police directions, punching people who were detained and immobile, and engaging in dangerous crowd control manoeuvres. Especially shocking is an incident of violent dispersal of a group of Muslim people while they were peacefully praying. This comes as a result of years of anti-protest rhetoric from the NSW government and the passage of several laws restricting protest without adequate community consultation.

I’m writing to ask what you are doing to ensure our democratic right to protest is adequately protected so that communities can feel safe standing up for the issues that matter to them.

A report from Australian Democracy Network and Grata Fund (In Defence of Dissent) has found that protest rights in Australia are being severely restricted through corporate clampdown on opposition, criminalisation of peaceful protest, over-policing, government misuse of emergency powers and the use of notification systems as approval regimes for protests.

Key findings include:
- Imprisonment sentences for civil disobedience have increased ten-fold in the last five years, with nine activists engaged in civil disobedience have been sentenced to a combined total of 50 months imprisonment.
- Police appear to be engaging in over-policing, and communities peacefully engaging in protest have been increasingly subject to heavy-handed militarised policing
- People with physical disabilities and children are being seriously impacted by heavy-handed, militarised policing. 
- Protest notification and pre-approval regimes are increasingly operating as de facto ‘authorisation’ systems, which runs counter to Australia’s democratic obligations under international law.

The report suggests a series of recommendations for lawmakers. I would like to know what you as my representative are doing to progress such recommendations as to bring laws relating to protest and policing of protest in line with international human rights law.

I encourage you to read the full report at https://australiandemocracy.org.au/indefenceofdissentreport

I look forward to hearing from you about what measures you will take to ensure our right to protest is adequately protected.

Warm regards,

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