The following is a speech given to members of Vintage Reds at their monthly meeting at the Queensland Council of unions on 4 April 2024 under the aforesaid topic.
I was one of a panel of three: Laura from Justice for Palestine and Refugee Solidarity and Terry Fisher an experienced criminal lawyer at the Queensland bar. I wish to thank the organisers for their invitation to speak and for putting on such interesting topics. I thoroughly recommend these Vintage Reds events held on the first Thursday of each month on the second floor of the Queensland Council of Trade Unions building. Please note that, at one point during the Q & A, I referred to the solidarity work being done by Unions for Palestine, I should have said Unionists for Palestine.
– Ian Curr ed. 4 April 2024.
“Criminalising Dissent”
Demonstrations in Brisbane – the good and the bad news
There are some aspects of the peaceful Assembly Act of 1992 which give demonstrators significant rights if we avail ourselves of them. At the same time governments of all persuasions are moving to criminalise all forms of protest.
Our special panel of three speakers (Laura Hanlon, Ian Curr and Terry Fisher) will address both the activist and legal aspects of the topic. Q and A to follow. – Vintage Reds (Brisbane).
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Your honour, Mr Justice John McCullough, Chief Crown prosecutor, Mr Terry Fisher MP QC, members of the court, ladies and gentlemen of the jury. My name is Curr, initials I.D. I am self-represented.
My co-accused and I have prepared our defence.
We wish to plead not guilty to the charges brought by the police counter-terrorism unit, now here before you today. We believe they are politically motivated.
If it pleases the court I would like to read from a written statement.
Dust tiptoes in a standing ovation
after the explosion
Edward Said is out of place,
again:
His books fall from my shelves
Onto the broken window glass.
Palestine is also out of place:
Its map
falls off my wall.
– Mosab Abu Toha.
I am a child of the anti-war movement and hit my straps during the democratic rights struggle in Queensland. I spent 8 years in the courts arising from the street marches in 1977-79 and the SEQEB dispute in 1985. No mass movement in the form of large demonstrations and marches has led to real change. Sure, the government allows us to march in the streets of Brisbane whereas in the past, we could not. But the authorities in the police department and the Brisbane City Council only allow these marches and rallies to occur in public places because they have become marches of containment. We are allowed to march around the block but we are not allowed to march onto the wharves to stop the trade in weapons with Israel. Regardless of what the law says, nothing can replace good organisation and solidarity among the groups involved. As one comrade put it there is the law, and there is what you can get away with because of good organisation. We believe now is the time for direct action – strikes, blockades and occupations to stop the war machine.
In 1977, to stop the mining and export of uranium, the civil liberties coordinating committee and the anti-uranium mobilisation committee encouraged people at mass rallies to picket Hamilton No 4 wharf and to block trains carrying yellowcake. We did get onto the wharves and the wharfies did stop work. However, even when workers went on strike in support of the protests and despite the largest mass arrest in Australian history on 22 October 1977, we could not stop the capitalists from profiteering off sales from uranium mines in the Northern Territory and Queensland (Mary Kathleen mine). ERA even tried to mine Kakadu and this is still on the cards even though the Ranger mine was shut down in 2021.
The Hawke Labor government overcame both mass mobilisation and union strikes by using the ballot box against the anti-uranium movement. It is very hard to build effective opposition to war without strong socialist organisation. This is lacking both in Queensland and in Australia.
At all times, the political struggle and organisation is what determines real change. Occasionally in our history we see examples of mass defiance. The street marches that took place from 4 Sept, 1977 till July 1979 is one such example. That was the longest period of mass defiance of a government in Australian history with the exception of the Aboriginal resistance. By 1992 these mobilisations had led to a change in the law giving Queensland the most liberal protest laws in Australia.
Under Queensland law (Peaceful Assembly Act 1992) a person has the right to assemble peacefully with others in a public place (s5 PAA). A public place is defined in the act as ‘a road, a place open to or used by the public as of right, and a place for the time being open to or used by the public’ (s4 PA Act). Public assembly can be stationary or moving, it may include: a picket, a march, a demonstration, street theatre, or musical or cultural events. It may even permit a march of a thousand flags and a flag drop from the Victoria Street bridge as was recently organised by Justice for Palestine Magandjin in concert with the Greens candidate for Lord Mayor of Brisbane, Mr Jonathan Sriranganathan.
Public assemblies may be held on land owned by government or by a corporation. For example, Southbank in Brisbane is owned by the Southbank Corporation. Yet under the Peaceful Assembly Act, the Convention centre and the places around it are public places because people use them as a right. Another example is the university, it is a public place even though it has its own laws and regulations, the universities are still subject to this right of public assembly.
Jonathan Sriranganathan then councillor for the Gabba, was placed under arrest for trespass at an arms dealer convention in Southbank in Brisbane in 2023. This arrest was unlawful because he was part of a public assembly as defined under the Peaceful Assembly Act. Police were forced to withdraw the charge before it went to trial.
There are other laws that police may attempt to use to frustrate the right of public assembly. For example, in Queen Street Mall, police may attempt to use their ‘move on’ powers under the Police Powers and Responsibilities Act 2000.
The counter to this is to submit an assembly notice (called an NOI) five or more days in advance of a rally or march. This provides demonstrators with immunity from charges arising from failure to comply with directions to move on under part 4 of that act. My co-accused Laura will have more to say on NOIs.
Police may attempt to exaggerate the extent of their move on powers. However, if they do, they overlook the fact that, under section 45 of the Police Powers and Responsibilities Act, a police officer cannot give a lawful ‘move on’ direction to a person who is participating in an authorised public assembly. Late last year a young person who participated in a march at Logan City was arrested after failing to obey a move on direction. Police used violence against the person, calculated to disrupt the lawful procession in progress. Police were successful on both counts. They disrupted the march and obtained a conviction because the person pleaded guilty. This should not have happened because the person had a defence under the Peaceful Assembly Act. I am sure Mr Terry Fisher, an officer of the court will have more to say on that matter.
In summary if police are likely to use their move-on powers, the counter move is to submit an assembly notice given five or more days in advance of a rally, march or occupation of a mall. After mediation if Police or Brisbane City Council do not take steps to obtain an order from a magistrate, the assembly will be deemed to be an authorised public assembly. One of the benefits of becoming an “authorised public assembly” includes immunity from civil or criminal liability because of the obstruction of a public place.” [s 6(1) of the PA Act].
So, as a general rule, a police officer may not give a move on direction to people who are part of a public assembly. As an example, in March 2024 a demonstration of about 1,500 people was held in King George Square in Brisbane demanding a ceasefire in Gaza. This public assembly lacked permission of the Brisbane City Council. During negotiations Council officers claimed that the assembly conflicted with church services in Ann Street and a concert to be held in City Hall.
As it turned out both these claims by council officers were bogus. There was a church service in Ann Street but it was over 50 metres away from the demonstration and the PA system projected sound in the opposite direction (toward Adelaide Street). There was no interference with the concert in City Hall because it did not commence until after the rally. Even if the concert had commenced earlier or the rally gone later, there would’ve been no conflict because the rally was held a long way from the front door of City Hall. Also the concert hall is well insulated from outside noise coming from King George square.
As a result there was no interference by police because the rally was deemed to be authorised because council did not press their claims with a magistrate (as required under the Peaceful Assembly Act 1992).
There are times when the Peaceful Assembly Act can be used in union struggle to avoid criminal prosecution. But that is the subject of debate within our movement, so I will leave it to another time.
We must end the genocide in Gaza. End the occupation of Palestine.
Ian Curr
4 April 2024
References
Hemelaar & Red v Walsh, Gough & State of Queensland [2017] QDC 151
Queensland Peaceful Assembly Act 1992
Queensland Police Powers and Responsibilities Act 2000