Lawn Order … Governments take on environmentalists … Looking after workers by prosecuting them … Keeping everyone “safe” … Harsh new measures … Unintended consequences … Victoria, Tasmania, NSW, and UK … Max Shanahan reports on the latest crack-downs on protesters 

While the New South Wales government didn’t hide its targeting of environmental protestors, the southern states have sought to justify their own anti-protest Bills under the guise of, as Tasmanian Resources Minister Guy Barnett put it, “further protect[ing] the rights of workers”. A radical turn indeed for a Liberal government. 

Likewise, the Victorian Bill pleasantly seeks to “ensur[e] all Victorians are safe at work”. 

After taking anti-protest legislation to the last three state elections, the Tasmanian government has finally succeeded in “cracking down on illegal and dangerous protests in our forests”. 

After the Workplace (Protection from Protesters) Act 2014 was nobbled by the High Court in Brown v Tasmania, and 2019 legislation was blocked in the upper house, the government’s decision to pursue amendments to the existing Police Offences Act rather than entirely new legislation looks to have secured the Bill’s passage. 

The amendments introduce three main changes. First, following NSW, the Bill inserts a new offence element of “unreasonable obstruction of the passage of vehicles or pedestrians on a street”. 

However, whereas the NSW legislation only applies to “major roads” – which are defined in regulation – the “street” designation is incredibly broad. Per the Tasmanian Traffic Act – to which the Police Offences Act refers – a “public street” means “any street, road, land, thoroughfare, footpath, bridge or place open to or used by the public …” 

As was noted in a public consultation submission, such a definition could leave jail time open to “a person holding a placard at the Salamanca Market, handing out pamphlets outside a cafe, asking for a petition to be signed in a public park or filming on a public road”. 

Given that the vagueness of prohibited protesting areas cruelled the original legislation in Brown v Tasmania, legal challenges once the Bill becomes law seem probable. 

Secondly, the Bill increases penalties for trespass where the trespass “either obstructed a business or undertaking, or caused a serious risk to the safety of the trespasser or others”. 

For the former element, putative offenders will face fines of up to 50 penalty units or up to 12 months imprisonment – double the existing maximum penalties for trespass. 

For those who cause a serious risk to safety, trespass penalties have been tripled. For those previously convicted of the same offence, maximum fines of over $20,000 and prison terms of up to two-and-a-half years will apply. 

Finally, in a measure widely seen as targeted at the Bob Brown Foundation, the Bill also seeks to attack body corporates that commit trespass or obstruct a business. A maximum fine of over $100,000 will be the punishment for such infringements. 

Unlike in NSW, the Labor Party, while again supporting the Bill, failed to secure amendments exempting from the legislation workers taking part in industrial action or protesting at their own workplace. So, we arrive at the curious situation where supposedly pro-worker legislation locks in potential jail time for industrial action. 

Having passed its second reading in the last fortnight, the formality of a third reading awaits before the Bill becomes law. 

While it was no surprise to see the Tasmanian government back on their anti-protest hobby horse, the Victorian government’s own anti-protest Bill comes as more of a surprise. 

Despite pledging to end native logging by 2030, the Andrews’ government’s sympathy with environmental activists only goes so far. 

The Sustainable Forests Timber Amendment Bill will, ominously, “modernise enforcement measures” to “deter dangerous protest activities”. 

What are those protest activities which might prevent workers seeing their families again? As clarified in the Bill’s second reading speech, such dangerous activities include “tree-sits at hazardous heights,” protestors attaching themselves to machinery, and “masked protesters running in and out of forestry zones”. 

Stop and search powers in forestry zones will be expanded and, in a key addition to law enforcement’s arsenal, possession of PVC pipes – used to lock onto machinery – will be prohibited. 

Protestors will face banning notices, fines of up to $12,000 or 12 months imprisonment. The Bill awaits passage through the Legislative Council, but one finds it hard to imagine the Liberal Party coming to the defence of environmental protestors.  

NSW Police have made the most of their new powers under the Roads and Crimes Legislation Amendment Act. Stike Force Guard, established “to prevent, investigate and disrupt unauthorised protests,” has been rounding up environmentalists across the city following a week of protests around Sydney’s main roads and CBD. 

Harsh bail conditions have been imposed on activists, including prohibitions on use of encrypted messaging apps and orders to hand over communication devices.

Locking up hippies hasn’t all been a lark for the NSW coppers. A bungled operation at a Blockade Australia camp caused cringeworthy levels of embarrassment, as two undercover officers were sprung and chased out of camp. 

It didn’t matter much – the police returned the next day to arrest the environmentalists. 

Not one to miss out, the UK Conservatives have introduced their own Bill targeting protestors. Replete with the familiar features of new offences for disrupting roads, transport and infrastructure, as well as prohibiting “locking on”, the Public Order Bill also significantly increases police powers to stop and search for “articles connected with protest related offences”. 

Furthermore, courts will be empowered to issue “serious disruption prevention orders” which can impose conditions “designed to prevent individuals engaging in protest”. 

The Bill is a potpourri of measures excised by the House of Lords from the government’s previous law n’ order legislation in April.